LifeLock.com 400 Preview

What: LifeLock.com 400
Where: Chicagoland Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Distance: 267 laps, 400 miles
When: July 11, 2009
Green Flag: 8:16 PM (ET)
TV: TNT
Defending Winner: Kyle Busch

Questions To Be Answered Sunday:

• Can Tony Stewart, a two-time Chicagoland winner and a two-time winner in 2009, turn both of those two’s into threes in the Windy City?
  
  


• Team Red Bull has been close a few times now to winning their first Sprint Cup race. For various reasons though it hasn’t happened. But with both Red Bull cars starting on the front row that might change tonight; could this be the weekend that Team Red Bull visits a NASCAR victory lane for the very first time?
  
  


• If Kyle Busch can repeat his win from a year ago, what will he say in victory lane in regards to the ending of last week’s race at Daytona? Think he’ll take another shot at Stewart for what happened? (Rhetorical question by the way.)
  
  


• Jimmie Johnson has done everything at Chicagoland except win. Is this the year that Johnson finally notches a 1 in the win column?
  
  


• Jack Roush hasn’t won a race on just two tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule and Chicagoland just happens to be one of them. But after all five of his cars struggled in qualifying, Roush owned cars will have their work cutout for them tonight if that is going to change. Will the Roush Fleet be able to overcome their qualifying troubles and bring Roush his first Chicago win or will Roush continue to remain winless in the Windy City?
  
  
• Chicagoland has been good to Kevin Harvick over the years, he won the first two races here back in 2001 and 2002, and his 7.4 average finish is tops among all drivers. Will Chicago be the catalyst that turns around Harvick’s miserable season or will it be more frustration in what has become a lost season for Harvick?
  

Contenders

1) Jimmie Johnson
While Johnson has never won at Chicago, he does have a pretty good track here with six top-10s in seven races and he has led laps in every race but one.

2) Kyle Busch
Just a feeling that the defending winner will be chomping at the bit to atone for what happened last Saturday night.

3) Carl Edwards
Edwards is running dramatically better than he was earlier in the year and looks to be close to retuning to the form that won him nine races a year ago. And let’s not forget that Edwards had this race won last year until encountering tire problems late.

Sleepers

1) Brian Vickers
Being fast during qualifying hasn’t necessarily transferred to being fast on raceday, but Vickers and Team Red Bull is bound for a breakthrough win, so why not this weekend?

2) Juan Pablo Montoya
Seventh-fastest in practice, with what JPM described as a very loose racecar. As the saying goes, fast equals loose and the expectation is that Montoya will be both tonight.

3) Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Please don’t laugh. No seriously, please stop laughing. I honestly believe that Junior is going to leave Chicago with his first top-10 since getting a new crew chief.

The Official “Racing Geek” Pick: Kyle Busch
Like him or loather him, you do have to give Kyle Busch credit for keeping things exciting. While I really, really wanted to pick Edwards, Roush-Fenway’s struggles during qualifying leaves me a bit leery. And after Busch’s comments post-qualifying, I just have a hunch he wins tonight just so he can pop off further about getting “dumped” last week by Stewart at Daytona.