From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The NASCAR Cup Teams head to the World Wide Technology Raceway for “The Enjoy Illinois 300”. It is the second race of the 2025 Playoffs, and the stakes are high. The race promises to be intense. Well, that is for those in the playoffs round of sixteen trying to make it to the next level. Of course, that next level is the round of twelve and a chance to move on further into the playoffs. The race isn’t just about speed, though. It is about strategy and endurance, as well as the ability to adapt to the continually changing track conditions that the track will go through over the 300 miles.
Last weekend’s race was hard on most of the playoff sixteen. Notice I said most of the playoff sixteen. A few of them did fare quite well, but maybe we’ll talk about them a little later.
From this fan’s view, one of the most popular teams had all four of their teams struggle to make it even as far as they did. Of course, you knew which teams I’m talking about, don’t you? Yeah, that’s correct. It was the Hendrick teams and not just one of them. Chase Elliott was the top finisher for Hendrick and he finished seventeenth. Kyle Larson was next, and he finished nineteenth. William Byron was after them, and he was further back in the mid twenties.
The Hendrick driver who had the worst finish of the four was Alex Bowman. He hasn’t had the best of luck lately, and he has continued to battle the “bad racing luck” beast. He now sits three below the cutline and nineteen points below the cut for moving on to the round of twelve. If his battle with the beast continues and it continues to defeat him, his chances of moving on to the next round will be slim indeed. His only hope is quickly becoming a ‘win and you’re in.’ He could have good races over the next two without a win and still make it to the round of twelve, but he really needs to seal the deal with a win. Of course, if he does win, it could put one of his Hendrick teammates in jeopardy of not making the playoffs. One thing is certain to this fan: if he wants to assure himself moving on to the next round, he will definitely need a win.
At least from this fan’s view, the rest of the Hendrick teams cannot afford another race result like last week’s. Even though Kyle Larson is starting on the front row with Denny Hamlin, he must find a way to stay up front and possibly even take the win. Anything less and he will have another stress-filled week waiting to see if he can still make it to the next round. The same goes for William Byron. He and the twenty-four team need to perform like the champs they are.
There is the usual problem that always surfaces in the playoffs. That is the problem that the playoff races are actually two races in one. There is the race between the sixteen playoff drivers and all of the others running and hoping to win the same race. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner. The one that wins, whether it be one of the playoff drivers or one of the others, will be declared the winner. If it is a playoff driver, he will move on to the next round. If it is one of the others, he will be declared the winner of the race but not eligible to move up to the next playoff level. That’s what makes it both interesting and confusing.
The Fords and Toyotas have their work cut out for themselves, but at the present, the Toyotas are above the cut line. Josh Berry is basically in the same boat as Bowman. Strangely, Joey Logano is not in a good spot either. In fact, this race is going to decide pretty much which of the teams will move forward and which ones won’t. Some are digging a deeper hole than they can get out of. Sure, I know that someone can win from anywhere in the sixteen and make it to the next round of the playoffs, but the possibilities are becoming increasingly complex and less likely.
Of those in the top sixteen needing to have good finishes, there are several whose changes are good. What will happen in this race is dependent on which of them is willing to take the biggest chances. Of course, tires would be nice on a pit stop, but there is going to be the need to conserve fuel because this fan thinks there will be long green flag runs, and that will cause some of them to gamble on having enough fuel to outlast others as long as possible. That will require the drivers to do their best to make sure they conserve enough to get more laps on a tank of fuel than their competitors. It may seem like they just don’t have the pace to run up front, but if they can conserve enough fuel during the run, they will end up at the front, and you know what that means, don’t you?
Yeah, I agree. No pressure. This all sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© September 7, 2025 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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