Joe Gibbs Racing thrives in NASCAR return to Chicagoland

Chicagoland Speedway last hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race in 2019, when the series was sponsored by Monster Energy and race winner Alex Bowman was in the #88 car. 2,562 days later, the Joliet circuit roared back to life with the sound of Cup cars.

Bowman, now the driver of the #48, would enjoy a strong fifth-place outing. However, he and the field had little answer for Joe Gibbs Racing. Chase Briscoe held off team-mate Christopher Bell to score his first win of the season. Neither had raced Chicagoland in Cup prior, with Briscoe being in his rookie season in what is now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series when Cup was last here, while Bell didn’t move up until a year later.

Denny Hamlin finished third to complete a 1–2–3 finish for JGR. Podium sweeps are not a stock car statistic, but Sunday’s race was the 16th time in which a single team locked out the top three and already the second time by JGR in 2026 after Nashville.

Briscoe took the lead on Lap 222 and never let go. Bell tried to chase him down, but lapped traffic made his pursuit difficult. He eventually found a run in the closing laps and got up to Briscoe’s bumper before making a move on the inside, but was unable to complete it. Fortunately for Briscoe, lapped cars meant Bell had to let off.

“He about won the race in (Turns) 3 and 4 with two or three to go,” said Briscoe. “We caught a lapped car. We were going to have to run the top because the lapped car was going to the bottom. I ran a little too high, and he was so close to getting in my left rear. If he gets in my left rear, he instantly wins the race, but I was able to just barely squirt in front of him.

“He was going to catch me I think either way, but the lapped cars really just made it happen way faster. At the end of the last two laps, the lapped cars are what saved me. It made it where, you know, he didn’t have a clean lane. There was always another lap car running the bottom or running the middle. I could kind of block him in a sense.”

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While second is still a great points day, Bell continues to search for his first win of the season. It is his fourth runner-up in 2026 after Phoenix, Charlotte, and Nashville.

“I’m just a second-place driver,” Bell remarked. “That’s what I am.”

Zilisch banished to Torture City (again)

Connor Zilisch should start throwing salt over his shoulder or investing in horseshoes. Or calling an exorcist. Or a witch doctor. Literally anything that could turn his luck around.

It’s no secret that Zilisch has been struggling mightily as a Cup Series rookie. This included a hellish stretch in which he finished last in four of five races (Charlotte, Nashville, Michigan, San Diego) due to crashes.

Things seemed to finally trend in the right direction at Sonoma as he scored his maiden top ten in seventh. Unfortunately, whatever momentum he hoped to carry into Chicagoland was dashed when the weekend began.

He won Stage 1 from the pole during the O’Reilly race on Saturday, only to spin three times and have to spend the rest of the night fighting his way to a tenth. Sunday didn’t even last a full lap.

Shortly after the green flag, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek tangled on the backstretch. As luck would have it, Zilisch and Ryan Preece were unable to avoid it and wrecked.

Zilisch sits 34th in points, the second lowest among full-time drivers and even behind Bowman, who missed four races due to injury. Only Cody Ware, who races for the backmarker Rick Ware Racing, is below him.

2026 eero 400 – Results