For much of the Lifelock.com 400, it looked as though Kyle Busch would run off to his 7th victory of the season. Busch led a record 165 laps, and as competitors such as Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth fell from contention to win, it seemed that there was nothing in Busch's way.

Then there was Jimmie Johnson, who took the lead with 17 laps to go from Busch on a late restart. Johnson was in the lead when the caution came out with six laps to go, and led to the field to the restart with just two laps to go. And that's when Busch made his move, darting to the outside of Johnson entering turn one. The two raced door-to-door down the backstraightaway and into turn three, and coming off turn four Busch had the advantage coming to the white flag.

Busch held off Johnson's final efforts to earn his seventh victory of the season, and third in the last four races.

“I gave up on myself. I just didn’t think I could do that. I’ve watched Jimmie do that several times," Busch said in victory lane. "I don’t know how I did it... I pushed Jimmie to go. This is a dream season, man. I just cannot believe this.”

While Busch was celebrating in victory lane, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards were left wondering what could have been.

For Kenseth it started on lap 125 when he had to pit under green when he suspected a flat tire.This left Kenseth a lap down in 30th place, just minutes after he had battled for the lead with Busch. After getting the free pass Kenseth was able to recover for a 7th place finish, but didn't have enough time to get back into contention for the win.

Edwards was leading when he also suspected a flat tire with just 55 laps to go while leading the race. He made a green flag pitstop and fell a lap down, but his problem was worse than a flat tire. One of the braces to Edwards' splitter had snapped, and the splitter was now dragging on the ground, giving Edwards a huge aerodynamic disadvantage. Edwards would lose another lap and finish 32nd, a disapointing end to what started as a good race.

There was controversy before the race even started as J.J Yeley's car sat in the inspection bay just minutes before the start of the race. Nascar officials found two water bottles filled with 15 lbs of lead each, one of the oldest tricks in the book for losing weight. Yeley was given a pass-through penalty at the start of the race, and would go on to finish 23rd. For the 96 team, which is 38th in owner points, more penalties could come later in the week.

After the wild race at Daytona, the Sprint Cup Series heads north to the Chicagoland Speedway, where they will race under the lights for the first time. Adding the COT to the changed track conditions, this could be another wild race.


1. Kyle Busch

Making a fantastic save, coming from the back and making his move at just the right time to win at Daytona; just another race for Kyle Busch. Kyle has now won 1/3 of the races run this season in Sprint Cup, with six victories in 18 races. He has an average finish of 10th at Chicagoland, with a best finish of 3rd. The way he's racing right now, he'll probably improve on that.

2. Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth earned the best finish of his career at Daytona, finishing 3rd, rebounding from his disappointing finish at Loudon. Matt now has seven top-10's in the past eight races, and that consistency should carry over to Chicago, where he's come just short of the victory the past three races. In those races he's led 289 laps, finishing 2nd twice, with a 22nd that was the result of being spun from the lead with four laps to go.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps at Daytona, but faded from contention towards the end of the race, but still finished a solid 8th. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been a contender the past three races at Chicago. In 2005 he earned a win, then in 2006 he finished a solid 5th. His result last year, 19th, is deceiving, because he was running in the top-5 before he lost a cylinder late in the race.

4. Carl Edwards

Edwards was battling for the win on the last lap when the caution flew, ending the race. After two finished of 20th or worse, Edwards earned a 3rd place finish at Chicagoland last year. Edwards' teams has been strong on the 1.5 mile tracks all year long, expect him to contend for the win.

5. Tony Stewart

Stewart had to give way to relief driver J.J Yeley when his illness became too much to handle. Stewart has to be a favorite to win at Chicagoland though, where he's earned five top-5's in the past six races, including two wins. He is the only driver besides Kevin Harvick to have multiple victories at the track.

6. Jeff Burton

Burton finished outside the top-15 for the first time this season when he wrecked late in the race. Don't expect this to happen at Chicago though, where he has finished in the top-10 the past two races, including a career best finish of 2nd in 2006.

7. Jeff Gordon

Gordon was in position to win his first race of the season at Daytona, leading the majority of the closing laps. However, he was spun on a green-white-checkered restart, leaving him with a 30th place finish. Gordon has five top-10's in the past six races at Chicagoland, including a win.

8. Greg Biffle

Biffle finished last after and early wreck at Daytona, dropping him three spots to 11th in the points standings, just 10 points in front of 13th place Kevin Harvick. Biffle has been slumping, with no top-10's in the past five races, and Chicagoland may just continue his woes, where he's never finished in the top-10.

9. Jimmie Johnson

Johnson ran up front most of the race, but lost track position when he damaged his fender and needed repairs. This put Johnson back in mid-pack, where he was caught up in a wreck, finishing 23rd. He should rebound at Chicagoland, where he has five top-10's in six career starts, with a 37th last year that resulted from a blown tire while running 2nd.

10. Brian Vickers

Vickers finished 11th at Daytona, his sixth straight finish of 16th or better. He'll need to finish even better though if he wants to make up enough ground to make the Chase, which he is still 112 points out of. In three starts at Chicagoland, Vickers has a worst finish 14th, with a 4th in 2005.



Other Notables:

11. Kurt Busch- Busch backed up his win with a 4th place finish in a backup car. Things may just be turning around for Busch, who has three straight top-10's at Chicago.

12. Kevin Harvick- Harvick won the inaugural event at Chicagoland in 2001, then again in 2002. He needs another strong run here to get back in the top-12.

13. David Ragan- After a couple of bad runs at Infineon and Loudon, he excelled once again in the plate race, finishing 5th. He's earned top-5's in two of the three plate races this year.

14. Robby Gordon- He finished 6th at Daytona in an unsponsored car. He's also earned two top-10's at Chicago, but none since 2003.

15. Ryan Newman- Had a rough day at Daytona, but Chicago is a good place for him to turn it around. He won here in 2003, and finished 8th here last year.

    

     Tony Stewart's first half of the season brought disappointment and controversy, with no wins and a few on and off track incidents that brought controversy. After the wreck with teammate Denny Hamlin last week, team owner Joe Gibbs sat the two down on Saturday during the first half of Happy Hour for a team meeting. Whatever Gibbs said, it resolved any issue Stewart and Hamlin had with each other, as they were back to being pals, as was seen on the pre-race coverage.

     The race, however, was a complete contrast of how Stewart's first half of the season had gone. Stewart ran up front all day, but didn't fall off at the end, and held off a charge by Matt Kenseth on a late restart to cruise to victory at Chicagoland for the second time in his career, tying him with Kevin Harvick with most wins at the track. Kenseth, who was a pre-race favorite, finished 2nd for the second time in the last 3 races at the track.

     Chigacoland took a toll on many of the chase contenders. Jimmie Johnson wrecked while running second to eventual winner Tony Stewart, after a blown tire sent his car into the wall. Other than a soar shoulder, Johnson was fine, but finished 37th. Martin Truex Jr., who has suddenly emerged as one of the top drivers in Nascar, finished 39th after having to leave the race after just 211 laps due to engine failure. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a disappointing 19th after restarting the race in 3rd position before having power-steering issues. During a late caution, the crew tried to fix the issue, but in the process Earnhardt Jr. was lapped. And Jamie McMurray, who won in last week's thrilling finish, came across the line 38th after being involved in an early wreck, dropping him from 13th to 15th in points

Here are this week's top-5 finishers:

1. Tony Stewart

2. Matt Kenseth

3. Carl Edwards

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Casey Mears

USG Sheetrock 400

The Chicagoland Speedway is the sister track of the Kansas Speedway. Both tracks premiered in 2001. Chicagoland has 18 degrees of banking in the corners. This 1.5 mile track can provide exciting racing, like the finish here last year, where Jeff Gordon spun Matt Kenseth in the closing laps to earn a controversial win.

Chicagoland Track Facts:

Completed in: 2000

Distance: 1.5 miles

Banking: 18 degrees in the corners,

11 degrees in the frontstretch,

and 5 degrees on the backstretch.

Seating Capacity: 75,000

Defending Winner: Jeff Gordon

 

The Favorites:

 Tony Stewart- Stewart has yet to earn a victory this season, and there couldn't be a better place for that to happen than Chicagoland. In his last five races there, he's finished in the top-5 four times. However, Stewart has lost any momentum he'd had with a crash last weekend at Daytona. 

 Matt Kenseth- The man who has carried the banner for Ford this season has also been dominant the last two years at the Illinois track, leading 288 of 537 laps. In those races, he's finished 2nd and 22nd, due to the late race spin, and is certainly eager to get his second win of the season.

 Jeff Gordon- The point leader has had a solid career at Chicagoland. He is tied with Tony Stewart for most top-5's at the track(4). He's finished 4th or better in four of the last five races, with a win here last year.

 

Other Noteables:

 Kevin Harvick- Harvick won the first two races held at this track, and his worst finish here is 19th. He is the only driver to have multiple wins at Chicagoland, and is looking to turn his season around in the second half. In the first half, he had 7 finishes outside the top-20.

 Denny Hamlin- In his first start here he had a solid 14th place finish, and as a sophmore he has really really proved himself, and will certainly contend, trying to come back from a dissapointing 43rd place finish last week.

 Dale Earnhardt Jr.- His only win of 2005 came at this track, and he also finished 5th here last year. Earnhardt Jr. will certainly contend on a track that he has started to really out-perform the competition

 

Who to Avoid:

 David Reutimann- His best finish this year is a 15th at Michigan. Other than that, he has finished 26th or worse in all of his other starts.

 Carl Edwards- The Michigan winner has only two starts at Chicagoland, and his average finish in those two starts is 29.5. He has another thing going against him too. His primary sponsor Office Depot will stand aside for another sponsor, Lumber Liquidators, so Carl won't be "Taking Care of Business."

 

 Watch it on: TNT on Sunday, July 15th, Coverage begins at 2:30pm

 Listen to it on: MRN Radio on Sunday, July 15th, Coverage begins at 3:00pm