The Chase is on.

  Week of Sept. 9, 2013

 

The Chase is on.

 

Sunday’s GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway (2 p.m. ET ESPN, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio) kicks off the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. The 12-driver field, led by No. 1 seed Matt Kenseth, includes three former series champions: Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch.

 

The regular season, which ended with Carl Edwards’ victory at Richmond International Raceway, underscored the competitiveness of this year’s Chase field. Edwards and Johnson finished one point apart in the 26-race standings; six of the nine qualifiers for this year’s Chase scored multiple victories, topped by 2003 champion Kenseth’s five wins.

 

Chicagoland’s 1.5-mile facility has opened the Chase just twice but both times the GEICO 400 winner – Brad Keselowski a year ago and Tony Stewart in 2012 – has gone on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

 

NASCAR Nationwide Series championship contenders Sam Hornish Jr., Austin Dillon and Elliott Sadler finished second through fourth behind winner Joey Logano when the series competed at Chicagoland Speedway in July. Hornish leads Dillon by 16 points entering Saturday’s Dollar General 300 (3:30 p.m. ET ESPN2). Logano is in the field – as is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

With seven races remaining, beginning with Friday night’s enjoyillinois.com 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship kettle has begun a slow boil. Matt Crafton holds a 37-point lead over 2012 champion James Buescher, winner of last weekend’s stop at Iowa Speedway. Buescher is the defending winner of the enjoyillinois.com 200.