Chicagoland Speedway - The LifeLock.com 400 (News & Notes)

[HacheMan]

The Lifelock.com 400
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves to Chicagoland Speedway for the 19th race of the 2010 season, the LifeLock.com 400. NASCAR Fantasy Cheat Sheet's Brian Brown took a look at past performances, season trends, and spoke to team contacts to predict how the field should finish on Saturday.


When: Saturday, July 10, 2010; 7:46 p.m./et.


Weather: Sunny with a high around 84; wind out of the NNE at 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is zero percent.


The Track: Chicagoland Speedway

Chicagoland is a 1.5-mile tri-oval. It has 18 degree banking on the corners with 11 degree banking on the front straightaway and five degree banking on the back straightaway. Roush Fenway is tough to beat on most 1.5 mile tracks, but the team has yet to win a race at Chicagoland. Look for Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and the Hendrick Boys to be very strong on Saturday.


Key to Race: QUICK OUT OF THE PITS

As is the key with most 1.5 mile tracks tire-wear and pit stops will be a key to Saturday's race. Look for the drivers with the best location of their pit stall to have a big advantage in the race.


Qualifying Procedures:

47 cars will attempt to qualify for 43 spots. Cars not in the top 35 in the 2010 owner point standings will have to qualify based on speed. Starting positions 1-43 will be determined by qualifying runs on Friday, July 9 at 6:00 pm/et.


Fantasy Cheat Sheet:

Top 5


No. 29 Kevin Harvick: Chicagoland is one of Harvick's top tracks. He has two career wins and could easily make it three this weekend.
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson: Johnson has been awesome at Chicagoland. In eight races at the track he has finished outside the top six just twice. He is a strong candidate to find victory lane on Saturday.
No. 18 Kyle Busch: Busch has finished worse than 14th just once in five career starts (including a 2008 win) at Chicagoland. He will have no problem finishing inside the top five this weekend.
No. 17 Matt Kenseth: Kenseth has led 296 laps in the past five races at Chicagoland. He has as good of a chance to win as anybody.
No. 14 Tony Stewart: Stewart has finished no worse than seventh in seven of the last eight Chicagoland races.


6 to 10

No. 24 Jeff Gordon: Gordon has five top five finishes in nine career starts at Chicagoland. He is a great option.
No. 33 Clint Bowyer: Bowyer has cracked the top 10 in three of his four career starts at Chicagoland. He is a great third car on most fantasy teams.
No. 11 Denny Hamlin: Hamlin is usually a good shoe on intermediate tracks and this weekend should be no different.
No. 16 Greg Biffle: Biffle has finished in the top 11 in four of the past five starts at Chicagoland. He is a top 10 option again.
No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Junior won the 2005 race at Chicagoland. He should crack the top 10 again.


11 to 20

No. 2 Kurt Busch: Busch has five top 10 finishes in nine career starts at Chicagoland. He will just miss the top 10 this trip.
No. 39 Ryan Newman: Newman has three top six finishes, including a win, in eight career starts in Joliet. He will have a strong car again, but will finish just outside the top 10.
No. 31 Jeff Burton: Burton has been excellent in two of the past four Chicagoland races. He is a fine choice to make the top 15.
No. 9 Kasey Kahne: Kahne's had his best career finish at Chicagoland last year when he finished third. This is a good weekend to use the Budman.
No. 43 A.J. Allmendinger: A.J. finished 13th in both career starts at Chicagoland. If he can overcome the spat he had with the King last weekend he will be a great choice.
No. 5 Mark Martin: Martin won last year's race at Chicagoland, but the veteran driver is struggling a bit this season. We wouldn't anchor our team with him this trip to Joliet.
No. 99 Carl Edwards: Edwards has just one top 13 finish at Chicagoland in his career. This isn't a great weekend to use No. 99.
No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya: Montoya has finished in the top 20 in all three of his starts at Chicagoland. He is an option in every league.
No. 20 Joey Logano: Look for Logano to improve on the 18th place finish he had at Chicagoland last season.
No. 00 David Reutimann: Reutimann's success at Joliet has been mostly positive. He finished 12th last year, 14th in 2008 and blew an engine in 2007.


21 to 30

No. 83 Reed Sorenson: Chicagoland is Sorenson's best track. He has sleeper potential.
No. 6 David Ragan: Ragan has averaged a 19th place finish at Chicagoland. He should finish right around his average on Saturday.
No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.: Even though he blew an engine during the 2007 race, Truex has been fast in all four of his starts at Chicagoland. He is a decent pick.
No.12 Brad Keselowski: Keselowski continues to have some rookie struggles. He won't be a top 20 driver until his third trip to Joliet next year.
No. 98 Paul Menard: Menard has finished inside the top 30 the past 10 races this season. He is a decent fifth driver for those of you in deeper leagues.
No. 47 Marcos Ambrose: Ambrose has been wildly inconsistent this season. He isn't a fantasy recommendation until he can finish strong in consecutive races.
No. 82 Scott Speed: Speed had a great qualifying effort last year in Joliet, but struggled during the race. He should be fast in race-trim this year.
No. 19 Elliott Sadler: Sadler hasn't been great at Joliet during his career. He should crack the top 30, but won't help your fantasy team.
No. 1 Jamie McMurray: McMurray has been terrible the past five races at Chicagoland. He is to be avoided.
No. 09 Bobby Labonte: Labonte has finished in the top 21 in six of his nine career starts at Chicagoland. He isn't a bad fifth driver in most fantasy leagues.


31 to 35

No. 77 Sam Hornish Jr.: Hornish Jr. had one of the worst cars on the track the past two races at Chicagoland. This isn't the weekend to take a chance on Mr. Hornish.
No. 7 Robby Gordon: Gordon won't help your fantasy team this weekend.
No. 78 Regan Smith: Smith is trying to drive with a broken wrist. It hasn't gone well for him the past three races.
No. 71 Andy Lally: Lally is a road course specialist that gets a chance to drive the No. 71 this weekend.
No. 37 David Gilliland: Gilliland doesn't have much of a chance in the No. 37 ride.


Field Fillers

No. 21 Bill Elliott
No. 13 Max Papis
No. 37 David Gilliland
No. 34 Kevin Conway
No. 26 David Stremme
No. 38 Travis Kvapil
No. 55 Michael McDowell
No. 87 Joe Nemechek
No. 36 Casey Mears
No. 46 J.J. Yeley
No. 32 Mike Bliss
No. 64 Todd Bodine
No. 66 Dave Blaney


Brownie's Picks

Top Four:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Matt Kenseth

Sleepers:

1. A.J. Allmendinger
2. Reed Sorenson

Bust of the Week:

Jamie McMurray

 

[HacheMan]

Chicagoland: LifeLock.com 400
Track history: For several years, NASCAR planned to build a track in the Chicago area. A preliminary plan was formed in late1995 between NASCAR's Bill France, Jr. and Tony George, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable location for the new venue, Dale Coyne, owner of the newly built (1998) Route 66 Raceway contacted France and George with a new idea. They formed Raceway Associates and planned a superspeedway adjacent to Coyne's highly successful drag racing facility. Their intent was to build the Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile oval racetrack, to host NASCAR and IRL events. Construction began in August 1999 and the racetrack hosted its first Cup event in 2001.

The difference between this track and the other 1.5-mile D-shaped ovals at Las Vegas, Kansas, Texas and Lowe's, is that the backstretch is slightly curved rather than a straightaway. This gives the drivers a feeling of turning left the entire race.

First Chicagoland Speedway Cup race: Teammates Todd Bodine and Jimmy Spencer shared the front row in a pair of Travis Carter Kmart Fords for the start of the July 15, 2001 Tropicana 400. Bodine's No. 66 qualified on the pole with a speed of 183.717 mph. He led 6 laps and finished 14th. Spencer finished 5th after leading 50 laps in the No. 26. Kevin Harvick, driver of the Richard Childress No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet, started 6th in the lineup, led 113 of the 267 lap event, and scored his 2nd Cup career victory in only his 17th start.
2009 LifeLock.com 400: It was a Red Bull Racing front row at the start of the July 11, 2009 LifeLock.com 400. Pole-sitter, Brian Vickers (83) and Scott Speed (82) shared the drop of the green flag. Vickers would lead 10 of the 267 lap event and finish 7th. Speed got collected in someone else's wreck on lap 226 and was credited with a 36th place DNF. The only other double-digit lap leader was No. 48 Jimmie Johnson. He led 58 laps and finished just behind Vickers in 8th. Veteran Mark Martin and his No. 5 Carquest/Kellogg's Chevrolet showed the youngsters the way by leading 195 laps and holding off a last lap charge by teammate No. 24 Jeff Gordon to score his 4th of 5 wins last season.

Your fantasy game won't allow you to pick all track favorites so Mid-Pack Attack is here to help. A mid-packer may not win the race but has as good a shot at a top 15 finish as track favorites Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. There were 47 cars on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Cup race. Here are our picks for Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 in Joliet, Illinois.

Mid-Pack picks

You can't argue with three top fives in the last four Sprint Cup races this season. The other race was Loudon, where Kasey Kahne led 110 of the first 200 laps before his engine went south. He's determined to leave his Richard Petty Motorsports ride on a high note this season. He's also doing his best to get into the Chase. At 16th in the standings, this might be the last time we can use him as a mid-packer. His last two Cup starts at Chicago resulted in a 15th and 3rd. During those two races, Kahne scored the 6th-most championship points of all drivers entered in this week's event. This could be another week for a single-digit finish for the No. 9 car.

AJ Allmendinger is not one of your better qualifiers. His average Chicagoland Speedway start for two races is 29.5 but he has a 13th place average finish. He had his share of problems last week at Daytona where he finished 30 laps down in 36th. Before Daytona, though, he had six straight top 14 finishes. We think Allmendinger will return to his top 15 form again this weekend at the Joliet track.

While driving for the Chip Ganassi team, Reed Sorenson averaged a 16.6 finish in three starts at Chicagoland Speedway. He also made three Nationwide Series starts at this track for Ganassi and had a worst finish of 15th. He didn't do as well last season driving for the troubled (in 2009) Richard Petty Motorsports team. This year, he's driving for the Red Bull organization that shared the front row in this race last July. According to NASCAR Statistics, Sorenson is rated 1st among "Closers" (improving positions in the last 10 percent of the race). He moved up an average of 3.8 positions during that time in the last four races. Give Sorenson a look for a fourth or fifth driver this week.

Martin Truex Jr. has four Cup starts at Chicagoland of which three resulted in top 16 finishes. He has three Nationwide Series starts here with all three results in the top 16. At this track, he's rated 3rd in NASCAR loop data's "Quality Passes" (passing while running in the top 15) category. Over the last five races (he drove in only 4), 47% of his 284 green flag passes were QP's. Truex has been a victim lately of wrecks not of his doing. He was taken out by Jeff Gordon at Infineon and David Ragan at Daytona. If he can steer clear of other drivers' troubles this weekend, look for another top 16 or better from the driver from Jersey.