NASCAR At Chicagoland: Tony Stewart Wins Chase Opener On Fuel Mileage

The first of 10 NASCAR Chase races are in the books. Here’s what some of the top 12 drivers had to say after Monday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland:

TONY STEWART (finished 1st): “We’ve had a miserable year. But the last three weeks have really started coming into it. ... I don’t think either one of us (crew chief Darian Grubb and Stewart) thought we had as good a car as we thought we needed to win today. But it didn’t take long in the race to figure out we were pretty solid.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. picked up his best finish since early June at the most opportune of times: The 2011 NASCAR Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway.

Earnhardt Jr. ended up in third place at Monday’s Geico 400 after he made his fuel last until the very end of the 400-mile event. The Hendrick Motorsports driver said his gas tank ran dry at the finish line.

Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 car silently and slowly crept toward his team’s hauler in the Chicagoland Speedway garage.

A couple crew members arrived to give it a final push, and the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion made the turn and came to a stop.

The 2011 NASCAR Chase opener resulted in a fuel-mileage race. Go figure.

In a season full of strategy races, Monday’s delayed Chicagoland Speedway race was another in a series of events in which drivers needed to stretch their gas as long as possible – and, as usual, some failed.

Debris has caused the second caution of Monday’s NASCAR race at Chicagoland Speedway, slowing down the Chase opener at lap 70.

Kurt Busch took the race lead from younger brother Kyle (who had used a two-tire strategy on the last pit stop) at lap 41 and retained his advantage on the latest pit stop due to the caution.

Roughly 22 hours after the originally scheduled start time for NASCAR’s Chicagoland Speedway race, the 2011 Chase is finally – finally! – underway.

Pole-sitter Matt Kenseth took the green flag at approximately 11:15 a.m. Central time this morning and was able to pull out to an early lead over No. 2 starter Paul Menard.

NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup opener will have to wait a day.

Persistent rain resulted in a postponement of Sunday’s scheduled Geico 400 race at Chicagoland Speedway, and NASCAR moved the race to noon Eastern time (11 a.m. local) on Monday.

It’s NASCAR race day at Chicagoland Speedway, and we’ve got the actual race start time, the starting lineup and some other facts about today’s Chase opener for you below.

Matt Kenseth isn’t known for his qualifying efforts – which might tell you something about just how fast the Roush Fenway Racing driver is this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.

Kenseth took the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Chase opener – his second No. 1 starting spot of the season, but just the sixth of his 12-year career.

There is just a small chance of rain for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. A slow-moving cold front is expected to move through the central and northern plains on Sunday. It will begin to spread areas of scattered-to-isolated showers into Illinois.

The good news is it appears this system will be moving slow and may not impact northeastern Illinois until Sunday evening or Sunday night.

Kyle Busch may have figured out a sure-fire way to finally end Jimmie Johnson’s five-year reign atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“I mean, nobody’s tried locking the dumbass in a Port-O-John yet,” Busch said with a wide grin. “I say that in the kindest way possible.”

Paul Menard’s spin toward the end of last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway was not intentional, the driver told SB Nation on Thursday night.

Menard, speaking after an autograph signing at a Menards store near Chicagoland Speedway, said the radio communication with his team about cautions was misconstrued.