After a nearly five-hour delay for severe weather, NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway (the first race held there since 2019) was finally underway, first with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. And, heading into the Cuervo 300, there were a lot of unknowns as the track was green and many drivers in the field had never raced at the track before in any series. This begged the questions as to will the veterans have the advantage over the youngsters? Chase Elliott, for instance, was in the field. He won at the track back in 2014, the same year he was crowned as the champion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. His teammate, Justin Allgaier was also a former winner at the track. But it was youngster Connor Zilisch who started from the pole after qualifying was rained out.
And there was no one driver who seemed to have the dominant car tonight. However, there were a handful of drivers who seemed to have a leg up on the competition. For example, Connor Zilisch led all 45 laps of the opening stage to win it. Chase Elliott then took over the lead after Zilisch had an issue with his fuel pressure. He led every lap of Stage 2, taking his second career stage victory. However, after a slow restart to begin the final stage, and a number of slower pit stops, Taylor Gray took over the race lead and pulled away himself. It was clear that tonight, track position was everything. So, who ever had the better tires and could have a great restart, when it counted, was likely going to be the one hoisting the trophy by the end of the night.
After a couple of late race cautions involving Connor Zilisch (twice) and William Sawalich, Chase Elliott got the jump on the rest of the field, rocketing his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevy out to the race lead. However, on the penultimate restart, Brandon Jones got the jump while the No. 88 falter. This opened the door for Taylor Gray to get by them both, putting him in the catbird seat. The No. 54 extended his to a second in a half. However, Ryan Sieg blew a right front tire, causing a lot of debris on the racetrack. The caution flew for the 6th time. It was exactly what Gray didn’t want to see but gave Jones and Elliott potentially one last chance to pounce and gain that ever valuable track position.
The leaders opted not to pit during the stage break. Leader Taylor Gray opted to take the outside lane with his teammate Brandon Jones to the inside. Chase Elliott restarted on the top. The race restarted with only 11 laps to go. It was chaos out front as the leaders went four-wide in turn one with Jesse Love taking the race lead. The middle Toyotas couldn’t make it stick and Chase Elliott prevailed on the outside to take the race lead. He cleared Love and the No. 2 RCR Chevy fell into the clutches of Brandon Jones. Elliott and Jones started to separate themselves from the rest of the field, Jones not letting Elliott escape with the win. There were five laps to go when the caution came out for the seventh time of the evening. This incident involved Patrick Staropoli and Kyle Sieg who crashed in turns 3 and 4.
The field lined back up for yet another restart, this one being the first attempt at NASCAR Overtime. Green-white-checkered restart. This restart was a lot calmer with Elliott and Jones battling hard for the race lead. Coming to the white flag, Brandon jones cleared Chase Elliott for the race lead and started to pull away. But it wasn’t over yet. Elliott battled back on the outside, getting into the wall. In the final corner, Elliott tried to get the 20 on the inside but couldn’t make it stick. Brandon Jones wins his 8th career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
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