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Practice #1 : World Wide Technology Raceway

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  • World Wide Technology Raceway
  • Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Kyle Busch
  • Age: 38
  • Team : No. 8 - 3CHI Chevrolet
  • Owner: Richard Childress
  • Crew Chief: Randall Burnett
  • Kyle Busch won the Pole Award for the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter with a lap of 32.802 seconds, 137.187 mph.
  • This is his 33rd pole in 657 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his first pole and eighth top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in two races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Ryan Blaney (second) posted his 11th top-10 start of 2023 and his second in two races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Denny Hamlin (third) posted his second top-10 start at World Wide Technology Raceway. It is his sixth in 15 races this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (15th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, June 4th, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Kyle Busch converts pole position into NASCAR Cup win at WWT Raceway

Kyle Busch collected his 63rd NASCAR Cup Series victory on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, but the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet had to work hard for the first-place money.

Busch, the pole winner, survived five restarts in the last 40 laps of the Enjoy Illinois 300 and beat Denny Hamlin to the finish line by .517 seconds after Bubba Wallace’s broken brake rotor caused the 11th caution on Lap 236 and sent the race to overtime.

The victory was Busch’s first at the 1.25-mile track and the third in his debut season with RCR. It was a home game for his crew chief, Randall Burnett, who grew up in Fenton, Mo., and had family in attendance on Sunday.

“That was pretty awesome,” Busch exulted after he climbed from his car. “Man, to sit on the pole, lead a lot of laps and have my guys do such a great job today was pretty phenomenal for us. Great for RCR. Just win, baby! Thanks to Team Chevy, appreciate (sponsor) 3Chi…

“We're going to have a great time with this one. This one is pretty cool.”

Busch led five times for 121 laps, including the last 60. Neither Hamlin nor third-place finisher Joey Logano—winner of the inaugural Gateway race last year—led a single circuit.

Kyle Larson parlayed a two-tire call on Lap 178 into improved track position and a fourth-place finish. Martin Truex was fifth, followed by Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Michael McDowell and Kevin Harvick.

Blaney led 83 laps and Byron 30. Byron pitted from the lead on Lap 178 but fell to fourth with an uncharacteristically slow stop and faded in traffic after the subsequent Lap 184 restart.

Corey LaJoie finished 21st in a substitute role for Chase Elliott, who was serving a one-race suspension for wrecking Hamlin in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

Subbing for LaJoie in his usual ride—the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet—Carson Hocevar started 26th and gained 10 spots with an impressive drive through the field before a brake rotor failure on Lap 90 knocked him out of the race.

Hocevar was running 16th and chasing Austin Dillon for position when the right front rotor broke into pieces. The No. 7 Camaro made jarring contact with the Turn 1 wall to cause the fourth caution of the race, which was delayed for two hours with just seven laps complete because of lightning in the area.

“I thought it was great,” said Hocevar, who was racing a Cup car for the first time. “I had a blast. Just so thankful for the opportunity. I don’t have a job for next year. I know Al Niece and Cody Efaw want me to run for them (in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series), and I will forever run a race or however many.

“But man, I’m just so thankful that (Spire) gave me the opportunity—the opportunity to drive an Xfinity car (on Monday at Charlotte) and now driving a Cup car. I was running 16th… just so surreal for the first time ever. I thought we were going to have a good day and be in a good spot for the No. 7 Chevy team. Hopefully, that call for a Cup ride isn’t the only one I get in my life.”

Brake rotors weren’t an issue confined to Hocevar’s car. Tyler Reddick slammed the outside wall after his right front rotor exploded on Lap 175. On Lap 198, the same fate befell Noah Gragson, who took the hardest hit of all when his No. 42 Chevy slid up the track into the fence in Turn 1.

Bubba Wallace had the same issue with five laps left in regulation, and his contact with the Turn 1 wall set up the final two-lap run to the finish in overtime.

Hamlin felt the lightning delay played against him and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

“Yeah, I thought we were super dialed in if it was 95 degrees like it was supposed to be, (but) with those delays, it kind of took away from the advantage I thought that we had,” Hamlin said.

“I’m proud of this whole Sport Clips Toyota team—pit crew did a phenomenal job keeping us in it and doing really good on the money stop with about 60 to go. We are going to have to wait (for) another (race) to get that 50th (win).”

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 240
  • Laps Actual: 243 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: 0.517 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 28 Minutes 16 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 87.508
  • Cautions: 11 for 67 laps
  • Lead Changes: 10
  • Green Flag Passes: 1,778 (10.1 passes per green flag lap)

  • World Wide Technology Raceway
  • Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter
  • Race Winner: Kyle Busch
  • Age: 38
  • Team : No. 8 - 3CHI Chevrolet
  • Owner: Richard Childress
  • Crew Chief: Randall Burnett
  • Kyle Busch won the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter, his 63rd victory in 657 Cup Series races.
  • This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Denny Hamlin (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at World Wide Technology Raceway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Joey Logano (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Ty Gibbs (20th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Ryan Blaney leads the point standings by 13 points over William Byron.
Actor Chris Tucker shakes hands with Bubba Wallace
Madison, Illinois - June 4, 2023 : Actor Chris Tucker shakes hands with Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Leidos Toyota, on the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway.
Jonathan BachmanGetty Images
DRIVER
DRIVER
#
MAKE
SINGLE BEST LAP
RANK
SPEED
TIME
BHND
LAP
LAPS
TOTAL
MULTI-LAP AVERAGES
5-LAP
10-LAP
15-LAP
20-LAP
25-LAP
30-LAP
10-LAP AVG
SPEED
FROM
TO

Joey Logano
22
Ford
1
136.857
32.881
0.000
3
22
33.001
33.451
0
0
Kyle Larson
5
Chevrolet
2
136.811
32.892
0.011
3
15
33.323
0
0
William Byron
24
Chevrolet
3
136.558
32.953
0.072
3
22
33.140
33.443
0
0
Michael McDowell
34
Ford
4
136.517
32.963
0.082
3
20
33.075
33.179
0
0
Tyler Reddick
45
Toyota
5
136.459
32.977
0.095
4
25
33.259
33.375
33.424
0
0
Denny Hamlin
11
Toyota
6
136.322
33.010
0.129
5
29
33.082
33.128
33.161
33.196
33.246
0
0
Kyle Busch
8
Chevrolet
7
136.285
33.019
0.138
3
20
33.111
0
0
Chase Briscoe
14
Ford
8
136.252
33.027
0.146
4
20
33.091
0
0
Aric Almirola
10
Ford
9
135.898
33.113
0.232
5
22
33.302
33.406
33.470
33.527
0
0
Brad Keselowski
6
Ford
10
135.681
33.166
0.285
4
13
33.232
0
0
Martin Truex Jr
19
Toyota
11
135.673
33.168
0.287
4
22
33.506
33.583
0
0
Chris Buescher
17
Ford
12
135.616
33.182
0.301
3
14
33.453
0
0
Erik Jones
43
Chevrolet
13
135.554
33.197
0.316
5
16
33.278
0
0
Alex Bowman
48
Chevrolet
14
135.534
33.202
0.321
3
24
33.284
33.396
33.449
33.505
0
0
Ross Chastain
1
Chevrolet
15
135.428
33.228
0.347
7
26
33.349
33.383
33.421
33.755
0
0
Carson Hocevar
7
Chevrolet
16
135.416
33.231
0.350
4
24
33.332
33.634
33.706
0
0
Ty Gibbs
54
Toyota
17
135.184
33.288
0.407
5
30
33.410
33.477
33.537
33.592
33.667
0
0
Ryan Blaney
12
Ford
18
135.172
33.291
0.410
15
25
33.399
33.466
33.479
0
0
Bubba Wallace
23
Toyota
19
135.099
33.309
0.428
4
24
33.390
33.473
33.548
33.580
0
0
Austin Dillon
3
Chevrolet
20
134.900
33.358
0.477
5
21
33.473
33.550
33.623
0
0
Todd Gilliland
38
Ford
21
134.892
33.360
0.479
6
21
33.440
33.566
0
0
Ryan Preece
41
Ford
22
134.860
33.368
0.487
4
21
33.515
33.579
33.658
0
0
Christopher Bell
20
Toyota
23
134.803
33.382
0.501
5
20
33.494
33.563
0
0
Daniel Suarez
99
Chevrolet
24
134.791
33.385
0.504
7
23
33.417
33.586
0
0
AJ Allmendinger
16
Chevrolet
25
134.767
33.391
0.510
5
21
33.453
33.560
0
0
Austin Cindric
2
Ford
26
134.755
33.394
0.513
3
15
33.539
0
0
Kevin Harvick
4
Ford
27
134.686
33.411
0.530
6
27
33.533
33.646
33.689
0
0
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
47
Chevrolet
28
134.678
33.413
0.532
7
24
33.508
33.554
33.567
33.588
0
0
Justin Haley
31
Chevrolet
29
134.642
33.422
0.541
10
21
33.503
0
0
Corey Lajoie
9
Chevrolet
30
134.316
33.503
0.622
5
20
33.569
33.638
0
0
Harrison Burton
21
Ford
31
134.188
33.535
0.654
5
21
33.708
33.774
0
0
JJ Yeley
51
Ford
32
134.120
33.552
0.671
4
13
33.803
0
0
Noah Gragson
42
Chevrolet
33
133.587
33.686
0.805
7
21
33.904
33.931
0
0
Ty Dillon
77
Chevrolet
34
133.385
33.737
0.856
6
19
33.928
0
0
BJ McLeod
78
Chevrolet
35
133.191
33.786
0.905
8
8
34.041
0
0
Gray Gaulding
15
Ford
36
131.791
34.145
1.264
10
17
34.406
0
0