NASCAR: Chicagoland Post-Race Grades
By Dustin Smith
The NASCAR Cup Series recently completed the first playoff race at Chicagoland. See how the 2017 playoff eligible drivers fared after the opener.
First and foremost, Martin Truex Jr. showed he was not satisfied with the regular season NASCAR Cup Series title. Truex Jr. made quite the opening statement by winning the Tales of the Turtles 400 Sunday at Chicagoland.
Not only was Martin Truex Jr. able to be the first across the finish line on Sunday, he was able to get a special surprise in victory lane when he made it there. Because the race was sponsored by Nickelodeon, Truex Jr. was ceremoniously doused with neon green slime.
Unfortunately, Chase Elliott’s great day/grade for this segment has been hampered by a post-race inspection failure. This failure cost him 15 points in the playoff standings. Even more unfortunate for Elliott is how this incident changed his grade. Spoiler alert…Chase Elliott was sitting pretty with an A, but his grade now looks a little different.
Despite the great success Truex Jr. displayed, some drivers did not share the same success. Kyle Busch’s blacked out Skittles car looked to be the class of the field after the first stage. However, miscues on pit road eventually cost the #18. The week prior to the race in Chicago, Joe Gibbs Racing swapped the pit crews of Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez. The reason being…Busch’s crew had been making too many mistakes on pit road. Joe Gibbs Racing may flip the crews back after the issues suffered on pit lane last weekend.
Week one of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs are in the books. It is time to take a look at the grades each driver received from Chicagoland.