In The Know – ST Louis
The NASCAR Cup Series will make its first visit to St. Louis with the Enjoy Illinois 300 this weekend. Get up-to-speed on race info, driver stats, our weekly wraps and more below.
The Details
NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter (Round 15 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 5
● Location: Madison, Illinois, near St. Louis
● Layout: 1.25-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 240 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 95 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
SHR FAST FACTS
Kevin Harvick:
Harvick first competed at what was originally known as Gateway International Raceway on Sept. 19, 1998 in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. A 22-year-old Harvick started 21st and finished 11th in his 39th career Truck Series start. Harvick returned to Gateway a year later for his second Truck Series start at the track, starting 10th and finishing 27th. But it was his third start at Gateway – this time in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car on July 29, 2000 – that proved to be Harvick’s breakthrough moment. In his 21st career Xfinity Series start – and first in an Xfinity Series car at Gateway – Harvick won to score his first Xfinity Series victory, beating Jeff Purvis by 1.338 seconds. Harvick would go on to win two more Xfinity Series races that year en route to a third-place finish in the championship standings. In his return to Gateway the following year, Harvick successfully defended his Xfinity Series win by beating Jason Keller for the victory by .165 of a second. It was his third win of a five-win season that culminated with the 2001 Xfinity Series championship. Harvick won a second Xfinity Series title in 2006 and he has 47 career Xfinity Series wins.
In all, Harvick made five Xfinity Series starts at Gateway, leading a total of 332 laps and completing all but two of the 1,000 laps available.
Harvick has three Truck Series starts at Gateway, with his third and final start on July 17, 2010 being his best. Harvick won the pole and dominated, leading 143 of the race’s 160 laps to beat Brad Keselowski by 5.241 seconds. It was the ninth of his 14 career Truck Series victories.
Aric Almirola:
While Cup series racing at Gateway will be new to Almirola, his three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts there give him plenty of confidence heading to the 1.25-mile oval. In the 2006 Truck Series race, Almirola started 22nd and finished 10th, in 2009 he started 15th and earned a solid fourth-place finish, and in 2010 he started 16th before leading 16 laps and finishing eighth.
Almirola is no stranger to performing well at inaugural Cup Series events. Last year, the Cup Series for the first time visited Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.33-mile oval similar in size to Gateway. After a string of bad luck leading into that weekend, Almirola and the No. 10 Ford team earned the pole, led a lap and finished fourth.
Chase Briscoe:
Briscoe made one Truck Series start at Gateway in 2017. He started on the pole and led twice for a race-high 88 of 160 laps to finish in the runner-up position. It was his fourth top-five finish in the first eight races of the season. Briscoe went on to win the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading to Rookie of the Year honors and the Most Popular Driver award.
The 2021 Cup Series Rookie of the Year is fresh off a fourth-place finish in the series’ longest race of the year, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Briscoe spun while battling Kyle Larson for the lead on the penultimate lap but rallied during overtime to earn his third top-five of the season.
Briscoe is 13th in the driver championship with 14 of 36 races complete. He is 140 points out of first and currently holds a spot in the 16-driver playoff field by virtue of his March 13 win at Phoenix Raceway.
Cole Custer:
The driver of the No. 41 Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) had a solid three-year run at Gateway in three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearances from 2014 through 2016, all in the No. 00 Haas Automation entry. He qualified on the pole and finished sixth in his first outing in June 2014. He followed that up with his second of two career Truck Series wins in June 2015, when he started second and led 19 laps along the way, beating runner-up Spencer Gallagher to the checkered flag by .871 of a second. In June 2016, his most recent outing, he started eighth and finished 15th.
Sunday afternoon’s 300-mile race will be Custer’s 90th Cup Series start.
OUR WEEKLY WRAPS
Check out the paint schemes we’ll be racing in as we tackle 6oo miles this weekend.
What Our Drivers are Saying:
Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 #BuschLightPolite Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You made a total of five Xfinity Series starts at Gateway, winning two of them. What does it take to be good there?
“Well, it’s two drastically different ends of the racetrack. I know, for us, the thing that we always concentrate on is trying to make your car turn really well to and through the center of the corner on both ends, and being able to do that is difficult at Gateway because the two ends of the track are so different, and you wind up probably downshifting in turns one and two. With what they’ve done with the track – it’s different pavement than what I raced on a long time ago – it’ll be interesting to see if they put resin down or PJ1 down to make that top groove go. But, for the most part, you want to be right next to those curbs and carry as much speed as you can through the center of the corner, and as much partial throttle until you can get the car rotated enough to be wide open. But you have to get through the center of the corner there.”
Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Built Ford Proud Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
What are your thoughts heading to the inaugural Cup Series race at St. Louis?
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been there in a truck. Since then the track has been repaved and has had a lot of upgrades, so it’s going to be new to me, but also new to everyone. Getting 50 minutes of practice will be helpful. I’m looking forward to it. We went to Nashville in the Cup cars last year for the first time and we qualified on the pole and ran in the top-five all day. I hope to do something very similar for our first time at Gateway. We’ve had to adapt to new scenarios all year and I know this 10 team can do it.”
Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
What are a few of the things you expect to encounter on Sunday?
“A lot of shifting and probably not much passing. I think, in general, races this year have been a lot more exciting and I think that will continue, but I feel like it’s going to be really difficult to pass guys and track position will be really important.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
We’re headed into the summer stretch of the schedule. How would you describe where you and the No. 41 team are right now?
“I think we’ve shown we have speed, at times. At Martinsville we ran really well, at the road courses we’ve been fast. I think we’ve had potential at times, but we’ve definitely just struggled at the mile-and-a-halves, although Sunday at Charlotte all four SHR cars worked their way into contention at the end of the race. Before Charlotte, for whatever reason – aero or mechanical or whatever it is – we’ve just gone down the wrong path a little bit. The car’s been driveable, so I’m happy with that. It’s just going to be a process of trial and error without much practice to be able to really get to where we need to be on a consistent basis. You only get so many chances to get it right going into the weekend.”
THE BOSS JOINS ANOTHER HALL OF FAME
Join us in congratulating our boss Tony Stewart on being inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame this weekend.
#BUSCHLIGHTPOLITE
Dontcha just love Busch Light and its Twitter promotions? You betcha! So, with Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang coming to St. Louis for the inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race, Busch Light wanted to showcase some hometown hospitality and highlight the politeness of Midwesterners. As such, Harvick will drive the #BuschLightPolite Ford Mustang in Sunday’s race in St. Louis – the home of Anheuser-Busch and the gateway to the Midwest. When the green flag drops at 3:30 p.m. EDT, fans should kick off their tennis shoes, follow @BuschBeer and tune into FS1’s coverage of the race. Then, every time Harvick makes a pass during the race, @BuschBeer will encourage fans to tweet the hashtags #BuschLightPolite and #Sweepstakes for the chance to win a garage fridge to hold all their brewskis.
#Fordforthebuilders
Calling all builders! This weekend, Ford will adorn the No. 10 Ford Mustang at Gateway with a special campaign and paint scheme that celebrates builders as part of their “Built Ford Proud” program. Ford wants to celebrate not only those who build Ford vehicles, but also those who put in the hard work and take pride in building something special. With 182,000 employees globally, Ford believes that hard work is what builds the future. You may not know their names, but these builders wake up every day working together to move us all forward. This weekend at Gateway, you will know their names. Included on the car design will be the names of the builders of the No. 10 Ford Mustang and the names of builders at the Ford assembly and stamping plants, located in Chicago. Above the driver-side window, Stewart-Haas Racing will highlight a special “Builder of the Week”, Keith Brady. Brady, who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, is the lead car shop technician for the No. 10 team and has played a key role in the transition and assembly of the NextGen car model. Opposite of Brady’s name above the passenger side window, will be Ford’s “Builder of the Week”, Phil Pryor. Pryor is a pre-delivery team member at Ford’s Chicago assembly plant and has been a proud Ford builder for 57 years.
