The 10-race path to the NASCAR Cup championship begins with Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
The first of five 1.5-mile tracks in the playoffs, Chicagoland Speedway will be hosting its final playoff opener this weekend.
Next season, the Cup Series will race at Chicagoland on July 1, the Xfinity Series will race on June 30 and the Trucks on June 29.
The defending winners from last year’s races at Chicagoland are:
NASCAR Cup: Martin Truex Jr., who comes into this season’s playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Xfinity: Erik Jones
Trucks: Kyle Busch
Here is the full weekend schedule
(All times are Eastern):
Thursday, September 14
1:30 – 8:30 p.m. – Truck garage open
3:30 – 4:25 p.m. – First Truck practice (no TV)
6:30 – 7:25 p.m. – Final Truck practice (no TV)
Friday, September 15
10 a.m. – 8 p.m. – Cup garage open
11 a.m. – Truck garage open
11:30 a.m. – Xfinity garage open
12:30 a.m. – 1:55 p.m. – Cup practice (NBCSN, Motor Racing Network)
2 – 2: 55 p.m. – Xfinity practice (NBCSN)
4 – 4:50 p.m. – Final Xfinity practice (NBC Sports App)
5:05 p.m. – Truck qualifying (single vehicle, two rounds) (Fox Sports 1)
6:30 p.m. – Truck driver/crew chief meeting
6:45 p.m. – Cup qualifying (multi-vehicle, three rounds) (NBCSN, MRN)
8 p.m. – Truck driver introductions
8:30 p.m. – TheHouse.com 225 Truck race (150 laps, 225 miles) (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, September 16
9 a.m. – Xfinity garage open
10 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. – Cup garage open
11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. – Cup practice (CNBC, MRN)
12:35 p.m. – Xfinity qualifying (multi-vehicle, three rounds) (NBCSN)
1:45 p.m. – Xfinity driver/crew chief meeting
2 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. – Final Cup practice (NBCSN, MRN)
3 p.m. – Xfinity driver introductions
3:30 p.m. – TheHouse.com 300 Xfinity race (200 laps, 300 miles) (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, September 17
9:30 a.m. – Cup garage open
1 p.m. – Cup driver/crew chief meeting
2:20 p.m. – Driver introductions
3 p.m. – Tales of the Turtles 400 Cup race (267 laps, 400.5 miles) (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
