Beyond the Flag
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NASCAR: Five Lessons Learned From Chicagoland

By Michael Guadalupe

Sep 18, 2016; Joliet, IL, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. (78) during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2016; Joliet, IL, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. (78) during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 18, 2016; Joliet, IL, USA; Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) leads the field to the green flag during the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Chicagoland saw a lot of green flag racing and was not an entertaining . Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /

ChicagoLand Should Not Start The Chase

If the name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 wasn’t enough to convince you that Chicagoland Speedway was the worst race to start the Chase, having mostly green flag racing should have been enough to prove that the Chase needs to start at a much more interesting track.

Chicagoland was a harsh reminder of what is wrong with the Chase; it’s mostly made up of 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks. NASCAR seems to be blind to the fact that these types of tracks makes for some of the worst racing seen all season, and these tracks don’t attract new viewers to the sport.

The Chase needs to be made up of the best tracks in NASCAR, and Chicagoland is not one of them.

Too much green flag racing combined with the issue of how the lead car can’t be caught by the rest of the field, just shows the major issues in NASCAR right now instead of showing what makes the sport exciting, things like hard racing and tracks that allow drivers to potentially pass for the lead.

Cookie cutter tracks do have a place in the Chase, but the race this past Sunday was more of a reminder of how these types of tracks make the Chase not seem exciting, and how if one driver can hold the front position, they can easily move on to the next of the Chase.

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