Truex Jr. wins again, everybody in high gear to Chase

As the Chase for the Sprint Cup, 2016 edition, got under way Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, the first shot in the title hunt came from none other than ... Martin Truex Jr.

Yeah, Jimmie Johnson has ruled this time of year in the past. Kyle Busch is the defending champion, but he doesn't do much when title time comes around until it's the right time to do it.

But they didn't come close to what Truex did at Chicago. The No. 78 found another gear, rallied late, and won the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. Truex won for the third time this season and got a fairly huge break when a post-race laser inspection station failure was small enough to stay away from an "encumbered victory." 

Translation: Everyone on the 78 team can breathe again knowing they're safely through to the round of 12.,

Among the other highlights: Johnson led the most laps at Chicago (118), but ended up 12th. With the first of three races done in the opening round, Tony Stewart (16th) has the last transfer spot, a point ahead of Austin Dillon, who came in 13th, and Kevin Harvick, who was a lap down in 20th.

Michigan 2 race winner Kyle Larson was the first car a lap down in 18th, and he's two points behind Stewart.

As for Chris Buescher, he's holding up the rear, 12 points behind Stewart, after finishing 28th.

With Race No. 2 of the first round of the Cup Chase on deck, the fields are officially set for the first Chase battles in the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series. Here's a quick summary of who's in the running for the title.

XFINITY

1. Erik Jones. Four wins: Bristol 1, Dover, Iowa 2, Chicago.

He may be heading to Furniture Row's second Cup team in 2017, but Jones has every intention of making a last splash before he leaves. Already has a six-point cushion on the field.

2. Elliott Sadler. Two wins: Talladega, Darlington

Leads all Chasers in the field with 23 top-10 finishes and comfortably led the points for the regular season. He'll be going deep as a serious title contender.

3. Daniel Suarez. One win: Michigan

Take away his win where he led 62 laps, and the second-year Joe Gibbs Racing driver has led a combined 23 circuits in the other 25 races. Because he has to endure seeing Kyle Busch on track whenever the mood hits, that stat can be forgiven.

And now, the rest with best finish listed.

4. Justin Allgaier: Second at Talladega, Daytona 2, Bristol 2.

In the 10 races to the Chase, Allgaier's worst run was 11th at Darlington and his average finish was 6.0. He's a dark horse worth watching.

5. Ty Dillon: Second at Richmond 1, Iowa 1 and 2.

Crashed at Bristol 2, but wasn't in any real danger of missing Chase. Has averaged a 10th-place finish since then (four races). Will need to pick it up to contend.

6. Brendan Gaughan: Second at Road America.

A win on the road course would have been nice for his standing, but Gaughan has to do better on the 1.5-mile tracks to have a title shot. Five of the seven Chase races will be run from that distance, and his average finish has been 11th in six other tries this season.

7, Brennan Poole: Third at Talladega and Road America.

The Talladega finish was Poole's first top-5 of the year, but it came in the eighth race. With only seven races in the Chase, he has to get going after finishing 21st at Chicago.

8. Brandon Jones: Sixth at Las Vegas

He's the only driver other than Blake Koch without a top-5 run in the regular season. Gotta get at least one to be considered a contender.

9. Darrell Wallace Jr.: Second at Dover

Bubba hasn't been very strong of late. He hasn't finished on the lead lap in six of the last 10 races and was two laps down at Chicagoland while finishing 20th.

10. Ryan Reed: Fifth at Road America

The native of Bakersfield, California has a sixth, ninth and 10th on his season resume. Everything else is 11th or worse.

11. Ryan Sieg: Third at Daytona 2.

Sieg's only other top-10 showing was 10th at Texas. Moving on...

12. Blake Koch: Eighth at Richmond, Bristol 2.

Add in a ninth in the season opener at Daytona, and you have Koch's season in a nutshell. Next?

CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS

1. William Byron. Five wins: Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Pocono

Byron doesn't turn 19 years old until Nov. 29. He drives for Kyle Busch Motorsports. That's all you need to know.

Other than engine issues at Atlanta (32nd) and a crash at Chicago (30th), Byron has been outside the top 10 only three other times. Prime contender for the title.

2. John Hunter Nemechek. Two wins: Atlanta, Canadian Tire.

The win on the road course near Toronto on Sept. 4 gave Nemechek a few more enemies than he would have liked. Voted the most popular driver in the series last season, Nemechek shoved Cole Custer to the grass on the final lap, and the pair crossed the finish line together off the track.

The result: Custer isn't in the Chase and the debate over Nemechek's move will be talked about all the way to Homestead.

3. Matt Crafton. Two wins: Dover, Charlotte.

Crafton went back-to-back with his wins this season and is the only repeat champion (2012, 2013) in Truck Series history. Bigger question: Can he break his hex at Las Vegas, which is the second race of the first round in the inaugural Chase?

His average finish there in the last seven visits is 5.1, including three seconds and two thirds. A win Oct. 1, after all the ThorSport race shop went through with a fire in June, will be a big motivator for title No. 3.

4. Johnny Sauter. One win: Daytona.

After three races where he finished 28th, 32nd and 16rh following the Daytona win, Sauter has been outside the top 10 just once -- a 13th at Eldora.

5. Christopher Bell. One win: Gateway.

Teammate to William Byron, Bell crashed at Michigan and finished 24th, but rebounded nicely with a fifth at Canadian Tire and fourth at Chicago. He'll need those kinds of efforts to advance.

6. Ben Kennedy. One win: Bristol

The son of ISC boss Lesa France Kennedy, the 24-year-old's only other top-5 run was a fourth at Texas. The series returns there Nov. 4, and the Red Horse Racing driver will be a contender for the title if he can get out of the first round.

7. Daniel Hemric: Second at Chicagoland.

Beyond his showing Friday, Hemric has six (!!) third-place runs on his season to date. Keep that up, and he'll be fine, even without a win.

8. Timothy Peters: Second at Michigan

The second driver for Red Horse Racing has covered each of the top five positions without a win. Peters was third at Atlanta, fourth at Pocono and fifth at Martinsville. He hasn't finished on the lead lap just once all season -- 34 laps down in 27th at Eldora.

Enjoy the rest of the Chase and may your favorite driver fare well enough to hold the big trophy at Homestead.

Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports or @TommyZee81. Email him at tominator19@yahoo.com.

THIS WEEK'S RACES

New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile oval), Loudon, New Hampshire.

-SPRINT CUP: New England 300, Sunday, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 300 laps, 317.4 miles.

2015 champion: Matt Kenseth

-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: UNOH 175, Saturday, 1 p.m., Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 175 laps, 185.15 miles.

-XFINITY SERIES: VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300, Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Saturday, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

2015 champion: Ryan Blaney.

Kyle Busch gets first XFINITY win at Vegas

Prior to Saturday afternoon, Kyle Busch had never visited Victory Lane in any XFINITY Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With 77 career wins in NASCAR’s No. 2 series already in place on the resume, it would only be a matter of time.
After 11 prior misses, Busch put his foot down and delivered another dominating effort.
The Las Vegas native led all but one of the 200 laps and held off hard-charging teammate Daniel Suarez down the stretch to win the Boyd Gaming 300 on a windy, cloudy day at LVMS. Busch won his 78th XFINITY race in just his 313th start.
“Today was pretty special to finally get a win in the hometown and check that one off the list,” said Busch, who was runner-up in his two previous starts at Vegas. “I’m really excited to be able to accomplish that.”
Busch qualified on the pole earlier in the day with a speed of 182.698 mph, just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones – who overcame two pit-road speeding penalties to finish third – and Suarez. He wasted little time staying out front and only fell out of the lead during the race’s initial green-flag pit stop at lap 55.
“I think you saw this coming toward the end of last year when you look at JGR as a whole, how we started running on the XFINITY side,” crew chief Chris Gayle said. “It’s a big tribute to all the guys at the shop and all the work that was started last year, how it’s come over. It’s a lot of work by a lot of guys to make it happen.”
Suarez had a top-five car through most of the race and was able to chop off most of Busch’s lead after a red-flag period of 19 minutes at lap 138 for a wreck that involved Darrell Wallace, Cody Ware and Justin Marks in Turn 2. When the race resumed five laps later, the need to save fuel hit high gear.
“The fuel was a concern before the red flag,” Gayle said. “We didn’t know how close we were until we pitted on the last green-flag stop. At that point, after the red flag was lifted, the priority was keeping the lead. You never know how the cautions are going to fall.”
As it turned out, the red flag was the third and final caution of the race. Suarez closed within six-tenths of a second inside of 15 laps to go, but Busch had more than enough in his tank to close the deal and get the hometown win.
“Certainly there’s been a lot more following through the garage area after the (Cup) championship,” Busch said. “Typically this isn’t much different than the others. I know I didn’t make many friends when I was winning in the Bullring days, either.”
Suarez added: “It’s fun to drive fast race cars like that. Everyone worked hard the whole winter, and now it’s paying off slowly. It took me a while to figure out how to be fast with a loose race car.”
Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon completed the top five. Only 11 cars finished on the lead lap and the winning average speed was 145.415 mph.

Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports.

Digging dirt, kissing bricks and crunching numbers

It's only Wednesday, but another race week is upon us. For the third year in a row, the Camping World Truck Series heads to Tony Stewart's race track in the tiny town of Rossburg, Ohio to sling some dirt in the 1-800CarCash MudSummer Classic tonight at Eldora Speedway.
Before we go further, I got curious and wanted to find out exactly where in the world Eldora Speedway is located. As you look at the map provided here, you'll see it's pretty centrally located. Fans still have to drive to get there, but it's not necessarily a budget buster for those who live in Indianapolis, Columbus, or even Toledo and Cincinnati.
For those who want to see the race on TV, it begins at 9 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. where I live in Utah, and 6 p.m., Pacific (pre-race show hits the air 30 minutes earlier). Fox Sports 1 has the broadcast along with a story on how the whole evening will go. If you're thinking the show will be long, fear not. The track is only a half-mile around, but be prepared to witness a lot of heat racing to set the field.
Prediction: If everything's not wrapped up by midnight, it's a built-in excuse to call in sick to work Thursday. Just keep the ticket stub and/or parking pass in hiding.
Recent history at Eldora has shown that a good time and great racing are in store. Austin Dillon won the inaugural race before a packed house two years ago, and Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. is the defending champ. Last year's race went the full 150 laps, but the 2013 event needed three overtime laps to settle things.
Wallace's win was by a full five seconds over Ron Hornaday, but had the added element of seven caution flags that slowed the winning speed to 50.195 mph. Dillon was faster by 17 mph and 21 minutes of real time.
The weather forecast calls for no rain with comfortable temperatures in the low 60s by race's end. As for me, I'll be making sure to give it a look to see if Tyler Reddick or Erik Jones can close the gap on series leader Matt Crafton, who's only looking for his third straight championship.
Then we head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the XFINITY and Sprint Cup cars will race for the Lilly Diabetes 250 on Saturday and the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday afternoon.
Storylines should be plentiful. Jeff Gordon is looking for his sixth and final Brickyard win. Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are in the final year of their contracts at Hendrick Motorsports. And Kyle Busch is still on the march toward the Chase, needing to gain just 57 points over the final seven races to make the cutoff.
On the Gordon front, he's in reasonably decent shape despite going winless on the year. As they stand heading to Indy, the legend who claims Indiana as one of his home states ranks second out of the five non-winners who would make the Chase.
We're counting Kyle Busch among the Chasers because it's not a question of if he makes it, but when. And my feeling is it'll be well before they get to Richmond.
So sorry, Aric Almirola. You may have the final Chase spot right now, but the need for a win is urgent at this point.
Gordon is only a point behind Jamie McMurray, but 45 ahead of Paul Menard, the one who would be on the bubble if Kyle Busch barges his way into the top 30.
Prediction: Busch will be safely in the top 30 by the time they finish at Bristol on Aug. 22. That's how good he is right now.
As for Jimmie Johnson, he's going to retire as a Hendrick driver. No question, 48 fans. Please step away from the ledge. The guy has six championships, after all, and leads everyone with four wins this season.
Not so sure about Knaus, though. He's been with Johnson since Day 1, and the results are spectacular, with 74 career wins in 490 starts. That's one every 6.6 times they hit the race track.
Gordon didn't have Ray Evernham on the pit box when he won his fourth title in 2001 (Robbie Loomis was there). Wins usually do the talking in racing -- better attraction for sponsors that way -- but if money comes along that leads to a better opportunity, those in the know are the only ones who know what's best.
And it's best for the speculation to stay quiet for a while. It's healthier that way.
Tom Zulewski has covered motor sports in many forms through an 18-year career in journalism. Please read and share this post and follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports.