Chicagoland / Iowa Weekend Preview
June 18, 2015
Staff Report
NASCAR Wire Service
Elliott eyes points lead, readies to roll at Chicagoland
Despite being from Atlanta, over 700 miles away from Chicago, Chase Elliott happens to really like the Windy City.
He
grabbed his latest win there last July, vaulted to the top of the
standings, and stayed there, using the momentum to run away with the
NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.
Ranked
third in the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings, 35 points behind leader
Chris Buescher, Elliott hopes to win at Chicagoland Speedway again as he
returns to the 1.5-mile track for Saturday’s Owens Corning AttiCat 300
(9:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1). The 19-year-old JR Motorsports driver
goes in riding a four-race top-10 streak and a visit to Victory Lane
could snowball into another NASCAR XFINITY Series title.
“Chicago
is a fun race track that has many grooves, which makes for a lot of
exciting racing,” Elliott said. “I really enjoyed going there last
season. We had some success there in July which really gives me a
confidence boost heading into the weekend.”
Don’t
be fooled by Elliot’s 35-point deficit in the standings. He has the
field right where he wants it. Elliott leads the NASCAR XFINITY Series
with 11 top-10 finishes and could easily be in first if not for wrecks
at the two restrictor plate tracks – Daytona and Talladega. Elliott
finished 28th at Daytona and 37th at Talladega, his only showings
outside the top eight this season.
Elliott
has been closing in on Victory Lane for the last month. Most recently,
he placed runner-up at Michigan after failing to hold off Kyle Busch on
the closing laps. In Iowa in May, he paced the field for a career-best
114 laps, but ceded the lead to Buescher on a late restart for another
second-place finish.
Elliott
understands he cannot gain all of his points back at once and that
consistency is the key to another XFINITY Series crown.
“We
are in this for the long haul and understand it’s a lengthy season,” he
said. “My NAPA team and I are committed to getting better each time we
go out and race, that’s where it has to begin.”
Jones hopes to harvest another win at Iowa
No one in their right mind would bring Erik Jones to a casino right now.
His NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season can be summed up with one word.
Unlucky.
Despite
dominating races, the NASCAR Next alum has yet to visit Victory Lane.
Jones’ latest unfortunate event unfolded at Gateway last week. He led a
race-high 84 laps at the St. Louis-area track before an accident on Lap
145 forced him out of the 160-lap race for good. The week before, he led
68 of the first 84 laps before battery issues took him out of
contention. Flashback to mid-May, Jones lost to Kasey Kahne by the
second-smallest margin in NCWTS history – again after leading the most
laps. Rewind another week back, Jones ran out of fuel after pacing the
field for a track-record 151 laps.
Jones
will attempt turn his luck around in Friday’s American Ethanol 200 at
Iowa Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1) where he is the defending
race-winner.
"Iowa
has been a pretty fun place for me,” Jones said. “I ran well in the
XFINITY Series race there earlier this year, so I'm pretty excited to
get back there this weekend and I think the whole team is as well. It's a
place that has been pretty good to me since I went there for the first
time in 2013, when we ran second in the spring, and then we were able to
get the win there last year.”
Just how bad has Jones’ luck been?
He
leads the NCWTS in nearly every statistical category, yet ranks fourth
in the standings, 33 points behind Matt Crafton. Jones sits atop the
series in in average start (2.5), average mid-race position (2.1),
average running position (3.8), number of fastest laps (333), laps led
(480) and driver rating (124.7). His average finish is 8.3, a stark drop
from his average start and mid-race positions.
Heading into Friday’s race, Jones’ sole focus is on taking the checkered flag.
“I'm
looking forward to having another short-track race this weekend,” Jones
said. “We showed some good speed in our Special Olympics World Games
Tundra last week at Gateway and we have a really good short-track
program overall. I think we have a good shot at defending our title this
weekend."
NASCAR Race Weekend Guide
NASCAR XFINITY Series
Race: Owens Corning AttiCat 300
Track: Chicagoland Speedway
Date and Time: Saturday, June 20 at 9:30 p.m. (ET)
Tune-In: FOX Sports 1, 9:30 p.m. (ET), MRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90
Distance: 300 miles (200 laps)
What to Watch For:
Five sons of current/former NASCAR drivers will compete on Father’s Day
weekend at Chicagoland: Chase Elliott, Ross Kenseth, Ryan Blaney,
Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon. Kenseth will make his NASCAR national
series debut. ... Chris Buescher tries to further his 25-point lead in
the driver standings. ... Defending NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Chase
Elliott returns to Chicagoland as the defending race-winner. Elliott
leads the series with 11 top 10s. ... Erik Jones will travel to
Chicagoland for double-duty after competing in Friday’s NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series race at Iowa. ... New England Patriots tight end Rob
Gronkowski, his father and brothers will serve as co-Grand Marshals for
Saturday’s race.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: American Ethanol 200
Track: Iowa Speedway
Date and Time: Friday, June 19 at 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Tune-In: FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. (ET), MRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90
Distance: 175 miles (200 laps)
What to Watch For:
Erik Jones returns to Iowa Speedway as its defending race-winner and
continues to search for his first victory of 2015. ... Cole Custer
attempts to win his second consecutive race after visiting Victory Lane
at Gateway last weekend. ... Timothy Peters, the only driver in the
field with two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins at Iowa tries to
join Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as the only three-time
winners at the track in a NASCAR national series. ... Open-wheel dirt
standout Christopher Bell will make his NASCAR national series debut for
Kyle Busch Motorsports.
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