After all the excitement of Kyle Larson attempting the double, the historic weekend ended in failure thanks to bad weather in both Indianapolis and Charlotte. In a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, Christopher Bell finished in Victory Lane and Larson left without completing a single lap behind the wheel of his No. 5 Chevrolet. Next, NASCAR heads to the St. Louis area to take on World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park) for the 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300.
Meanwhile, the NASCAR Xfinity Series ventures west to compete on road courses in Portland. The weekend features a full race schedule that you won’t want to miss.
The entry list for Sunday’s race on WWT has almost no changes other than the number 15 and 16 machines. Cody Ware will get behind the wheel of the #15 while Derek Kraus drives the #16.
Unfortunately for NASCAR, most of this week’s stories don’t revolve around on-track action. The biggest bombshell came when Stewart-Haas Racing announced its closure following the conclusion of the 2024 season. This leaves Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson without full-time rides for the upcoming season. More importantly, this news is a real shame for the people working behind the scenes at SHR’s store, as it means they’ll have to pick up the pieces.
image via @HendrickCars / Twitter
The other big news circulating in NASCAR this week is whether or not they will grant a waiver for Kyle Larson’s absence from the Coca-Cola 600. To qualify for the NASCAR postseason, drivers must run all of NASCAR’s scheduled races. However, injury waivers have been granted to Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman in the past. Obviously, Larson’s circumstances are not injury related, but I would be surprised if NASCAR didn’t grant a waiver given the amount of publicity his attempt to run the double generated. In my opinion, the waiver situation should have been resolved before the event, but now it has become a topic of conversation. We’ll see what decision NASCAR finally makes.
For now, we head to WWT, where my expectations for racing are low thanks to NASCAR’s short track issues. Although Gateway is not a truly short track, it plays out very similarly thanks to the low-banked corners. Overtaking is likely to be extremely difficult on Sunday, meaning track position will be a major factor.
2024 Enjoy Illinois Racing Odds and Predictions
The season-long theme continues with Kyle Larson (+550) and Denny Hamlin (+600) atop the odds list for Sunday’s race. Christopher Bell at +800, William Byron at +900 and Martin Truex Jr. at +900 also deserve mention for Sunday’s race.
However, given what appears to be a resurgent Penske team on short tracks with Joey Logano’s success at North Wilkesboro, I expect both Logano (+900) and teammate Ryan Blaney to finish near the front. I’m going to ride Blaney at +850 as my winning pick for this weekend. While Kyle Busch won last year’s race, RCR’s struggles have been brutal this year. I would stay away from picking Busch to repeat.
.@KyleBusch knows how to spend an awesome weekend in @WWTRaceway. pic.twitter.com/hWpDTSDTKO
-NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 30, 2024
If you really want to look at the list for a dark horse candidate, consider Chris Buescher at +1500. The driver of the #17 looks hungrier than ever after coming tantalizingly close at both Darlington and Kansas. He might also consider putting money on Ford to win at +225 given the value there.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you should also watch the Xfinity Series from Portland. Racing in that series right now? Exceptional. Whether on a short track or a road course like this weekend, those drivers and cars consistently deliver. You won’t want to miss the action in Portland.
Check out the schedule below so you don’t miss any action on the track!
Friday 05/31
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying – 5:35 pm CT on FS1 (Gateway)
Portland 112 (ARCA Menards West Series) – 6:00 pm CT on FloRacing (Portland)
Saturday 06/01
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 9:15 a.m. CT on FS1 (Gateway)
NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying – 11:00 a.m. CT on FS1 (Portland)
Toyota 200 (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) – 12:30 pm CT on FS1 (Gateway)
Pacific Office Automation 147 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) – 3:30 pm CT on FS1 (Portland)
Sunday 02/06
Enjoy Illinois 300 (NASCAR Cup Series) – 2:30 pm CT on FS1 (Gateway)
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