This week the Cup Series traveled to the outskirts of St. Louis for the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.  It was a hard fought battle up front that saw Christopher Bell dominate the race only to end back in the field with engine issues.  Next up was Ryan Blaney who just shy of winning the race  ran out of fuel.  In the end it was Austin Cindric who broke an 85 race winless streak to take home the trophy.

Kyle Larson’s future as a playoff driver is still up in the air; the waiver request has finally been made but NASCAR has yet to rule on the matter.  Despite running the full Indianapolis 500 and finishing 18th, Larson does not feel his task was completed and is looking to try again…and this time to complete both of the races.

Denny Hamlin holds on to the point standings lead wit 534 with Kyle Larson currently listed in second place 21 points behind. 

NASCAR Cup Series point standings:
Denny Hamlin – 534
Kyle Larson – 513
Chase Elliott – 507
Martin Truex Jr – 490
William Byron – 488
Tyler Reddick – 473
Ty Gibbs – 465
Christopher Bell – 437
Brad Keselowski – 437
Alex Bowman – 417
Ross Chastain – 417                                             
Ryan Blaney – 405
Bubba Wallace – 371
Chis Buescher – 368
Chase Briscoe – 358
Joey Logano – 354
Kyle Busch – 348
Austin Cindric – 305
Daniel Suarez – 290
Josh Berry – 264
Carson Hocevar – 259                                                       
Todd Gilliland – 258
Noah Gragson – 255
Michael McDowell – 255
John Hunter Nemechek – 228
Erik Jones – 228
Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 223
Daniel Hemric – 217
Ryan Preece – 211                                                   
Austin Dillon – 210
Justin Haley – 205
Corey LaJoie – 194
Harrison Burton – 155
Zane Smith – 131
Kaz Grala – 122
Jimmie Johnson – 35
Derek Kraus – 32                                                   
David Ragan – 17
Cody Ware – 17
Kamui Kobayashi – 8

It was a triple header weekend for NASCAR but the Xfinity Series travelled out west to Portland for some road course racing in a stand alone event.

After a hard fought battle with Justin Allgaier for the lead, newcomer Shane van Gisbergen earned his second win in NASCAR and his first win in the Xfinity Series to earn himself a spot in the playoffs.

At the halfway point of the regular season, Cole custer has the points lead with 475.

Xfinity Series point standings:
Cole Custer – 475
Austin Hill – 457
Chandler Smith – 457
Justin Allgaier  – 452
Jesse Love – 402
AJ Allmendinger – 380
Riley Herbst – 378
Sheldon Creed – 354                                                
Parker Kligerman – 342
Sammy Smith – 328
Ryan Sieg – 308
Sam Mayer – 305                                                         
Brandon Jones – 305
Shane van Gisbergen – 303
Anthony Alfredo – 296
Parker Retzlaff – 242
Brennan Poole – 240
Josh Williams – 219
Aric Almirola – 202                                     
Jeremy Clements – 197   
Leland Honeyman – 195
Kyle Weatherman – 188
Jeb Burton -176                                                                
Ryan Ellis – 171
Ryan Truex – 163
Kyle Sieg – 157
Blaine Perkins – 146                                                      
Hailie Deegan – 143
Josh Bilicki – 118                                                      
Matt DiBenedetto – 115
Garrett Smithley – 113
Carson Kvapil – 93 
Dawson Cram – 91                                                       
BJ McLeod – 69
Partrick Emerling – 64
JJ Yeley – 61
Joey Gase – 53 
David Starr – 46
Sage Karam – 45
Nick Leitz – 41
Jordan Anderson – 40
Ed Jones – 35
Bubba Pollard – 31
Logan Bearden – 31
Caesar Bacarella – 30
Austin Green – 30
Jeffrey Earnhardt – 30
Natalie Decker – 27
Alex Labbe – 20
Brad Perez – 19
Myatt Snider – 18
Dexter Bean – 17
Daniil Kvyat – 16
Nathan Byrd – 16
Andre Castro – 14
Patrick Gallagher – 12
Chad Finchum – 12
Frankie Muniz – 11
RC Enerson -9
CJ McLaughlin – 6
Ryan Vargas – 2
Akinori Ogata – 1
Preston Pardus – 1

Last week Nick Sanchez won the race with Corey Heim coming second; only to learn that his success was dashed by three loose lug nuts.  This week at World Wide Technology Raceway, Corey Heim was determined to redeem himself with a dominating win of the Toyota 200.  His disqualification cost him over 50 points but with the win, Heim is just 31 points behind leader Christian Eckes.

Just four more races in the regular season remain for the Craftsman Truck Series drivers.

Craftsman Truck Series Point Standings:
Christian Eckes – 506
Corey Heim – 475
Nick Sanchez – 453
Ty Majeski – 442
Taylor Gray – 365
Rajah Caruth – 357
Tyler Ankrum – 342
Ben Rhodes – 329
Tanner Gray – 321
Grant Enfinger – 319
Stewart Friesen – 293
Daniel Dye – 282
Matt Crafton – 273
Chase Purdy – 267
Jake Garcia – 250
Layne Riggs – 243
Dean Thompson – 240
Bayley Currey – 222
Bret Holmes – 221
Ty Dillon – 215
Timmy Hill – 203
Kaden Honeycutt – 188
Matt Mills – 177
Mason Massey – 176
Lawless Alan – 158
Spencer Boyd – 148
Jack Wood – 139
Stefan Parsons – 128
Conner Jones – 109
Thad Moffitt – 106
Connor Mosack – 81
Brett Moffitt – 59
Keith McGee – 59
Colby Howard – 55
Mason Maggio – 49
Johnny Sauter – 39
Connor Zilisch – 38
Brenden Queen – 33
Bryan Dauzat – 28
William Sawalich – 28
Jason M. White – 25
Cam Waters – 25
Carter Fartuch – 16
Cory Roper – 15
Vicente Salas – 15
Codie Rohrbaugh – 14
Memphis Villarreal – 12
Dale Quarterley – 11
Ton Breidinger – 10
Stephen Mallozzi – 9
Dawson Sutton – 9
Kris Wright – 7
Marco Andretti – 6
Justin S. Carroll – 6
Jennifer Jo Cobb – 5
Josh Reaume – 4
Blake Lothian – 3
Clayton Green – 3
Trey Hutchens III – 3
Jeffrey Earnhardt – 2