MADISON, Ill.—Joey Logano, who won the inaugural NASCAR Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway last year, was impressed by the track’s effort to build on its success in the second year of the event.
Once again, the Enjoy Illinois 300 was a sell-out. The buzz around the event never wavered.
And despite a two-hour weather delay for lightning, the loss of timing and scoring—as well as broadcast capabilities due to the internet crashing during the race—the fans remained in the stands.
“I think they won again,” said Logano, who gutted out a third-place result on Sunday. “Even with all the adversity they had to fight through today. It goes to show that people in St. Louis, they love some NASCAR racing.
“It’s hot as hell out—or it was all weekend. And they showed up—all the fans—to sell out a couple of years in a row. They do a good job with the concerts. Everybody is really into it. Curtis (Francois, WWTR owner), who runs the track, should be really proud of what they’ve built here.
Here are five hot takes from Sunday at WWTR:
1) Hold my trophy—Twelve years after an altercation occurred between Richard Childress and Kyle Busch following a Craftsman Truck Series Race at Kansas Speedway, my how things have changed. Last year, the team owner and driver realized they would be stronger aligned than as adversaries. Now they appear to be on course to give the top teams in the Cup garage a run for their money. Busch is tied with William Byron for the most wins on the tour with three. Only the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team has more Playoff points. Busch scored just his first stage win on Sunday. Sure, the No. 8 team has experienced some inconsistencies during Busch’s first season with Childress. But once Busch and crew chief Randall Burnett are completely on the same page, the pair could be unstoppable.
2) Tough breaks for drivers with broken brakes—Four drivers exited Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 early with brake rotor failures. World Wide Technology provided one of the greatest challenges for teams brake-wise since Martinsville. Carson Hocevar was the first victim—but when his rotor exploded, a piece of shrapnel ripped through Chase Briscoe’s grille and destroyed his radiator, knocking the No. 14 Ford 50 laps off the lead lap. Both 23XI Toyotas blew rotors, ending Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick’s runs after the No.45 had led laps 30 circuits earlier.The most vicious shunt occurred on Lap 198 when Noah Gragson broke a rotor in Turn 1. His contact with the wall was so severe that NASCAR had to red-flag the race to repair the barrier.
Winning crew chief Randall Burnett said teams approached the inaugural even with a conservative brake package then returned to the shops and reevaluated.
“We get options on heavy-duty rotors or light-duty rotors, so we can choose and obviously choose how much cooling we run to them,” Burnett said.“It’s kind of a tough place because the straightaways are so long and you’re off the brakes for such a long time, and then you apply them really hard at the end of the straightaway, so the cycles of getting really cool down the straightaways and then really spiking up the heat, it takes a toll on the rotors.”
3) Kyle Larson doing Kyle Larson things—The 2021 Cup champion has wrecked in five of the first 15 races. And Saturday’s qualifying effort of 22nd was equally disappointing. Yung Money was completely distracted during his weekly media availability. He was baffled over just what went wrong in time trials. In the first stage of the race, Larson still appeared lost. He was 28th after the first segment on Lap 46.
But crew chief Cliff Daniels had a plan, and by the end of Stage 2 on Lap 142, Larson was 10th. Thirty-six laps later, the No. 5 Chevy was running at the point. Ultimately, Larson wasn’t strong enough to hold off race winner Kyle Busch, but he salvaged a fourth-place finish.
4) Payback’s a B****—And it’s coming for Austin Cindric. Neither Austin Dillon nor Ricky Stenhouse Jr., were thrilled with the Team Penske driver’s over-aggressive antics, which wiped out the Nos. 3 and 47 Chevrolets in one fell swoop. Both Dillon and team owner Richard Childress demanded Cindric be suspended. Dillon’s season has been nothing to write home about but after kicking off the year with the Daytona 500 win, Stenhouse had posted seven straight finishes of 15th or better entering Gateway. He had been running in the top 10 prior to being swept up in Cindric’s mess. Sunday was his first DNF of 2023.
“It’s frustrating to be taken out on the straightaway this close to the end of the race knowing I had a top 10 going,” Stenhouse said. “We’ll just have to start a new streak next week at Sonoma. My guys will bring me a good car. Austin Cindric probably won’t win that race. I think Austin (Dillon) and I will make sure of that.”
5) A Star is Born—Carson Hocevar sashayed into the World Wide Technology Raceway Media Center on Sunday to not only introduce himself but to hand out energy drinks to the fourth estate. Little did the driver know the assorted Celsius beverages would come in handy following a two-hour lightning hold, along with the loss of timing and scoring and the broadcast feed.
On the track, the 20-year-old from Portage, Mich., did not disappoint. Driving the back-marker ride from Spire Motorsports, Hocevar wheeled the No. 7 Chevy from 26th into the top 20 before Lap 60 and up to 16th on Lap 78. Fourteen laps later, Hocevar tagged the wall after a brake rotor broke, ending his day. While we all wonder what could have been, there’s no doubt this isn’t the last we’ll see of Hocevar on NASCAR’s top tour.
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer.
