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Kyle Busch won the latest NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, his third victory of the season and 63rd of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
Busch had the dominant car on the day, as he never fell out of the top 5 except for when the field was shuffled during pit strategy. Busch had to survive five restarts in the final 40 laps to take home the victory.
Here are three takeaways from the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 4.
#3 Not Again Ross
It was this exact race one year ago that we saw the beginning of Ross Chastain angering other drivers. That list has grown over that time, and today another driver was added to the list.
On the restart to Stage 2, Chastain made an aggressive three-wide move heading into Turn 1. He hit the rumble strip and made contact with Michael McDowell, who made slight contact with the wall and continued.
WWTR is a hard track to pass on and you have to make hay on the restarts. This is yet another example of Chastain being over-aggressive and making moves that don't need to be made at that point in the race.
#2 Carson Hocevar's short but impressive NASCAR Cup Series debut
In the fallout from Chase Elliott's suspension, there were several driver changes this week. Corey LaJoie would replace Elliott in the #9 car, while Carson Hocevar would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the #7 car, replacing LaJoie.
While the expectations were high for LaJoie since he was in a Hendrick Motorsports car, there were no expectations for LaJoie in the Spire Motorsports car. However, Hocevar exceeded expectations and put on a show in his short time in the race.
Hocevar found his way up to the 16th position until he had brake issues which ended his day early. But in his time in the race, he opened many's eyes and hopefully secured him a ride in at least the Xfinity Series next season.
#1 NASCAR's flat/short track issue continues
As has been the theme at the short, flat tracks such as Phoenix, Richmond, and North Wilkesboro. Sunday's race at WWTR was another race where it was difficult to pass and strategy was the only way to get to the front.
While pit strategy is great in races, as shown by the Richmond race in April, it doesn't cover up the fact that the short rack package needs lots of work and last.
The only lead changes we saw today were via restarts after cautions and if you lost track position, it was very hard to recover.
