Enjoy Illinois 300 At World Wide Technology Raceway 

FAST FACTS: ENJOY ILLINOIS 300 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHASE RACE

 

RACE AT A GLANCE

WHEN	TRACK	TV	START
Sunday, Sept. 13	1.25-Mile Oval	USA Network	2 p.m. CT

 

What	Enjoy Illinois 300 | Second race of the 10-event NASCAR Cup Series Chase
Where	World Wide Technology Raceway | Madison, Ill.
Race Length	240 laps | 300 miles
Companion Event	NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Nu Way 225 Powered by Bobcat and Sauced by Blues Hog | Saturday | 6:30 p.m.

BROADCAST INFORMATION | ALL TIMES CENTRAL (LOCAL)

Session	Day / Time	TV	Radio
Practice	Saturday | 2:30 p.m.	truTV	MRN, SiriusXM
Qualifying	Saturday | 3:35 p.m.	truTV	MRN, SiriusXM
Countdown to Green	Sunday | 1:30 p.m.	USA Network	–
Race	Sunday | 2:00 p.m.	USA Network	MRN, SiriusXM
Post-Race Show	Sunday | 5:30 p.m.	USA Network	–

CHASE FIELD & CURRENT STANDINGS

Championship Standings Following Chase Race No. 1

Driver	Team | Manufacturer	Rank | Points
Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota	1 | 2,135
Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota	2 | 2,123 (-12)
Ryan Blaney	Team Penske | Ford	3 | 2,119 (-16)
Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing | Toyota	4 | 2,111 (-24)
Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota	5 | 2,098 (-37)
Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota	6 | 2,096 (-39)
Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet	7 | 2,086 (-49)
Joey Logano	Team Penske | Ford	8 | 2,063 (-72)
Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet	9 | 2,063 (-72)
Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing | Toyota	10 | 2,054 (-81)
Chris Buescher	RFK Racing | Ford	11 | 2,047 (-88)
Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet	12 | 2,046 (-89)
Daniel Suarez	Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet	13 | 2,041 (-94)
Austin Cindric	Team Penske | Ford	14 | 2,033 (-102)
Ryan Preece	RFK Racing | Ford	15 | 2,031 (-104)
William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet	16 | 2,021 (-114)

CHASE SCHEDULE

Playoff Path – A Look Back and Look Ahead

Previous Playoff Race	Next Playoff Race
Darlington Raceway | Sunday, Sept. 6 | Winner: Christopher Bell	Bristol Motor Speedway | Saturday, Sept. 19

WWTR CUP SERIES RACE & POLE WINNERS

Year	Race Winner	Team	Pole Winner	Team
2025	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
2024	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports
2023	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing
2022	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing

2025 RACE RECAP

HAMLIN WINS FROM POLE IN CUP SERIES OPENING ROUND OF 16

Joe Gibbs Racing flexed its muscle in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ opening Round of 16 as Denny Hamlin won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 before a sellout crowd at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Hamlin followed teammate Chase Briscoe’s victory at Darlington Raceway by winning from the pole, giving Joe Gibbs Racing the first two automatic berths in the Round of 12. The victory was Hamlin’s 59th in the Cup Series and fifth of the season, and it marked Toyota’s 200th Cup Series win.

Hamlin led four times for a race-high 75 of 240 laps and beat Briscoe by 1.62 seconds. Playoff drivers swept the top five and claimed seven of the top eight positions. Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports finished third, followed by Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.

Briscoe won the opening stage, with Hamlin third in the 45-lap segment. Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing finished sixth in the opening stage before winning the second. He led 58 laps in Stage 2 and the first 15 laps of the final stage before fading to eighth.

Hamlin and Logano battled side by side in the final stage before the leaders made their final pit stops on different cycles. RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, who did not make the playoffs, stayed out as the leader when the final caution waved on Lap 210 for Ty Dillon’s single-car incident in Turn 1.

The 15th and final lead change came on the restart, when Hamlin went inside Keselowski and Briscoe went outside. Both cleared Keselowski, with Hamlin taking the lead and Briscoe following. Hamlin pulled away and led the final 25 laps.

Click HERE for the full results.

NASCAR CUP SERIES NOTEBOOK

•   Christopher Bell snapped a 33-race winless streak by winning this past Sunday’s Chase opener at Darlington Raceway by 1.038 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs. He led 46 of the 367 laps to secure his first Cup Series victory since Sept. 13, 2025, at Bristol Motor Speedway. He had posted seven runner-up finishes this season during the drought.

•   Joe Gibbs Racing placed three drivers in the top six at Darlington, with Chase Briscoe finishing sixth behind the 1-2 finish by Bell and Gibbs. Teammate Denny Hamlin led 68 laps, but a slow pit stop and contact with Michael McDowell in the final stage relegated him to an 18th-place finish. Hamlin, the regular-season champion, retains a 12-point advantage over Bell.

•   Joe Gibbs Racing also placed all four Chase drivers among the top six in the championship standings. Hamlin leads Bell by 12 points; Briscoe is 37 points back in fifth, and Gibbs is 39 points back in sixth.

•   Kyle Larson led a race-high 99 laps at Darlington but slid to fifth after a late strategy gamble. The defending Cup Series champion is still seeking his first victory of the season; his best finish was second at Kansas in April.

•   Wood Brothers driver Josh Berry was the only non-Chase driver to crack the top 10 at Darlington, finishing seventh. It was his sixth consecutive top-10 finish, a streak highlighted by a season-best third at New Hampshire. Legacy Motor Club recently announced that Berry will drive the No. 42 Toyota next season.

•   Bell and Bubba Wallace were the biggest risers in the championship standings after Darlington, each improving four positions. Bell vaulted from sixth to second with his victory, while Wallace jumped from 14th to 10th after finishing eighth.

•   William Byron and Daniel Suarez were the biggest fallers in the championship standings after Darlington and the only two Chase drivers to drop multiple positions. Byron finished 37th and tumbled from 13th to 16th, while Suarez finished 21st and fell from 11th to 13th.

RACE HISTORY NOTEBOOK

•   Sunday’s race will be the fifth NASCAR Cup Series event at World Wide Technology Raceway and the second to be included in the NASCAR postseason. In 2025, the Enjoy Illinois 300 served as the second of three races in the opening Round of 16.

•   The first four Enjoy Illinois 300 races produced four different winners.

•   Team Penske is the only organization with multiple NASCAR Cup Series victories at WWT Raceway, with Joey Logano winning the inaugural event in 2022 and teammate Austin Cindric earning the second in 2024.

•   The winner started in the top seven in each of the first four races, including from the front row in each of the past three. Denny Hamlin (2025) and Kyle Busch (’23) won from the pole, while Cindric won from second (’24).

•   Logano is the only driver to finish in the top five in all four starts at WWT Raceway. He won the inaugural race in 2022, finished third in ’23 and placed fifth in each of the past two seasons. Hamlin ranks second with three top-five finishes.

•   Logano leads all drivers with four top-10 finishes, while Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Hamlin have three each.

•   Busch leads all drivers with 202 laps led, followed by Blaney (120), Bell (80), Cindric (79) and Hamlin (75). Bell is the only driver among those five without a victory at WWTR.

•   Blaney has the best average starting position at 3.8, followed by Hamlin (4.0), Cindric (5.8), Tyler Reddick (6.3) and Bell (8.0).

•   Logano has the best average finish among drivers with at least two starts at 3.5. Bell ranks second at 8.5, Kyle Larson and Blaney are tied for third at 9.5, and Hamlin is fifth at 9.8.