Sprint Cup drivers ready to take on Chicagoland Speedway
Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth (17) battles Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch in last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. // Geoff Burke, Getty Images for NASCAR
Don't think there is nothing unusual about Chicagoland Speedway.
While the track is another one of NASCAR's 1.5-mile ovals, Sprint Cup drivers say that each of those facilities has unique characteristics that distinguish it from another track. Understanding those differences may be crucial to mastering each, but driver opinion varies on just what is different about this track, site of Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400.
All agree, though, that running well on these intermediate tracks is crucial to having both a solid season and a shot at a title bid once the Chase For The Sprint Cup begins.
"There is a bulk of our season that is run on mile-and-a-half race tracks, so running well there – if all you did was run well at mile-and-a-halfs, you could still have a pretty good season," Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards said. "So, they’re really important. Chicago is one where we can, hopefully, try some stuff that will pay off down the road at Atlanta, Texas, maybe even California and Homestead – all of those tracks. So, hopefully, that will be a good race for us, and we’ll learn some things.”
Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick takes the same approach.
Harvick won his first two Cup races at the track, in 2001 and 2002, and has finished in the top 10 in six of his eight races there. He was third last season, the first time drivers ran the event on a Saturday night. He doesn't see any great secret to his success at the track, simply believing that it fits his driving style.
“For whatever reason, from the first day we put our cars on the race track, they’ve been really fast," Harvick said. "Every time we go back there it seems like it just fits our program and my driving style and everything that we do. It’s fun to go to a race track knowing that in the different kinds of cars that we’ve been a part of, everything’s been competitive, so, hopefully, it’s the same way this year.”
Like others, he sees some unique aspects to the track in Joliet, Ill.
“The little quirk that it has is the crooked back straightaway," Harvick said. "The back straightaway is round. You’re used to going down the back straightaway and just kind of hanging against the wall, and if you do that there, usually you’re going to hit it right after you get about three-quarters of the way down the straightaway because it’s going to curve back in. That’s probably the biggest difference it has compared to every other race track.”
“It’s a little bumpier, which gives it a little character," Edwards said. "I really like it a lot.”
"Chicago and Kansas are pretty much sister tracks," Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth said. "They built them almost the same – with the exception of Chicago has some more banking. It’s a track that I always enjoy going to. It’s got a lot of banking; it’s real fast. It reminds me a little bit of Texas. So, you know, they’re all a little bit different.”
RCR's Jeff Burton says Chicago reminds him of a "big, Richmond-style track."
Clearly, everyone views Chicagoland Speedway a bit differently.
And with this being just the second race at night at the track, you might think more research and development would be needed in order to get a handle on it.
That's not necessarily the case, though. Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch, who won this race last season, says that perhaps the most surprising thing of all about the facility is that there is not a lot of change over the course of the race.
And that is something else for competitors to take into account this weekend.
“The biggest thing I learned last year was the track didn’t change much, to be honest with you," he said. "It just got cooler and gained grip. The balance didn’t change a lot. That was pretty cool to see. Charlotte, we go there and it’s probably the most temperamental track as far as temperature. It’s so hot during the day and you’re sideways loose, busting your butt and then, all of a sudden, you get to night time and you’re knocking every wall down with the right-front corner.
"At Chicago, it didn’t change much, the track was well-lit, and everything went well."
