Kyle Larson posts fastest speed in final Sprint Cup practice

This season marks the third title configuration divided into three-race segments, with the bottom four drivers eliminated every third race.

But things rarely always go well.

Martin Truex Jr.is the fifth Toyota Chase racer, in a auto owned by Furniture Row Racing. No one but Pagenaud or teammate Will Power can win the championship, and the team could be the first since 1994 to sweep the points podium.

Martin Truex Jr. blew past the leaders on a late restart and won the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, taking the first race of NASCAR’s Chase in a green-white-checker finish.

“I just know for us, it’s kind of a one-way street”, Kevin Harvick, the 2014 champion, said of his approach.

“I’ve ran good at most all of them in the past, specially 2014 we had a good run in the last 10 races”, Larson said.

Truex re-started fourth and Elliott fifth, and Truex quickly got to the front and held off Joey Logano on the final lap for his third victory of the season. Only once before, in 2011, has Johnson won as few as two races in a season.

Kenseth’s 2015 Chase was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

But many drivers are too focused on their own work. “He’s pure athlete. This is what he does it for”. Truex said of racing setbacks. “You do what you have to do for your team, whatever that may be, and worry about the consequences later”.

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Truex can take that attitude even though his auto failed postrace tech.

But the violations were low enough that Truex’s win stands and he will automatically advance to the second round of the Chase. He said selecting a favorite among Toyota Chase drivers would be tough.

By Lap 84, Truex was in position to garner the free pass should a caution come out.

Jimmie Johnson had a strong vehicle. Johnson is eighth after a 12th-place finish on a day where he led a race-high 118 laps but a speeding penalty with 33 laps remaining sent him to the back.

PENALTIES: Based on new rules announced last week, Johnson could receive a 10-point penalty, which would drop him into a tie for 12th in the Chase standings. Penalties for cars that fail inspection could cost a driver the title.

Chase drivers Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick face elimination after poor races, finishing 18th and 20th, respectively.

He came out of the pits right behind Truex and wound up third, seeing a lead wiped away with a late caution for the second time in four weeks.

“Nothing is yours until it’s over”, Elliott said.

You’ve got your barbecue fired up, and you’ve called everyone you know to come over.

Smoke show: True to form with the rest of his career, Tony Stewart’s final season hasn’t been without its speed bumps. If anyone doubted the moxie of this group heading into the Chase, those doubts were answered with Truex celebrating in Victory Lane.

“It’s not as bad as I expected”, Johnson said when asked about the Chase standings. If we were being outrun by our teammates week in and week out, we weren’t the lead vehicle at Hendrick, we’d probably have to look real hard at the relationship between me and Chad.