Live updates from NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway: Kyle Busch wins

Can Kyle Busch take advantage of his first pole win since 2019? Will Corey LaJoie impress in Chase Elliott’s stead? And is this the weekend when points leader Ross Chastain finally notches his first win of the season?

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow has been tasked with answering these questions and more as the action at World Wide Technology Raceway unfolds this afternoon. His live updates are posted in the section below. Refresh this page for the latest news. Results will be posted here after the race.

All times are Eastern.

Live updates: NASCAR race at Gateway

Stage 3

Lap 242: Kyle Busch wins! Great weekend for him and Richard Childress Racing. (Here’s The Observer’s postrace story on why Busch’s victory is a sign that 2023 feels a lot like his triumphant 2019 season — as well as thoughts on the days of Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar and others.)

Lap 235: Bubba Wallace! Into the wall! Another broken rotor. That could’ve been a fifth straight Top 10 for the 23 car. No more. We’ll have a green-white checkered at Gateway!

Lap 222: Green green green!

Lap 218: Austin Dillon gets spun right off the nose of Austin Cindric and lands right into Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s lap. All three of them were racing for P12. What a wild restart. It’ll be like that the rest of the way. Only 20 laps to go. Stenhouse’s day is done — a frustrating finish to an otherwise good day.

Lap 211: With 27 laps to go, another caution! The 15 car spun around. Gray Gaulding. You know what that means? Another late-race caution. Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano make up the Top 5. All haven’t pitted in 36 laps.

Lap 202: And we’re green again. Kyle Busch, then Kyle Larson, then Denny Hamlin, then Michael McDowell. Then another caution! Christopher Bell gets spun out after contact initiated by Austin Cindric.

Lap 198: Noah Gragson gets pummeled. Some sort of tire or brake rotor failure sees the 42 car skid into the outside wall and get hit hard. Gragson slow to get out of the car. Scary situation. Red flag comes out for debris. Only 42 laps to go in this one.

Lap 183: Back to green. Kyle Larson won the race off pit road after taking two tires while everyone else took four. He’s in front of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell and Ryan Blaney to start. One sober update: A pit crew member of Erik Jones was transported by ambulance off of pit road after that last pit stop. (Fox Sports later reported that he had been transported to a medical facility and that he is alert and awake.)

Lap 175: Tyler Reddick into the wall! Wheel completely destroyed. Appears to be a rotor issue. That prompts another caution. Now cars will likely file down pit road and be good on fuel the rest of the way. Reddick’s day is done.

Lap 164: There hasn’t been a huge shakeup through the first handful of laps in Sunday’s longest stage, but there has been some movement: William Byron is now taking the lead position, holding off Denny Hamlin right behind him. Ryan Blaney is running third about a second behind the leader. Tyler Reddick began Stage 3 out front after only taking two tires during the caution pit stop; he now sits P12.

Stage 2

Lap 140: Ryan Blaney, fresh off his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend, has flexed his speed again today en route to a Stage 2 win. Also earning stage points (in order): Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson. Larson has made quite the ascension up the field — it wasn’t all that long ago he was battling his own teammate-for-the-day, Corey LaJoie, in the back of the pack early in Stage 2.

Lap 98: We are green once more! A huge shake-up after pit road after differing pit road strategies are taken (two-tire turns, four-tire turns or no trip down pit road at all). The Top 10 upon restart: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Lap 92: Carson Hocevar is done for the day. It looks like the 7 car suffered a brake rotor issue. Hocevar, the young and popular Truck Series driver, stepped in for Corey LaJoie, who is running in the 9 car for a suspended Chase Elliott. Chase Briscoe was hit by some of the debris from that 7 car and is now getting work done on his 14 car.

Lap 54: Another caution on a restart. Ross Chastain makes contact with Michael McDowell on a turn, and McDowell spins out. The 34 car only took two tires during that last caution pit stop, which made him not have the best restart and rendered him a “sitting duck” to be spun while running in a pack like that. McDowell is told over the radio: “I believe that is what they call getting Chastain-ed.” Here we go again.

See the contact below and judge for yourselves:

Lap 49: A guy to keep an eye on is Tyler Reddick. The driver of the No. 45 car was the one that spun out on Lap 2 and at one point in Stage 1 was running P18. He’s got a fast car, though. Kyle Busch wins the race off pit road. Some penalties: Martin Truex Jr. is sent to the rear of the field due to a removing equipment penalty. Austin Cindric called for speeding on pit road, so he’ll begin Stage 2 at the back, too.

Stage 1

Lap 45: Kyle Busch takes the Stage 1 win from the pole position. That’s his first stage win of the season (despite having two race wins). Others who earned points (in order): Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez. Blaney failed prerace inspection twice, so he lost pit stall selection, which isn’t ideal for Gateway’s narrow pit road. But the car right in front of him, No. 6 driven by Brad Keselowski, is a lap down — so it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to enter and exit and hold track positioning this time.

Lap 14: We’re back to racing, and the top of the field is really tight. Then P5 to P10 are tight. Then it’s the rest of the field. Drivers appearing to enjoy the top line. Cars doing some single-file racing to get some speed and get back into a rhythm.

Green flag again! 5:46 p.m.: At long last, we’re green green green!

Red flag, 5:40 p.m.: The crowd gives the command — “Drivers, start your engines!” — and engines are fired again! Cars are filing back on the track. Back to yellow. The nearly two-hour red-flag lightning delay is now over.

Red flag, 5:37 p.m.: Drivers are getting in their cars, fans are returning to their seats — a return to racing looks promising! This will be our Top 10 once the green flag waves again, which will hopefully be within the next 10 minutes: Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Red flag, 5:21 p.m.: Still under weather delay. Strikes of lightning have scattered over the course of this last hour. Brutal. A note: World Wide Technology Raceway has lights, and the track is dry, so NASCAR is certainly incentivized to fit this race in today as opposed to postponing it to Monday.

Red flag, 4:16 p.m.: Another lightning strike in the area. Another 30 more minutes of delays. We’ll send another update once the lightning clears and drivers get settled back in their cars to race.

Lap 6: Red flag! NASCAR has been made aware of lightning strikes less than eight miles away. Drivers are allowed to get out of their cars. Typical lightning holds last 30 minutes; the race stopped around 3:55 p.m. ET.

Lap 2: Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch battling at the top of the field. Corey LaJoie drops to the back of the pack before Turn 1. And then an early caution! The 45 car driven by Tyler Reddick spins out. Minimal damage. Another note on LaJoie: He will file down pit road since he is last anyway to figure out exactly what went wrong.

Green flag 3:48 p.m.: Let’s gooooo racin’!

3:19 p.m.: One of the biggest story lines heading into Sunday’s race involves the emergence of the Fords. The manufacturer hasn’t had the most consistent year — but a Ryan Blaney win at the Coca-Cola 600, as well as a bunch of other good showings across the field last weekend, has seemed to bring about the sentiment that Ford has “figured some things out.” Ford drivers Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric will all start in the Top 10 today after a good day of qualifying Saturday.

2:45 p.m.: Some prerace timing to be aware of: Invocation: 2:24:20 p.m.; National Anthem: 2:25:10 p.m.; Command: 2:32:10 p.m.; Green Flag: 2:42:00 p.m.

2:35 p.m.: With Kyle Busch starting from the front and Brad Keselowski making his first Cup start in about an hour ... does today belong to the sport’s vets? History suggests so. Joey Logano, one of two two-time Cup champions active on the circuit now, won last year at this racetrack. It’s worth noting, too, that 38-year-old driver Grant Enfinger won the Truck Series race on Saturday.

How to watch NASCAR Cup Series race

• Race: Enjoy Illinois 300 Presented by TicketSmarter

• Place: World Wide Technology Raceway

• Date: Sunday, June 4

• Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

• Purse: $7,425,976

• TV: FS1, 2 p.m. ET

• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Distance: 300 miles (240 laps)

• Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 140), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 240)

Starting lineup at World Wide Technology Raceway

Below are qualifying results from Saturday. Gray Gaulding and Erik Jones will start at the rear of the field for unapproved prerace adjustments, per NASCAR.