NASCAR Cup Series

Chicagoland Speedway held its first Chase race last year as the 1.5-mile track kicked-off the 10-race playoff. Dodge’s Brad Keselowski qualified sixth and raced to a fifth-place finish to score sixth in the Chase standings, 14 points behind the leader heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

EGR has made 28 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts at Chicagoland. In those starts, EGR drivers have earned one top-five, seven top-10 finishes and 11 top-15 finishes. EGR has completed 7,023 laps out of a possible 7,485 laps, or 93.8 percent, and has led 90 laps.

Carl Edwards on racing at Chicagoland Speedway: “We are going to Chicago to win the race. We have nothing to lose. We almost had nothing to lose at Richmond, but now we really have nothing to lose. We are going to go out and just enjoy these last 10 races for what they are. It’s a chance to go have fun, to try things we’ve been wanting to try all year that we want to try for next year and just try to get victories. I wish so bad this was the first race of our 2012 championship, but really it’s the first race of our 2013 championship run. We’re just getting a head start on these guys and that’s how we have to look at it.”

Richard Childress is tied for second place for number of car owner victories at Chicagoland Speedway with two wins out of the 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events. Kevin Harvick scored back-to-back wins for RCR in the 2001 and 2002 Tropicana 400. In 35 starts at the 1.5-mile suburban Chicago tri-oval, Richard Childress Racing teams have combined for eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes with ten different drivers including Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, Harvick, Casey Mears, Paul Menard, Steve Park and Mike Skinner.

Multi-platinum country music quartet Lonestar will give a free concert for race fans on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 11:30 a.m. in Victory Plaza, presented by AAA. The band will then head inside the track where they’ll perform the National Anthem prior to the “AAA 400” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship contender Kevin Harvick welcomes 15 children from the George Werden Buck Boys & Girls Club in Joliet, Ill., to the final "Kevin's Krew" event of the year Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Nikon Metrology Inc. and Penske Racing today jointly announced a multi-year partnership agreement that makes Nikon Metrology the Official Supplier of Dimensional Metrology Products and Services to Penske Racing.

Biffle on racing at Chicagoland Speedway: “I love racing at Chicago, it’s a fun track to race on. Chicago is a real straightforward 1.5-mile track where you slide around a little bit, grip is always an issue and you’ll see everyone two and three wide on the race track. One of the most important things will be qualifying on Friday and getting a good starting position. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’ll see the No. 16 in victory lane for the first race of the Chase.”

After finishing second last weekend at Richmond and securing a "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" berth, Jeff Gordon said he felt like he had won the race. Actually, it was nearly three races that he won that night.

“I always look forward to racing at Chicagoland since it’s the closest track to Wisconsin and it’s always fun going there with so many friends and family around. Chicago’s been a pretty good track for us in the past, and hopefully we can start off the Chase on the right foot this weekend."