NASCAR Cup Series

Cole Whitt led his BK Racing teammates to the checkered flag as he brought home a 30th-place finish in the No. 26 Iowa City Capital Partners Toyota Camry at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on Sunday afternoon. Whitt was followed by Alex Bowman in the No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota Camry who finished 35th, and Ryan Truex who finished 42nd in the No. 83 Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota Camry.

When it was announced last year that Kyle Larson would replace Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series in 2014, my first reaction was shock. It had nothing to do with Larson’s skill.

Coming into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, there were a pair of Cinderella stories. A pair of drivers who had made the Chase by getting a win when least expected to surprise the fans and critics alike. Those two drivers - A.J. Allmendinger and Aric Almirola.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon and Paul Menard finished 15th, 16th and 21st, respectively.

After overcoming many hurdles during Sunday’s MyAFibStory.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the Roush Fenway Racing efforts with his 17th-place finish after a competitor made contact with his Ford with ten laps remaining.

Greg Biffle had his hands full to kick off the Chase in Chicago with a No. 16 3M ScotchBlue Ford that lacked grip. Biffle started 20th after rain washed out qualifying and NASCAR set the field on practice times. Throughout the race Biffle battled handling and long green flag runs cost him laps on the track, resulting in a 23rd-place finish.

A late-race battle between a rookie and three previous Chicagoland winners ended in Brad Keselowski capturing the checkered flag in his series-leading fifth win of the 2014 Sprint Cup season.

From Kevin Harvick swapping his pit crew to Marcos Ambrose announcing he will leave NASCAR at the season’s end, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 14th annual MyAFibStory.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Brad Keselowski claimed his second victory in a row and fifth for the season at Chicagoland Speedway in the opening race of the chase. With the victory he secured a spot in the Contender round of the run for the championship. The victory was the first for Ford Motor Company at Chicagoland Speedway.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion -- TALK ABOUT HOW THINGS PLAYED OUT FOR YOU TODAY. “I guess you couldn't ask for a better way to start the Chase other than starting up front. Just phenomenal with the way things played out. I don't know if we were the fastest car. There were some runs where I thought we were really fast and then some runs where I thought the 4 and the 42 were really fast. It was so hard to tell. Whoever had the cleanest air was really at such an advantage."