– Martin Truex Jr.: career-high 5th win of season
– Truex Jr.: wins playoff opener for 2nd straight season; advances to Round of 12 regardless of results in next 2 races (was eliminated in Round of 12 last season)
– Truex Jr.: 3rd career playoff win (1st 2 came last season)
– Truex Jr.: won by 7.179 sec; largest margin of victory in 16 Cup races at Chicago and largest margin of victory in a Cup race this season
– Chase Elliott: finished 2nd; 4th career 2nd-place finish (no wins)
– Jimmie Johnson: finished 8th on 42nd birthday
– Kevin Harvick: finished 3rd; opened playoff finishing 20th last year and 42nd in 2015
– Denny Hamlin: finished 4th; 4th straight top-5 finish (matches longest streak of career, also 4 straight in March-April 2008)
– Kyle Larson: finished 5th; 3rd top-5 in last 5 races (finished 23rd or worse in 5 of previous 7 races)
– Kyle Busch: finished 15th after leading 85 laps, fell to 5th in playoff standings
(NASCAR Recap From ESPN Research)[Read More Here]
