Advance to Victory Lane: Ryan Blaney tries to go back-to-back
Ryan Blaney snapped a 59-race winless streak by capturing the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday, and Racing Insights projects that the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford will go back-to-back by being victorious in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 near St. Louis (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCARadio).
But in order to do so, Blaney will need to buck recent statistical trends where parity has once again invaded the NASCAR Cup Series. Seven different drivers have won the last seven races this season starting with Christopher Bell at the Bristol Dirt Race and continuing with Kyle Larson (Martinsville), Kyle Busch (Talladega), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover), Denny Hamlin (Kansas), William Byron (Darlington) and Blaney (Charlotte).
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There will be plenty of stiff competition in Sunday’s field with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace being a candidate to keep the run of different winners going. Wallace is riding a career-best streak of top-five finishes with three in a row, and he and teammate Tyler Reddick both finished in the top five at Charlotte — a first for the young organization.
Adding to the intensity is the fact the gap between first place and sixth place in the regular-season point standings is just 17, the closest margin of all time after 14 races. St. Louis could be a hotbed of action on Sunday with potentially slick track conditions and temperatures expected to reach 93 degrees in Madison, Illinois, on race day.
OTHERS TO WATCH
Martin Truex Jr.: He has five top-10 finishes in the last seven races, including a win at Dover and a third-place result on Monday at Charlotte.
Joey Logano: He won last year’s race at Gateway by passing Kyle Busch during a dramatic overtime restart.
William Byron: He leads in several of the major statistical categories this season, including wins (three), top-five finishes (seven) and laps led (687).
Kyle Larson: Larson is second to Byron this season in wins and laps led with two and 583, respectively.
Projections as of Thursday, June 1.
RACING INSIGHTS‘ PROJECTIONS FOR ENJOY ILLINOIS 300
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.
Finish | Car number | Driver |
---|---|---|
1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
2 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. |
3 | 22 | Joey Logano |
4 | 5 | Kyle Larson |
5 | 24 | William Byron |
6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
7 | 8 | Kyle Busch |
8 | 1 | Ross Chastain |
9 | 20 | Christopher Bell |
10 | 6 | Brad Keselowski |
11 | 45 | Tyler Reddick |
12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
13 | 10 | Aric Almirola |
14 | 14 | Chase Briscoe |
15 | 48 | Alex Bowman |
16 | 2 | Austin Cindric |
17 | 43 | Erik Jones |
18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace |
19 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger |
20 | 3 | Austin Dillon |
21 | 17 | Chris Buescher |
22 | 54 | Ty Gibbs |
23 | 99 | Daniel Suárez |
24 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
25 | 31 | Justin Haley |
26 | 34 | Michael McDowell |
27 | 38 | Todd Gilliland |
28 | 41 | Ryan Preece |
29 | 21 | Harrison Burton |
30 | 9 | Corey LaJoie |
31 | 77 | Ty Dillon |
32 | 42 | Noah Gragson |
33 | 51 | J.J. Yeley |
34 | 78 | BJ McLeod |
35 | 7 | Carson Hocevar |
36 | 15 | Gray Gaulding |