Two of the national NASCAR series head to Illinois this weekend for a date with World Wide Technology Raceway.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will close out the regular season with a Saturday night race. They will finalize the 12-driver playoff field while competing at the 1.25-mile track for the first time since 2010.
The NASCAR Cup Series teams will continue the Round of 16 as the rest of the playoff drivers try to join Southern 500 winner Chase Briscoe in the Round of 12. This marks the first time that World Wide Technology Raceway hosts a Cup Series playoff race.
World Wide Technology Raceway forecast and weekend schedule
Friday forecast: The WeatherUnderground forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies in the afternoon with a chance of a stray thunderstorm. A high of 70 degrees and a 22% chance of rain at the start of Xfinity practice.
Saturday forecast: The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies throughout the day. A high of 72 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity race
Sunday forecast: The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies throughout the day. A high of 76 degrees and a 4% chance of rain at the start of the Cup Series race.
Friday schedule (Eastern Time)
- 2 - 8 p.m. -- Xfinity Series garage hours
- 5:05 - 5:55 p.m. -- Xfinity Series practice (CW app)
Saturday schedule (Eastern Time)
- 10 a.m. -- Xfinity Series garage opens
- 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. -- Cup Series garage hours
- 3 - 4 p.m. -- Xfinity Series qualifying (CW app)
- 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. -- Cup Series practice (truTV, Max, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 5:40 - 6:30 p.m. -- Cup qualifying (truTV, Max, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 7:30 p.m. -- Xfinity Series race (CW, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday schedule (Eastern Time)
- 12 p.m. -- Cup Series garage opens
- 3 p.m. -- Cup Series race (USA, streaming on NBC Sports app, in-car cameras on Max, Radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Playoff picture: Sixteen drivers entered the opening round of the playoffs. Briscoe won at Darlington Raceway and punched his ticket to the next round.
Denny Hamlin heads to WWT Raceway 43 points above the cutline. Kyle Larson follows at +38. Other drivers above the cutline include Tyler Reddick (+35), Bubba Wallace (+25), William Byron (+25), Ryan Blaney (+22), Ross Chastain (+21), Austin Cindric (+12), Christopher Bell (+11), Chase Elliott (+9), and Shane van Gisbergen (+3).
The four drivers below the cutline are Joey Logano (-3), Austin Dillon (-8), Alex Bowman (-19), and Josh Berry (-19).