HLs: NASCAR Cup Series, Eero 400 Chicagoland
Watch highlights of the NASCAR Cup Series at Chicagoland Speedway for the Eero 400.
Video Transcript
A sellout crowd.
We're ready to go at Chicagoland.
Front row, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson.
Hamlin takes the inside lane, something to watch all night long.
We're green on TNT.
Oh, we got a car sideways down the back straightaway.
Two cars spinning.
Wasting no time.
Ryan Preece comes in right- Hard inside the wall.
We got a car- Hit the chase bubble, and he's not the only one.
The rookie Connor Zilisch.
I knew it, man.
I saw the Red Bull car sliding down the inside and making contact with the inside wall.
Another quick- Sorry, guys another quick end of the day.
That wasn't me.
That's a heartbreaker.
Oh, my goodness.
Can't fucking get anything to go for me.
Connor on the inside here, right against the bottom of the racetrack.
Preece up high a little bit.
Got a lot of three wide action right there, and a little contact with the outside wall.
Like that example- And that- Connors has nothing to do with it, right?
They wreck in front of him and, and he gets collected.
Yeah, Preece had to kind of check up and move down and makes contact with the 88, spins him out.
Let's see who that is that gets in the wall.
Looks like the Raid car.
John Hunter Nemechek squeezes somebody into the outside wall coming up off, off of turn two.
It was a dark colored car.
I couldn't make out the car number either.
Riding with Sendrick here.
Oh, the 43 gets into the back of Preece and turn him around.
Blending to the outside, making it three wide.
Much better start here for Larson, working in that outside lane.
Yeah, we're three wide all the way through the back of the field.
Off the corner, driver five trying to slide down, take the top spot.
It will be Larson in the race lead, and they're mixing it up big time behind him.
Yeah, it looked like Gibbs had a little trouble there on that restart.
Lost a lot of spots, fading back to the middle of the pack.
Brad Kei, four wide right there, Reddick around the top.
2311 teammates in that mix.
You talk about Reddick, Bubba Wallace there in the 23.
And then we saw Preece get in that early spin.
For the Preece fan, he's four laps down.
Car looks fine.
He's in the middle of the back half of the field.
He needs some early yellows as Hamlin now attacking Larson.
It's Denny time.
Over the long haul, we know how good he's been.
Battle for the race lead 19 laps in.
Wonder how hard the five will fight here, trying to keep control of this race.
I don't know that he can put up much of a fight.
Around the bottom goes the 11.
Mr. Long Run himself.
In the last couple years between the tire combination as this battle continues- Spinning now we have a yellow on the racetrack.
Oh, Zane Smith.
Yeah, making his 100th career start.
Brings out second caution flag of the night.
Let's see what happens.
They're- Oh, oh, contact on the bottom, stacked together here.
Yes, sir, somebody, somebody was not happy with something.
Oh.
Oh, wait a minute.
Zane in the 77.
Both drivers making career start 100 and connected at the hip here.
Yeah, well, 200 starts just slid up the hill together.
Man, I think there's got to be some more to this story.
I wonder how they ended up in that situation.
Let's take a onboard.
See, looking in the mirror.
Man, it's pretty hard contact with the right side.
That is.
It's gonna be a net positive right now for Bubba, possibly as well for Reddick.
William Byron on the scene in third.
Bell getting the shove from I think that is the- That's Bubba right there.
Larson said, "I'll go inside, I'll go outside."
Yeah.
The one thing I like is the lead on restarts.
Five back on point.
Bell to the top trying to get third here down the back straightaway.
Not gonna be able to do it.
Goes to the inside of Byron.
He's got a great run.
Side by side with William into turn three.
Middle of the track, Bubba Wallace to the outside of Christopher Bell.
Oh, no, we got a spin, the 33 hard into the wall.
I got one more.
Man.
Caution number three, Austin Hill.
Austin's been struggling all weekend with his race car.
Just hadn't had the speed that he's kinda shown over the last several weeks driving this 33.
Just like- I think that's SVG.
SVG.
Oh, boy.
Oh, boy.
Yeah, that's something.
Big contact right there.
That's, that's really, really hard contact with this race car.
Or frustration from two weeks of- Yeah racecourse racing.
That's right.
Remember, SVG and the 33 were kind of in the middle of that wreck that, the big wreck at San Diego at the front of the field.
Yeah.
Van Guggenheim, or however you say his last name.
Yeah, it was just payback for, California.
Somebody coming out, one of the leaders, the 20 of Bell.
Oh, big contact.
Yep.
It don't, it might not look bad, but that sort of contact on the front of the 20 can absolutely dis- dislodge some duct work.
If it hit the tire, it can knock the toe out.
They had to reject the car to make sure they got one of the wheels tight on, on the left side or the right side.
And so cost him a little bit of te- time on pit road, and he comes out behind a lot of cars.
Fast race car, smart driver.
Long way to go in this race.
Denny's gonna be just fine.
But if you look on the left side of the pylon, a handful of cars stayed out, five of them.
Coming to 10 laps to go, stage one at Chicagoland Speedway.
New leader, William Byron out front.
Yeah, let's take a look and see how it happened.
William getting around the two of Austin Sendrick.
There he goes to the bottom of the racetrack.
Austin on the mole tires are starting to show up a little bit.
Austin had good speed at practice.
First on five laps, second on 10 laps.
So this is no fluke that this two car can get up there and keep this pace, but just the tire advantage of the 24.
Hamlin going after Herbst.
That's for seventh on track in stage one.
And out in front of them, it's William Byron who gets the stage victory, his second of 2026.
Great job by Riley Herbst holding the boss off.
Remember that big win a year ago at the Brickyard?
He'd love to relive that by getting a win this summer.
Side by side for the lead off turn four.
Side draft of the 24, Byron on the top of the racetrack.
They send it down into turn one.
Bubba wraps the bottom.
He's clear, well clear of the 24 of Byron off of turn two.
Bubba Wallace the new leader.
So many times you got to be patient to make it work here, because it takes so long, as we've said, to execute a pass.
Also his, his main challenger in the bracket this weekend.
Larson, Byron, they're going at it for second.
Oh, no.
Oh, God.
Look out.
There goes Larson.
You're good, you're good.
Keep walking it out.
Keep walking it.
Caution is out.
Watch out for this grass.
Yeah.
A lot of rain.
We'll see what kind of damage.
Let's hope he can get out of there.
You can push.
No, sir.
Not gonna happen.
I'm stuck.
Gonna push here.
Been a great summer for Larson.
Top five in five of the last six.
Five doesn't have the LIS system, we're being told, so his only option is to be pushed.
And this is unfortunate, because it's gonna drag the bottom of this race car off.
Yes.
And I don't believe that once he gets back around, he's drug a bunch of down force off the bottom of the car.
I'm, I'm not a race car driver.
I'm a fan.
I'm a crew chief.
I hate this for Kyle Larson, but I love to see This is how hard these are to drive.
This is one of the best race car drivers in the world, who is trying to end that winless streak, pushing this race car, trying to make it free, trying to make it drive really good, and he spins out basically by himself on a very difficult racetrack.
Yeah, you got to go a long way back to check in on Christopher Bell.
Remember that contact on pit road earlier with Todd Gilliland.
They have pitted several times to fix that damage, and here's what Adam Stevens told his driver under the caution a couple moments ago.
I was gonna ask, Steve, if that was damage or tires.
Well, it's not the tires.
All the tires are in the in front of us.
It's got to be the damage, because your crew chief said don't with it.
Pit when it's open, but we're gonna have to work on it.
I'm not going backwards all day.
Briscoe going to the top of the racetrack, trying to get around the 23 of Bubba Wallace.
Bubba's struggling.
Here comes Denny Hamlin.
It's a three car battle now.
23 11 Toyota out front.
Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are there.
Bubba Wallace hanging on.
Got them coming on either side.
Man.
Inside Hamlin, outside Briscoe for the lead off the corner.
Briscoe's gonna have the momentum.
The two inside cars slowing each other down with the side draft.
Bubba sees it, slows the 19 down, but it's a little bit too late.
Now can Briscoe fight and get the spot back, get the lead back from Denny?
Denny with probably the better car of the two.
Danielle, see Chris Buescher leaving pit road, has to back up into his stall.
They're gonna have to retighten that left front tire for Chris Buescher, who said he was a little bit too tight for Buescher.
Same story for William Byron.
Said, "Yeah, compared to these guys", meaning the Toyotas he was racing up front, said, "I'm losing my front turn."
Rudy Fuge promised, "We will free you up" as the first green flag cycle happened here at Chicagoland.
37 to go in stage two.
You see Tyler Reddick coming back to pit road.
Hamlin, no complaints, especially on that long run speed, Danielle.
There's something wrong with the 45.
Tyler came on the radio and said, "Guys, we're in trouble.
I can't see anything, but it feels like water is everywhere."
Could be something with the oil pressure, Steve.
Yeah, I see some fluid underneath the nose of the 45 car.
You see it all over the right side.
Something has gone through the radiator.
Radiator and oil cooler.
Oil cooler.
So maybe a piece of debris or something has gone through the radiator, or something inside the motor has exploded.
But you see the fluid all over the right side, so this 45 will be retired.
They can go back, make mechanical repairs, but you question if there's damage to the engine.
And this will bring the yellow out.
All that fluid had to be somewhere.
In the garage thrashing on this 45 car.
I just talked to Slavica Labbe from TRD.
He said something went through the radiator.
Well executed night so far for he and crew chief Jonathan Hassler.
We'll see Bubba get a little bit loose right here.
Oh, big moment.
Chases the car up the track.
Little shot fake there.
Yeah.
Going into the corner.
24 losing the car a little bit right here.
Oh, 19 out of the gas.
Got tight.
Byron back to the green and white checkered flag.
It's a stage sweep for driver 24.
How about this?
21 total stage points for Byron in the last 11 races.
I think it's 20 here tonight.
That is big time.
19 of Briscoe on turn two exit.
A little bit too high, gets the right rear in the wall.
Ooh.
Byron kind of moved his line around, trying to build that gap a little bit, and here's that green flag cycle starting right now, Shannon.
24 right side of the screen.
Left side of the screen, 19 of Briscoe, who's already completed his service.
Let's see if he can do something about this.
On board with Briscoe.
Up ahead, Byron trying to get power down on the apron.
One lap newer tires.
What will Briscoe do with the run?
Take control of the race.
Great work by the 19.
There's the exchange.
The curious decision in my mind when I look at the leader board is Denny Hamlin's decision to run four extra laps.
They must feel there's that much payoff on the later side of this tires, because they lost multiple seconds.
They went from about three and a half seconds back to now you see on your screen almost 9.6 seconds back.
So- You know, they obviously have a plan.
They know what they want to strategize on.
They must feel the long run, the fresher tires at the end of the run is where the 11's gonna make his ground.
Unfortunately, though, he has to go through Ty Gibbs again, go through Blaney again.
That's gonna take tire life out of this 11 car.
Be a tough grind around the bottom.
Let's see if he can get in the gas to drive up next to the 24.
I think he has a pretty good run.
He's gonna clear him right here.
Oh, wow.
Take the line away.
That needed to happen to give Bell any chance of running down Briscoe.
Now a second and a half for Bell to Briscoe.
I don't know what happened to Hamlin, but he gave up three seconds in the last lap, so he might have had an issue.
Just had some wall contact, Steve.
Yes, some wall contact for Denny Hamlin.
Oh, Cook at the top, just getting into the wall.
So there you go.
Denny Hamlin's opportunity with one mistake probably gone away to win, unless we have a yellow.
The 19 on the left side, though, splits the lap cars.
He can see the 20 in the mirror.
He can feel him closing in.
That's what you gotta do, take those a- you know, aggressive moves to be able to at least take a spot or two from a lap car.
Bell needs a clean air right here.
He needs to find a lane the 19 doesn't run.
We're three and four.
Gonna be two laps to go this time by.
Teammates racing for the top spot at Chicagoland Speedway.
Chase Briscoe in front of Christopher Bell.
Briscoe to the bottom.
Can he get alongside the 19?
Not gonna be able to do it.
Briscoe with the good momentum off of the hill.
Stretches it out to about three car lengths down the back straightaway.
16 is AJ Allmendinger.
17th, final car on the lead lap.
Briscoe to the outside.
Bell right there with him.
One lap to go, sponsored by Credit One Bank.
Who's it gonna be, Briscoe or Bell?
Oh, Briscoe followed him down in the corner.
Loses a nose and tons of car lengths to the 19 car.
Bell, the broken wrist, driving injured.
Incredible rally.
Great defense for Chase Briscoe in trying to hang on.
Three wins a year ago in the 19, and he's gonna see his first checkered flag of the campaign.
Here's Chase Briscoe, a winner at Chicagoland.
Let's go, boys!
Awesome job.
Whoo!
Good job, man.
Great work.
That was a great way to hang on.
