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Logano powers to Cup pole in Atlanta

Joey Logano (pictured) led an armada of Fords into the top eight starting spot for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway. Logano clocked in at 30.979 seconds (178.960 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to secure his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his third at EchoPark and the 32nd of his […]

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Joey Logano (pictured) led an armada of Fords into the top eight starting spot for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.

Logano clocked in at 30.979 seconds (178.960 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to secure his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his third at EchoPark and the 32nd of his career.

Logano matched the time posted earlier by Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing, but the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford got the nod for the pole on an owner points tiebreaker.

Ryan Blaney posted the third fastest lap at 178.937 mph, followed by Austin Cindric at 178.626 mph, as Team Penske drivers and the Penske affiliate Wood Brothers locked out the first two rows for Sunday’s race, the opening round of the 32-driver In-Season Challenge.

Logano faces ninth-place qualifier Alex Bowman in the first round.

“Being up front and controlling this race is the name of the game,” said Logano, who won last year’s second Atlanta race, which was held in September. “If you can get up there and solidify the top position, I feel like you can stay there. The thing is, there are a lot of ‘What ifs?’ that play out in this race, a lot of cautions that may be timed in a different way, where it can jumble up the field.

“It’s hard to say you’re going to be leading every lap… The good thing is that we controlled what we could today. I’m super proud of Team Penske, Roush Yates (Engines), Ford, obviously to keep our Mustangs up there. It really shows the ability to repeat from car to car, which is really hard to do.

“We tied with the 21 (Berry) and the other cars were within a couple hundredths of a second.”

Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer and Zane Smith completed the Ford sweep of the top eight starting spots.

Bowman drove the fastest Chevrolet to ninth on the grid, and Pocono Raceway winner Chase Briscoe was 10th in the quickest Toyota.

Denny Hamlin, top seed in the In-Season Challenge, qualified 33rd but expects his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to fare better in race trim. Nevertheless, Hamlin starts 19 spots behind Ty Dillon, the driver he has to beat to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Briscoe, the second seed, starts 17 positions ahead of close friend Noah Gragson, his first-round opponent.

Qualifying was interrupted by a 30-minute lightning hold, but no rain hit the track despite storms in the area.

Starting Lineup

 

Pos No. Driver Team Time Speed
1 22 Joey Logano Autotrader Ford 30.979 178.960
2 21 Josh Berry DEX Imaging Ford 30.979 178.960
3 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 30.983 178.937
4 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Quaker State Ford 31.037 178.626
5 60 Ryan Preece Solomon Plumbing Ford 31.130 178.092
6 6 Brad Keselowski Consumer Cellular Ford 31.153 177.960
7 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 31.155 177.949
8 38 Zane Smith Aaron’s Lucky Dog Ford 31.160 177.920
9 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 31.203 177.675
10 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 31.210 177.635
11 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 31.237 177.482
12 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 31.242 177.453
13 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ford 31.247 177.425
14 10 Ty Dillon Mark III Employee Benefits Chevrolet 31.265 177.323
15 9 Chase Elliott NAPA/Children’s Chevrolet 31.284 177.215
16 54 Ty Gibbs Sonic/Grillo’s Pickles Toyota 31.298 177.136
17 34 Todd Gilliland Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Ford 31.302 177.113
18 24 William Byron Axalta Chevrolet 31.310 177.068
19 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 31.315 177.040
20 35 Riley Herbst # Tree Top Toyota 31.315 177.040
21 16 AJ Allmendinger LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 31.329 176.961
22 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 31.329 176.961
23 45 Tyler Reddick Upper Deck Toyota 31.331 176.949
24 23 Bubba Wallace Leidos Toyota 31.353 176.825
25 1 Corey LaJoie(i) Schluter Systems Ford 31.356 176.808
26 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 31.358 176.797
27 4 Noah Gragson Zep Ford 31.376 176.696
28 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 31.405 176.532
29 8 Kyle Busch SENIX Chevrolet 31.407 176.521
30 77 Carson Hocevar Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet 31.409 176.510
31 99 Daniel Suarez Quaker State Chevrolet 31.446 176.302
32 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 31.462 176.213
33 11 Denny Hamlin King’s Hawaiian Toyota 31.463 176.207
34 1 Ross Chastain Wendy’s Fresh Way to Frosty Chevrolet 31.484 176.089
35 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 31.485 176.084
36 87 Connor Zilisch(i) Red Bull Chevrolet 31.500 176.000
37 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hungry Jack Chevrolet 31.537 175.794
38 78 BJ McLeod(i) Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster Chevrolet 31.550 175.721
39 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Ford 31.564 175.643
40 66 David Starr(i) WNB Factory Ford 34.113 162.519



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CHEVROLET NCS AT CHICAGO: Chase Elliott Media Availability Quotes – Speedway Digest

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Chicago Street Course. Media Availability Quotes: Besides extra media, was this week different than any other week? “No… you know, you’ve been around me and Alan (Gustafson) long […]

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Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Chicago Street Course.

Media Availability Quotes:

Besides extra media, was this week different than any other week?

“No… you know, you’ve been around me and Alan (Gustafson) long enough to know that by Tuesday, really even Monday, it’s kind of back to work. I feel like we did a good job enjoying it. I try to embrace those moments, you know, as I’ve told you guys a lot and tried to slow it down as much as I could, just because that’s an important time to cherish and remember. All of those things are extremely special, but there’s another race in a week and the train keeps rolling. We got back to work and just kind of started on our Chicago prep like a normal week would have been.”

Is there anything that you saw, if you saw any sort of highlights of the celebrations or anything, that you feel like really either kind of struck you or made you think, wow, that’s what made it really cool?

“Yeah, I mean just having lived it, right? Having lived it and the experience with Rhealynn there after the race and just seeing her kind of open up and see her excitement. You know, go from this shy little girl that didn’t know anything about racing to celebrating in victory lane with us at the end of the night. It was just really, really special to kind of see that transition. To have my mom there and other family members and friends — those things just make those moments unique and I’m grateful for them. Just the whole experience was incredible. So, yeah, couldn’t really have asked for any more last week. You know, obviously, it all worked out in our favor and hopefully we can do this more often.”

Whether it’s talking about advocating for the Nashville race near the city or you were praising the L.A. Coliseum or praising here when we first started the Chicago Street Race — you’ve been one of the biggest advocates for racing near city and bringing it to the people. We don’t know if this is the last one of this race or not. But what do you think the legacy of bringing the street race has been? Was this proof of concept in drivers minds that this can work at other places?

“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s a great idea, for sure. And I’m all for that. The biggest reason I’m such a big advocate of Nashville is because it, to me, oval track racing is kind of our bread and butter, right? So we have that there. This is a great second choice to get to a city, but there’s nothing that’s going to top giving people a true short track… ‘What is NASCAR… Here it is’. You know, take an Uber from Broadway to the racetrack and go watch. Like to me, that is the biggest home run waiting to happen that we’ve had a long time. But this is a good second choice, as far as getting inside a big city market. It’s been a lot of fun from my perspective to come do it. It’s been a lot of fun for friends and family and people to come to this race, like just from my personal side, because it’s so different than what they typically see. You know, they go get nice dinners. If I’m busy at the racetrack on Saturday, they have things to go do. So all that stuff, selfishly, has been has been a lot of fun.

You know, look, I if I lived here and I wasn’t a NASCAR fan, I could totally see the frustration of roads being blocked and traffic and all that sort of thing. So look, I get it. I get it. But it’s been fun for us. I hope there’s been more positive than there has been negative for the people of Chicago. Whether this is the last year or not, I appreciate them having us, even the ones that didn’t want us. I look forward to wherever it goes next. I hope that somewhere down the line, we can take it to a different city, you know, just to switch it up… just like the championship race rotating. I think a city street course moving around would be really healthy and good. If this is last year, you know, I don’t think there’s any bridges burned. I just think maybe we move it around and, who knows, maybe come back another time.”

What lessons do you think this sport has learned from racing in downtown Chicago that could be applied maybe elsewhere?

“Well, you know, I kind of look at it more from a competition perspective when I’m thinking about your question. One thing that, which obviously I’m careful with this because I haven’t been on the track today, but I know and I can attest from last year or I’m sorry, the first year to last year, the way they repeated the track and just the measurements and the corner angles and braking zones – all the things were extremely similar. Where they had walls placed, like all that stuff was done really, really well. So I don’t know what process went into that, if it’s track scans or some sort of virtual representation or virtual model that they made up, but that’s the first thing that’s come to my mind that I’ve been most impressed by is how we’ve had the ability to recreate the track year to year. And I think if you have street courses and things from a driver’s side, it is nice to not have massive changes on the road from year to year because it can be tough to adapt to that stuff.

But that’s been fun. Obviously the marketing side is a whole other answer. But yeah, it’s been fun from a competition perspective, and I think they’ve done a good job with it.”

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NASCAR Cup Grant Park 165 at Chicago

Shane van Gisbergen has swept the pole positions in the NASCAR National Series events this weekend at the Chicago Street Course, as the driver captured the NASCAR Cup Series pole for Sunday’s Grant Park 165. The driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet turned a lap time of 89.656 seconds (88.338 mph) to secure […]

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Shane van Gisbergen has swept the pole positions in the NASCAR National Series events this weekend at the Chicago Street Course, as the driver captured the NASCAR Cup Series pole for Sunday’s Grant Park 165. The driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet turned a lap time of 89.656 seconds (88.338 mph) to secure the top starting spot.

SVG’s pole-winning lap was 0.468 seconds faster than the time set by Michael McDowell, who will start alongside van Gisbergen, in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five fastest qualifiers.

With 41 cars on the entry list, one driver failed to make the field for Sunday’s race. The driver, who will not compete in Sunday’s Grant Park 165 is Corey Heim, who bent a toe link on his No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota during his qualifying run.

Here is the official starting lineup for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. Race 19 of 36.

Pos

Car

Driver

Lap time

Diff

1

88

Shane van Gisbergen #

89.656

2

71

Michael McDowell

90.124

0.468

3

77

Carson Hocevar

90.180

0.524

4

45

Tyler Reddick

90.227

0.571

5

19

Chase Briscoe

90.273

0.617

6

8

Kyle Busch

90.371

0.715

7

60

Ryan Preece

90.534

0.878

8

17

Chris Buescher

90.544

0.888

9

54

Ty Gibbs

90.627

0.971

10

3

Austin Dillon

90.719

1.063

11

48

Alex Bowman

90.783

1.127

12

22

Joey Logano

90.785

1.129

13

20

Christopher Bell

90.836

1.180

14

5

Kyle Larson

90.845

1.189

15

6

Brad Keselowski

90.846

1.190

16

16

AJ Allmendinger

90.861

1.205

17

12

Ryan Blaney

90.886

1.230

18

99

Daniel Suarez

90.910

1.254

19

13

Will Brown *

91.045

1.389

20

34

Todd Gilliland

91.075

1.419

21

35

Riley Herbst #

91.171

1.515

22

1

Ross Chastain

91.205

1.549

23

41

Cole Custer

91.296

1.640

24

4

Noah Gragson

91.335

1.679

25

42

John Hunter Nemechek

91.359

1.703

26

38

Zane Smith

91.380

1.724

27

2

Austin Cindric

91.516

1.860

28

7

Justin Haley

91.604

1.948

29

21

Josh Berry

91.650

1.994

30

33

Austin Hill * (i)

91.663

2.007

31

66

Josh Bilicki * (i)

91.989

2.333

32

47

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

92.146

2.490

33

78

Katherine Legge *

92.368

2.712

34

43

Erik Jones

92.541

2.885

35

51

Cody Ware

92.681

3.025

36

10

Ty Dillon

93.313

3.657

37

23

Bubba Wallace

104.783

15.127

38

24

William Byron

0.000

39

9

Chase Elliott

0.000

40

11

Denny Hamlin

0.000

DNQ

67

Corey Heim * (i)

92.506

2.850

# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
* indicates “Open” entry
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points

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Former Forza dev says original Motorsport series died in Microsoft’s cuts, but Forza Horizon lives on

First reported by Eurogamer, former Forza content coordinator Fred Russell has stated on Facebook that the Forza Motorsport series has been effectively killed by Microsoft’s most recent wave of mass layoffs, but that the Horizon spinoff series will continue. Russell left Forza developer Turn 10 in 2016, but appears to still have inside contacts at […]

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First reported by Eurogamer, former Forza content coordinator Fred Russell has stated on Facebook that the Forza Motorsport series has been effectively killed by Microsoft’s most recent wave of mass layoffs, but that the Horizon spinoff series will continue. Russell left Forza developer Turn 10 in 2016, but appears to still have inside contacts at the company.

“Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more,” Russell wrote on Facebook. “A very sad day for one of the best car racing videogames. I loved my time there.” In response to a comment asking if Turn 10 would cease making games altogether, Russell responded that “Forza Horizon will continue at this point.”



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Shane van Gisbergen flies to NASCAR Cup pole in Chicago

After a dominant victory in Mexico City, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) remains the man to beat as NASCAR takes on the Chicago Street Course. He was nearly half a second faster than his closest competition, with Michael McDowell joining him on the front row. “That was epic,” said van Gisbergen. “I think the guys did […]

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After a dominant victory in Mexico City, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) remains the man to beat as NASCAR takes on the Chicago Street Course. He was nearly half a second faster than his closest competition, with Michael McDowell joining him on the front row.

“That was epic,” said van Gisbergen. “I think the guys did a great job. The WeatherTech Chevy is driving good. I’m a lucky boy. I got some great cars today — Xfinity pole and Cup pole. It’s pretty special. Yeah, looking forward to the race tomorrow. But what a tune-up … practice wasn’t that great but in qualifying, the car felt really good.”

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Behind van Gisbergen and McDowell, Carson Hocevar qualified third, Tyler Reddick fourth, and Chase Briscoe fifth. Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Dillon filled out the remainder of the top ten.

As the first group went out, reigning Supercars champion Will Brown set the pace with a 1:31.045s lap, but he would not stay there as his fellow Supercars champ SVG surged to the top of the board.

Briscoe, who has more pole positions this year than any other driver, went even quicker than van Gisbergen, but SVG wasn’t done just yet. He responded in a big way, rocketing back to the top, over six tenths quicker than Briscoe.

As the Group A session ended, Noah Gragson limped back to the pits after hitting the wall and breaking a toe-link, but he did a good job not to impede the other drivers on track.

During Group B’s qualifying session, Bubba Wallace spun out just before the finish line and nearly backed into Erik Jones as he tried to straighten it out. However, he spun again later in the session, hitting a tire barrier. Brad Keselowski also backed it into the tires at Turn 7, but continued with minimal damage.

As for SVG, no one could hope to match him. The Spire Motorsports teammates of McDowell and Hocevar were the closest, but even they were almost five full tenths behind the road racing ace.

The battle to make the race

Corey Heim, Toyota

Corey Heim, Toyota

Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images

This race will also feature a DNQ for the first time in seven years (in a race other than the Daytona 500). Brown, along with Katherine Legge, Corey Heim, Josh Bilicki, and Austin Hill were battling for the final four spots on the grid.

Shockingly, it was Heim in jeopardy as he went slowest with a 1:32.9, hitting the wall and bending a toe-link. As the time ticked down, he went back out with a visible damaged car. The No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota was skewed as he dragged it around the track, finding another four tenths but still sitting slowest among all drivers.

It came down to a battle between Heim and Legge. She hit the wall during her first run but escaped damage. On her second attempt, she picked up a lot and ended up beating Heim by 0.138s in a stunning upset and strong showing by the part-time Cup driver.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott did not take part in qualifying after incidents in practice. Denny Hamlin did not post a lap either after suffering a blown engine in practice.

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Nick DeGroot

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Shane van Gisbergen

Trackhouse Racing Team

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All 4 Hendrick cars to the rear of Cup field in Chicago

CHICAGO — All four Hendrick Motorsports cars will start in the rear of the NASCAR Cup Series field for Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course. Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott qualified 11th, 14th, 38th and 39th, respectively. Byron and Elliott didn’t get to run a qualifying lap at all […]

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CHICAGO — All four Hendrick Motorsports cars will start in the rear of the NASCAR Cup Series field for Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course.

Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott qualified 11th, 14th, 38th and 39th, respectively.

Byron and Elliott didn’t get to run a qualifying lap at all after smacking the wall in practice. Byron — and the Xfinity banner he hit — had far more damage than Elliott.

Elliott hit the wall exiting turn four, breaking a toe link. Alex Bowman had a similar issue but far less damage to where he was able to qualify.

In qualifying, however, Kyle Larson gave Hendrick the unfortunate superfecta. Larson was in an incident that left him with damage.

As a result, Larson, Bowman, Elliott and Byron will start in the rear of the field Sunday in Chicago.

MORE: NASCAR at Chicago 2025: Odds and more info

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com



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Berry Qualifies 29th at Chicago – Speedway Digest

Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start 29th in Sunday’s Grant Park 165, which will be contested on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn course through the streets of Chicago. Berry took that spot with lap at 86.416 miles per hour on the second of three laps he ran during […]

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Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start 29th in Sunday’s Grant Park 165, which will be contested on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn course through the streets of Chicago. Berry took that spot with lap at 86.416 miles per hour on the second of three laps he ran during qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

That represented a significant increase in speed from practice earlier in the day.

Among drivers who ran 10 consecutive green flag laps, Berry was 10th fastest, averaging 83.511 mph from the second through the 11th lap he ran.

Sunday’s 75-lap, 165-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag at 1 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Eastern) with Stage breaks planned for Laps 20 and 45. TNT will carry the TV coverage.

WBR PR



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