Austin Cindric breaks 85-race drought with NASCAR Cup win at World Wide Technology Raceway: Surprise and elation were the watchwords for Team Penske driver Austin Cindric, who won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at the expense of teammate Ryan Blaney. The race was Blaney’s to win—until the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion ran out of fuel on the next-to-last lap and handed the lead to his teammate. Cindric charged past Blaney at the start/finish line and completed the checkered-flag lap as Blaney rolled agonizingly slowly to a 24th-place result.[Read More]
#2-Austin Cindric won the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway. The win is his first win of the year, first at WWTR and second career win.
#11-Denny Hamlin finished 2nd followed by #6-Brad Keselowski, #45-Tyler Reddick, #22-Joey Logano, #3-Austin Dillon, #20-Christopher Bell, #77-Carson Hocevar, #51-Justin Haley, and #5-Kyle Larson.
Pole winner #34-Michael McDowell finished 25th.
Stages 1 and 2 were both won by #20-Christopher Bell. He looked like he was on his way to win early, but began having engine troubles with fewer than 20 laps remaining. Ryan Blaney had a large lead for the remainder of the race and took the white flag with a lead of more than once second, but ran out of gas and was passed by Austin Cindric for the win.
There were 16 lead changes among 10 drivers and 5 cautions for 32 yellow flag laps.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – WWTR:
Austin Cindric won the Enjoy Illinois 300, his second victory in 94 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2024.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in three races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at World Wide Technology Raceway. It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2024.
Brad Keselowski (third) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Carson Hocevar (eighth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Denny Hamlin leads the point standings by 21 points over Kyle Larson.
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after WWTR:
Race 15 of 26 in the regular season
1) #11-Denny Hamlin [3 wins], 534 [points leader]
2) #24-William Byron [3 wins], 488
3) #5-Kyle Larson [2 wins], 513 [assuming the NASCAR waiver is granted]
4) #20-Christopher Bell [2 wins], 437
5) #9-Chase Elliott [1 win], 507
6) #45-Tyler Reddick [1 win], 473
7) #6-Brad Keselowski [1 win], 437
8) #99-Daniel Suarez [1 win], 290
9) #2-Austin Cindric [1 win], 305
10) #19-Martin Truex, Jr., 490, -44
11) #54-Ty Gibbs, 465, -69
12) #48-Alex Bowman, 417, -117
13) #1-Ross Chastain, 417, -117
14) #12-Ryan Blaney, 405, -129
15) #23-Bubba Wallace, 371, -163
16) #17-Chris Buescher, 368, -166
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag – Austin Cindric wins after Blaney runs out of fuel on the final lap! Blaney finishes 24th.
Lap 240 – White flag for Blaney.
Lap 236 – Five to go. Blaney’s lead over Cindric is 1.9 seconds. Third place Hamlin is more than 6 seconds off the lead.
Lap 231 – Ten laps remaining. Blaney in control. Cindric is second, but 2.8 seconds back. Then Hamlin Bell and Keselowski.
Lap 227 – McDowell pits with 14 to go.
Lap 225 – 16 to go. Blaney now leads Cindric by 2.8 seconds. Bell is now third, 3 seconds back.
Lap 224 – Bell has fallen to 1.6 seconds. He says the engine is blowing up.
Lap 223 – Blaney back to the lead by a half second.
Lap 222 – Bell is the leader at the line with 19 to go.
Lap 221 – 20 to go. Bell side by side with Blaney for the lead.
Lap 218 – Larson pits and Blaney talks the lead. Bell is working on him for the lead. Cindric, Wallace, and McDowell round out the top five.
Lap 216 – 25 laps to go. Larson, Blaney, Bell, Cindric, Wallace the top 5. Larson still needs to pit.
Lap 212 – Keselowski pits and Larson takes the lead.
Lap 211 – 30 laps remaining. Keselowski still leads but needs to pit. Blaney is up to 5th, Cindric 6th, Bell 7th.
Lap 199 – Bell now runs 16th. Ryan Blaney is in 12th. Blaney is first of those that pitted earlier.
Lap 194 – Bell pits from the lead. Keselowski now moves to the lead.
Lap 191 – Bell leads Keselowski by 5.8 seconds. He still needs to pit again, as does everyone that hasn’t pitted recently.
Lap 186 – 55 laps remaining. The top 10 are Bell, Keselowski, Reddick, Chastain, Haley, Elliott, Buescher, Larson, Gibbs, and Stenhouse.
Lap 179 – Bell returns to the lead.
Lap 176 – Some pit stops beginning for those that stayed out during the break.
Lap 166 – 75 laps remaining. Cindric continues to lead Blaney, Logano, Hocevar, and Hamlin. Bell is up to sixth.
Lap 149 – Green for the start of the final stage with 92 laps remaining. The top 10 are Cindric, Blaney, Logano, Briscoe, Hocevar, Dillon, Hamlin, Burton, Hemric and Smith.
Lap 145 – Pit road is open Bell off first with just two tires then Elliott, Keselowski, Gibbs, and Byron.
Lap 142 – Busch goes to the garage and is done for the day. It is his first DNF of the year.
Lap 140 – Caution out for a contact between Larson and Busch. They both spin and got into the wall, but drove away. Stage 2 will end under caution with the top 10: Bell, Cindric, Blaney, Elliott, Logano, Keselowski, Briscoe, Hocevar, Dillon, and Hamlin.
Lap 136 – Five laps left in stage 2. Bell leads Cindric by more than 3 seconds.
Lap 120 – Green flag back out. Bell, Elliott, Larson, Busch, Cindric, Keselowski, Blaney, Logano, Hocevar, and Briscoe the top 10.
Lap 115 – Pit road is open. Drivers that had not pitted come down for service. Busch is off pit road first. Bell stays out and becomes the leader.
Lap 112 – Caution out for Josh Berry into the wall.
Lap 110 – Truex had a tire go down and had to pit.
Lap 101 – Cindric leads Blaney Preece Keselowski and Briscoe. Bell currently 15th and pit stops will continue over the next 15-20 laps.
Lap 97 – Bell now pits from the lead.
Lap 92 – Some green flag pit stops getting underway for those that didn’t pit under the stage break.
Lap 85 – Bell has pulled out to a 2.4 second lead over Busch. The rest of the top five are Dillon Truex and Berry. Pole winner McDowell is stuck in 16th.
Lap 71 – Bell takes the lead from Busch.
Lap 66 – Christopher Bell has moved up to second, .3 second behind Busch. He’s on fresher tires.
Lap 56 – Busch got around Gilliland on the restart and is the leader.
Lap 55 – Green flag for the start of stage 2. This stage ends after 140 laps. Gilliland and Busch up front after staying out during the stage break.
Lap 50 – Leaders pit for service. Off pit road: Preece, Truex, Bell, McDowell, Cindric, Briscoe, Blaney, Hamlin, Gibbs, Keselowski. Preece, Truex and Keselowski took just two tires. Gilliland, Busch, Berry, Dillon, Stenhouse, Hemric and Kraus stayed out.
Lap 46 – Caution out for the end of stage 1. The top ten. Bell, McDowell, Blaney, Cindric, Hamlin, Byron, Gibbs, Reddick, Logano, Elliott.
Lap 42 – Christopher Bell takes the lead from McDowell.
Lap 36 – Ten laps remaining in the first stage. McDowell, Bell, and Blaney up front. Fourth place Cindric has fallen nearly 2 seconds off the lead.
Lap 30 – No changes up front. McDowell ahead of Bell by a couple tenths of a second.
Lap 23 – Back to green with McDowell, Bell, Blaney, Cindric, and Hamlin the top 5.
Lap 21 – Keselowski had to return to pit road for a loose wheel.
Lap 20 – Top 12 drivers stay out. Many further back pit for service. #Keselowski is off pit road first. #Stenhouse caught speeding on pit road.
Lap 18 – Caution out for the second time today. This time for Ware and Kraus on the backstretch.
Lap 8 – Back to green. McDowell, Bell, Blaney, Cindric, and Reddick the top 5.
Lap 3 – Caution out for an accident between Ware and Nemechek.
3:47pm/et – Green flag for the Enjoy Illinois 300. McDowell and Cindric up front. First stage is 45 laps.
3:33pm/et – Engines fired at WWTR.
3:24pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
1:10pm/et – Still no drivers to the rear for the start of the race.
11:40am/et – Weather looks good for today. Mostly sunny, high of 84. No mention of rain.
Race details:
Broadcast: FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 240 laps / 300 miles
Stages: 45 / 140 / 240
Average time of race: 3:17:55
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 50 mph
Fuel Window: 75 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
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.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: none
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway have been made.
Pole winner #34-Michael McDowell chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #2-Austin Cindric took the 5th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the WWTR Pit Stall page.
#34-Michael McDowell won the Busch pole for the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway with a speed of 138.598mph for his 3rd pole of the year, 1st at WWTR and 3rd of his career.
#2-Austin Cindric will start second followed by #12-Ryan Blaney, #20-Christopher Bell, #45-Tyler Reddick, #11-Denny Hamlin, #6-Brad Keselowski, #23-Bubba Wallace, #54-Ty Gibbs, and #8-Kyle Busch.
See the complete qualifying results and the Enjoy Illinois 300 Starting Lineup.
World Wide Technology Raceway – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the Enjoy Illinois 300 with a lap of 32.468 seconds, 138.598 mph.
This is his third pole in 480 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his third pole and ninth top-10 start in 2024.
This is his first pole in three races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Austin Cindric (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2024 and his third in three races at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Ryan Blaney (third) posted his third top-10 start at World Wide Technology Raceway. It is his sixth in 15 races this season.
Carson Hocevar (20th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR)
Qualifying Order
Practice for the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway is over. The results:
#22-Joey Logano 138.024
#12-Ryan Blaney 138.019
#54-Ty Gibbs 137.9922
#45-Tyler Reddick 137.639
#23-Bubba Wallace 137.438
Slowest: #43-Erik Jones 133.618
Most laps run: #10-Noah Gragson, 37 laps.
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 29 drivers): #22-Joey Logano 136.274.
Notes: Due to rain in the area, practice was combined into one 30 minute session.
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Enjoy Illinois 300 Practice speeds page.
There were no two-time failures in Cup Series inspection at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway is posted, 36 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
See the full entry list on the Enjoy Illinois 300 Entry List page.
Goodyear Fast Facts — World Wide Technology Raceway
Race rules and information:
