Chicagoland Recap

With wedding planning and working taking over my life for the last month, I've kept my racing thoughts of Twitter, but now the 2014 Chase for the Cup commenced yesterday with Race 1 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Last Saturday night, Brad Keselowski dominated the cutoff race in Richmond, leading all but 17 laps en route to his 4th win of the year.  Yesterday, Keselowski started 25th and by the end of the race was at the lead and was able to take the checkered flag for his 5th win and automatically advances to the next Round of the Chase.  Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Top-5. 

A very clean race for the most part, but drama did affect some Chase drivers.  Ryan Newman was at one point 3 laps down, but was able to finish on the lead lap in 15th place.  Aric Almirola led briefly towards the end of the race, but was forced into the garage with engine issues.  A.J. Allmendinger and Greg Biffle both finished 2 laps down.  From what critics have said all year, this Chase will be a a battle between Penske and Hendrick.  Right now, Fords are 1 up on Chevys.  Race 2 in the Chase is Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.


OTHER THOUGHTS
Since my last blog, I missed the IndyCar sprint finish, but they were 3 exciting races.  Congrats to Will Power on his IndyCar Championship win at Auto Club Speedway as well as Tony Kanaan winning in Fontana.  As of now, the 2015 IndyCar schedule has not formally been released but some good race action will take place at New Orleans Motorsports Park as well on a road-course in Brasilia, Brazil.  No Houston and Toronto but a sub race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park could happen.  More to follow.

The F1 series continues to be a battle between Nico Rosberg & Lewis Hamilton for the title.  With Hamilton winning in Monza last week, the European swing is over as the series returns to Asia with the always exciting night race in Singapore next Sunday.  Oh, Rosberg leads Hamilton by 18 points with 7 races remaining.  Question is what Mercedes driver will win, and also will Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo spoil the party (3 wins)?  We'll see.