There were not many drivers who enjoyed the ‘Enjoy Illinois 300’ on Sunday. While the NASCAR Cup race at WWT Raceway saw some great racing, it also suffered from a never-ending string of incidents. It featured a track record 18 cautions, two red flags, and ended in double overtime.
When the smoke cleared and the mangled race cars were towed back to the garage, it was Kyle Larson standing victorious in a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2, leading a fleet of Chevrolets with Joey Logano mixed in the middle of it all.
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Five championship contenders failed to finish the race, and several others made it to the end but with significant damage to their race cars. That kept the title battle close, even for those who fell out of the event.
Here’s the biggest winners and losers from a truly mad race at Gateway:
WINNER: Kyle Larson finally returns to Victory Lane
Watch: Larson after breakthrough win: ‘We got our swagger back’
51 races later, Larson has ended a surprisingly long winless streak, claiming victory at WWT Raceway for his 33rd career win. The victory comes at the perfect time, as he closes to within just nine points of the championship lead in pursuit of his third title. He also led a triple top five for Hendrick Motorsports, and is the first HMS driver to win a race since Chase Elliott in early May. “We got our swagger back,” said Larson post-race. Jeff Gordon also praised Larson, saying his ‘confidence was there even when the speed wasn’t.’
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Kyle Larson wins mad Gateway Cup race after 18 cautions, two red flags, and double overtime
LOSER: The two Chasers named Chase after an unfortunate incident
Brake failures were an ongoing story throughout the race, and unfortunately, two Chasers named Chase suffered DNFs because of just one brake issue. Battling deep inside the top ten, Chase Elliott lost the brakes on entry into Turn 1, spinning up into Chase Briscoe and eliminating both cars from the race. He later apologized, though he was just a passenger himself when the failure happened. Elliott is now 11th in the standings, while Briscoe dropped three positions to eighth.
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WINNER: It’s not the win he wanted, but Joey Logano gains ground
Watch: Logano after falling short of win: ‘I had no homies with me’
Logano had this race circled as a weekend of opportunity for the No. 22 team. Things started off well, topping the speed charts in qualifying with the biggest pole margin by any driver since 2017. He then won Stage 1 and remained up front the entire day. However, he was at a tire disadvantage at the end, and had no friends with Hendrick cars surrounding him on all sides. While he missed out on a much-needed win, he did gain some ground in the standings with a third-place finish, moving from -72pts to -51pts against the points leader.
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LOSER: Ryan Blaney as the first Chaser to fall out of the race
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
The Penske driver that is leaving Gateway truly frustrated will be Logano’s teammate, Blaney. He was running sixth and had an easy top five car under him, but he was another victim of the many brake failures that day. He was also the first Chase driver to fall out of the race, leaving him with a very small handful of points. The only saving grace for him was the fact that so many other title contenders also had problems, minimizing the blow to his own title hopes. Even still, he left at least 30 points on the table this past weekend.
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WINNER: Trackhouse as they have something to smile about again
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing
Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing
It’s been a miserable year for Trackhouse Racing, but they nearly had a triple top ten at Gateway. Shane van Gisbergen spun in the closing laps, but the other two drivers in their stable held on for great finishes. Ross Chastain earned just his second top five of the year and his first since February, while Connor Zilisch earned his first-ever top ten on an oval since joining the Cup Series. Both of those stats would have surprised many people before the start of the year.
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LOSER: Christopher Bell takes one step forward and two back
Bell really thought he could win Sunday’s race at Gateway, and he was the top-running Toyota for a large portion of it. Unfortunately, he found himself in a frantic three-wide battle that went horribly wrong with just 18 laps to go. At the exit of Turn 2, he crashed along with several others, and he limped home to a 19th-place finish. After a big win in the Chase opener at Darlington, he was hoping to carry that momentum over into Gateway, but it just wasn’t the case. He called it a real ‘missed opportunity’ for the No. 20 team.
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WINNER: Alex Bowman with his best finish of the year after emotional loss
Watch: Emotional Bowman reflects on runner-up finish, loss of dog, Finn
Ahead of the race weekend, Bowman lost his dog, Finn, leaving him understandably heartbroken. He pushed through that pain and loss, and earned his best finish of the year with a runner-up result at Gateway. But of course, all of his thoughts were still on Finn post-race, remembering his dog in an emotional interview.
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LOSER: Brad Keselowski great day crumbles in closing laps
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing
There was no revenge on Carson Hocevar, as Keselowski instead had an incredible day at Gateway. Unfortunately the 12th-place finish he left with does not reflect that. He led 55 laps, and in doing so became just the 24th driver in history to lead 10,000 laps in his Cup Series career. However, the decision to stay out on old tires at the end proved costly, as he struggled to maintain the lead and then dropped back through the field. Things didn’t go great for his RFK Racing teammates either…
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WINNER: Chevrolet with their best showing in any race since 2015
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports
Seven of the top eight finishers all drove for Chevrolet! They haven’t had a result like that in over a decade, and it was much-needed after a difficult year for the bowties. That impressive result included three Hendrick drivers, two Trackhouse drivers, and one driver each from Richard Childress Racing and Spire Motorsports. Cole Custer even finished 11th for Haas as one of the few single-car operations in the field.
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LOSER: 23XI can’t seem to stay out of the mess
If there was a wreck, a 23XI Racing driver was often wrapped up in it on Sunday. Bubba Wallace was at the epicenter of two incidents, and was nearly in a third. Tyler Reddick got squeezed into the wall early and went airborne in the closing laps. And that’s just the team’s Chase contenders … Riley Herbst was the first caution of the day, and went on to spin three different teams, while also suffering a fuel fire in the pits. Their top-finishing driver was Wallace in 14th, which was impressive after wrecking twice in the final stage. But still, a day to forget for the Michael Jordan-owned team.
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