2023 Enjoy Illinois 300 Explained

The 2023 Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 4, 2023, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Contested over 243 laps – extended from 240 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 1.25-mile (2.01 km) paved oval motor racing track, it was the 15th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a 1.25-mile (2 kilometer) oval that hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NTT IndyCar Series, a 1.6miles infield road course used by the SCCA, Porsche Club of America, and various car clubs, and a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts the annual NHRA Midwest Nationals event.

Corey LaJoie replaced Chase Elliott for the race, who was parked by NASCAR for an deliberate collision against Denny Hamlin the race prior; Carson Hocevar took over LaJoie's No. 7 car as a result.^{[9] [10]}

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3		nowrap		Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7	Carson Hocevar (i)		Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14			Ford
15	Gray Gaulding (i)		Ford
16			Chevrolet
17			Ford
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38			Ford
41			Ford
42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47	nowrap			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford
54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota
77			Chevrolet
78			Chevrolet
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Practice

Joey Logano was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 32.881 seconds and a speed of 136.857mph.^[11]

Practice results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	22				32.881	136.857
2	5				32.892	136.811
3	24				32.953	136.558
Official practice results

Qualifying

Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 32.802 and a speed of 137.187mph.^[12]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	8			Chevrolet	33.025	32.802
2	12			Ford	32.797	32.810
3	11			Toyota	32.877	32.870
4	4			Ford	32.872	32.903
5	19			Toyota	32.979	33.001
6	22			Ford	33.074	33.006
7	24			Chevrolet	32.998	33.030
8	1			Chevrolet	32.847	33.090
9	45			Toyota	32.880	33.140
10	2			Ford	32.919	33.203
11	16			Chevrolet	33.008	—
12	47			Chevrolet	33.063	—
13	99			Chevrolet	33.086	—
14	21			Ford	33.106	—
15	54	Ty Gibbs (R)		Toyota	33.110	—
16	3			Chevrolet	33.119	—
17	20			Toyota	33.148	—
18	48			Chevrolet	33.149	—
19	6			Ford	33.151	—
20	23			Toyota	33.191	—
21	34			Ford	33.194	—
22	5			Chevrolet	33.209	—
23	31			Chevrolet	33.218	—
24	10			Ford	33.224	—
25	14			Ford	33.277	—
26	7	Carson Hocevar (i)		Chevrolet	33.279	—
27	17			Ford	33.285	—
28	38			Ford	33.321	—
29	41			Ford	33.435	—
30	9			Chevrolet	33.442	—
31	43			Chevrolet	33.445	—
32	42	Noah Gragson (R)		Chevrolet	33.639	—
33	77			Chevrolet	33.778	—
34	78			Chevrolet	33.797	—
35	15	Gray Gaulding (i)		Ford	33.867	—
36	51	J. J. Yeley (i)		Ford	34.061	—
Official qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage OneLaps: 45

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	10
2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	6
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5
7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	2
10	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 95

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	4
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	2
10	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage results

Stage ThreeLaps: 100

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	1	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	243	59
2	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	243	51
3	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	243	44
4	22	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	34
5	5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	243	39
6	2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	243	50
7	13	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	243	37
8	7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	40
9	21	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	243	28
10	4	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	243	35
11	17	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	243	26
12	27	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	243	25
13	10	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	243	26
14	11	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	243	23
15	28	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	243	22
16	23	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	243	21
17	29	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	243	20
18	31	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	243	-41
19	24	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	243	18
20	15	54	Ty Gibbs (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	243	17
21	30	9	Corey LaJoie	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	16
22	8	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	243	20
23	14	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	243	14
24	36	51	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	243	0
25	33	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	12
26	18	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	11
27	34	78	B. J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	243	10
28	19	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	243	9
29	35	15	Gray Gaulding (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	242	0
30	20	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	236	7
31	16	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	223	6
32	12	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	219	10
33	32	42	Noah Gragson (R)	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	197	4
34	25	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	193	3
35	9	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	174	2
36	26	7	Carson Hocevar (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	0
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 10 among 5 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 11 for 67 laps
• Red flags: 3 for 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 5 seconds (1 for a lightning delay, 1 for wreck clean-up, and 1 for repairs to the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier)
• Time of race: 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 16 seconds
• Average speed: 87.508mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip called the race from the broadcast booth, with Kenny Wallace joining for Stage 2. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled the pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race and was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace called the race for MRN from the booth when the field raced down the front straightaway. Dave Moody called the race from turns 1 & 2 while Kurt Becker called the race from turns 3 & 4. Pit Road for MRN was manned by Steve Post, Brienne Pedigo and Kim Coon.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Ryan Blaney	495
1	2	William Byron	482 (–13)
1	3	Kevin Harvick	473 (–22)
1	4	Martin Truex Jr.	472 (–23)
4	5	Ross Chastain	466 (–29)
	6	Christopher Bell	455 (–40)
3	7	Kyle Busch	451 (–44)
	8	Denny Hamlin	451 (–44)
2	9	Kyle Larson	411 (–84)
3	10	Tyler Reddick	411 (–84)
2	11	Brad Keselowski	403 (–92)
2	12	Joey Logano	401 (–94)
1	13	Chris Buescher	393 (–102)
1	14	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	368 (–127)
	15	Bubba Wallace	334 (–161)
2	16	Daniel Suárez	313 (–182)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	567
	2	Toyota	523 (–44)
	3	Ford	512 (–55)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2023 schedule . Jayski.com. . October 10, 2022.
2. News: NASCAR releases 2023 Cup Series schedule highlighted by new Chicago, All-Star race stops . Taranto, Steven . September 14, 2022 . March 29, 2023 . CBS Broadcasting Inc.
3. News: NASCAR unveils 2023 schedule for its national series . September 14, 2022 . March 29, 2023 . National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC.
4. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. May 30, 2023. May 30, 2023.
5. Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 3, 2023. June 3, 2023.
6. Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 3, 2023. June 3, 2023.
7. Web site: Enjoy Illinois 300 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. June 4, 2023. June 4, 2023.
8. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 4, 2023. June 4, 2023.
9. News: NASCAR suspends Chase Elliott 1 race for crashing Denny Hamlin: Why it’s the right call . May 30, 2023 . May 31, 2023 . . Jordan . Bianchi . Jeff . Gluck . subscription.
10. News: Chase Elliott given one-race suspension for Hamlin tangle . Crandall . Kelly . . May 30, 2023 . May 31, 2023.
11. Web site: Utter. Jim. Defending race winner Logano fastest in Gateway practice. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. June 3, 2023. Madison, Illinois. June 3, 2023.
12. Web site: Utter. Jim. Kyle Busch nips Blaney by just 0.008s for Gateway Cup pole. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. June 3, 2023. Madison, Illinois. June 3, 2023.