The NASCAR Cup Series is racing today at Chicagoland Speedway, with the eero 400 offering the potential to be one of the best races of the season. With the NASCAR starting lineup for Sunday set, it’s time to make some predictions.
Let’s dive into our NASCAR picks today for the eero 400 winner, stage winners and more.
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Kyle Larson Wins Stage 1
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Kyle Larson did finish just 0.001 seconds behind Denny Hamlin in qualifying on Saturday, but the No. 5 team was hit with a few penalties after failing inspection twice. Most notably, the team lost pit stall selection. We don’t see that being an issue in Stage 1. At a track where he boasts a career 6.2 average finishing position, the best among active Cup Series drivers, we see Larson picking up an early stage win tonight. It will inch him closer to Ty Gibbs for fifth place in points.
Related: NASCAR In-Season Challenge Predictions for Chicagoland
Michael McDowell Picks Up a DNF
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Michael McDowell and the No. 71 team already came to Chicagoland in a bad spot, sitting 21st in points and 32 points below The Chase cutline. Things were only made worse on Saturday, when the car failed inspection three times and wasn’t allowed to qualify. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’ll need to serve a pass-thru penalty at the start of the race. McDowell is going to find himself multiple laps down and fighting just to get into the hornet’s nest of chaos. It’s just a rough spot to be in and we think it’ll end with the No. 71 car getting involved in a wreck, picking up his second DNF of the season.
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Brad Keselowski Wins Stage 2
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Brad Keselowski needs points. Coming into Chicagoland, he sat two spots below the cutline thanks to a seven-race stretch where he averaged just 9.3 points per race. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins and the No. 6 team must now find ways to narrow that gap and that has to start at Chicagoland. After qualifying fourth on Saturday, we think Keselowski picks up a few points in Stage 1 and then the team works to earn the Stage 2 win (10 points), coming out of Sunday night with its first race with 30-plus points since Texas.
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Denny Hamlin Earns Fastest Lap, Finishes Top-5
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Denny Hamlin is on the pole for the eero 400 after posting a 30.296-second lap time on Saturday. It’s very possible that the future Hall of Famer picks up his fifth win of the season tonight at Chicagoland. However, we’re going to go in a slightly different direction. A rare mistake on pit road by the No. 11 team will cost Hamlin a few extra seconds in the final stage. That’ll prevent him from reaching victory lane, but he’ll still put down the fastest lap time to earn an extra point and finish inside the top five.
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Related: Denny Hamlin Assigns Blame for Incident with Carson Hocevar
Tyler Reddick Wins the eero 400
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Why pick a non-Toyota driver to win tonight? 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing have dominated this season and we see no reason for that to change in the eero 400. Tyler Reddick posted the best times on the long runs in practice on Friday, but he only qualified 13th on Saturday due to the unique setup and because he ran in Group 1. We think Reddick steadily works his way to the front of the field, benefiting from a few mistakes from his top competitors (Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs) to pick up his sixth victory of the year and retake the points lead. It would also feel fitting for Reddick’s sixth win to come in Chicago, the city where team owner Michael Jordan won six titles.
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