2026 NASCAR Enjoy Illinois 300 (WWTR-Gateway) Race Recap

By Adam Carabine

The Chase continued this past weekend, just outside of St. Louis at the WWTR-Gateway Enjoy Illinois 300! It was a calamity-filled day, with a new track record of 18 cautions. 

After 247 laps (including 7 overtime laps), Chase driver Kyle Larson got his first victory of the year, moving him up to second place in the points standings. 

Enjoy Illinois 300 Top 5 Finishers:

Top 5 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings After WWTR-Gateway

What (the heck!) Happened in the Enjoy Illinois 300?

After multiple teams experienced brake rotor failures and drivers continued to attempt four-wide in the corners, Kyle Larson came out on top after a wild day at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR-Gateway) featuring 18 cautions and two overtime attempts. Larson, pole-sitter Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski seemed to have the best cars of the day, but an aggressive pit call for Larson to take four tires put him farther back in the field, forcing him to maneuver his way back to the front — and it paid off.

He held off Joey Logano in the final Overtime, and earned his first victory of 2026!

You can check out the full results of the Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races here

For a more comprehensive look, stick around to see how it all shook down, lap-by-lap!

2026 Enjoy Illinois 300 Lap-by-Lap Recap

Lap 1:  Green flag to start the race!  Joey Logano on pole, with Christopher Bell alongside him.

Lap 4:  Tyler Reddick gets into a scuffle with a loose Daniel Suarez, who pushes Reddick up against the wall.  It stays green, but some heavy contact/damage for Reddick.

Lap 6:  CAUTION – Riley Herbst spins and is slow on the track.

Lap 11:  Green flag, Logano again at the front.  Ryan Blaney makes it three-wide and takes P2.

Lap 15:  CAUTION – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spins on his own.

Lap 20:  Green flag, then CAUTION – Too many cars side by side into the corner, and there’s calamity.  Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell get the worst of it. Cody Ware, SVG, and Noah Gragson also involved.

Lap 25:  Green flag, Logano and Blaney.

Lap 27:  CAUTION – SVG is around after some contact with AJ Allmendinger.

Lap 33:  Green flag, Logano and Blaney again.  Can we actually make it to the end of the stage (13 laps) without another caution?

Lap 45:  We made it.  Joey Logano wins Stage One.  Followed by 20, 5, 12, 9, 77, 19, 48, 54, 6.

Lap 48:  Pit road open, and Christopher Bell wins the race off.  However, 12 drivers stayed out.  Multiple pit strategies here as many pitted throughout the different cautions through Stage One.

Lap 53:  Green flag, It’s Brad Keselowski and John Hunter Nemechek on the front row – neither have pitted since lap 15.

Lap 56:  CAUTION – Ty Gibbs gets frustrated with Erik Jones and gives him some contact in the corner.  Jones spins and brings out the yellow.

Lap 61:  Green flag.  Keselowski and Nemechek again.

Lap 64:  CAUTION – Riley Herbst and AJ Allmendinger get together and spin. 

Lap 70:  Green flag, Ross Chastain and Erik Jones on the front row.  It’s pretty close on fuel to the end of the stage – that’s if it stays green, but the way this race has been going…

Lap 81:  Kyle Larson takes the lead from Chastain.

Lap 101:  Things have actually quieted down a bit, Larson leads.  Then it’s Chastain, Keselowski, Logano and Blaney rounding out the Top 5.

Lap 106:  Cody Ware’s window net somehow fell down, and he’s told by NASCAR he has to come to pit road to fix it – no caution though.

Lap 117:  Logano has passed Chastain for P2.

Lap 120:  Larson’s lead is just under 3 seconds.

Lap 130:  Chastain pits – didn’t have enough fuel to make it to the stage break (11 laps away), after he didn’t pit during the last cycle.

Lap 131:  CAUTION – Zane Smith blows a brake rotor and slams into the outside wall.  Super hard hit.  Chastain was JUST coming off of pit road, so this could be an important scoring decision from NASCAR.

Lap 132:  That caution is deemed to be the end of the stage, as it was just after Larson took the 10-to-go.  Chastain was deemed to be the first car one lap down, and gets the free pass – lucky break for him!  Larson wins Stage Two, followed by 22, 6, 12, 21, 11, 60, 45, 19, 23.

Lap 137:  Logano wins the race off pit road.

Lap 140:  Green flag, but immediately another CAUTION – Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe get into each other trying to go four-wide in Turn Two.  Rough damage for Wallace, as well as William Byron.

Lap 147:  Green flag, Logano and Larson on the front row.

Lap 155:  CAUTION – Another brake rotor failure, this time for Ryan Blaney.

Lap 163:  Green flag, and it’s Larson and Josh Berry who stayed out on the front row.

Lap 164:  Wow, big move by Josh Berry, he takes the lead after going three-wide with Larson and Denny Hamlin.

Lap 165:  It’s been a crazy restart – now Brad Keselowski has made his way up to the lead!

Lap 166:  Larson is fading quickly.  He loses P3 to Logano now.

Lap 169:  Keselowski secures the lead after some back and forth battling.  Berry falls off to third, and Logano gets P2.

Lap 170:  CAUTION – Ross Chastain is around just at the start-finish line.

Lap 175:  Green flag, Keselowski and Logano.

Lap 177:  CAUTION – Riley Herbst with issues again. He had caught fire on pit road earlier and it looks like further issues relating to that.

Lap 182:  Green flag, Keselowski and Logano.  Carson Hocevar is right behind Keselowski, but they play nice, for now.

Lap 183:  Joey Logano gets the lead, and Hocevar and Keselowski spend a lap basically at each other’s door, but nothing crazy happens.

Lap 191:  Logano still leads, things have calmed down again.  Keselowski is 0.5s back, then it’s Hocevar, Bell, Gibbs.

Lap 194:  Christopher Bell up to P3 now.

Lap 199:  CAUTION – Noah Gragson in the wall with a failed brake rotor. 

Lap 202:  Lots of takers on pit road.  Only five stayed out, including Ty Gibbs and Ryan Preece, two Chase drivers.  Keselowski will be the leader.

Lap 203:  Hocevar has to go back to pit road to check on a potential loose wheel.  They were correct, it was loose, so he’ll start at the back.

Lap 206:  Green flag, Keselowski gets a great restart and holds the lead.

Lap 208:  Huge battle between Logano and Chase Briscoe for P3.

Lap 210:  Finally Logano gets the spot, and then quickly passes Chastain for P2.

Lap 212:  Logano is on fresher tires, but still has a second to make up on leader Keselowski.  He’s slowly eating away at it.

Lap 214:  CAUTION – Another failed brake rotor.  This time it’s Chase Elliott, who then crashes into Chase Briscoe who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  They’re both done for the day.

Lap 221:  Green flag.  There are 20 laps left in this race.  It’s Keselowski and Logano.  Bad restart for Bell right behind Keselowski, which causes them to stall out and Logano gets the lead.

Lap 223:  CAUTION – More attempts at four-wide.  Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Josh Berry involved.  Tyler Reddick actually gets some air as the front right part of his car hits Berry hard. 

Lap 228:  Green flag again.  Sick of hearing this yet?  It’s Logano and Larson on the front row this time.  Larson gets the lead, and then… CAUTION for an incident involving Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and AJ Allmendinger.

Lap 230:  With only 11 laps left, NASCAR opts for a Red Flag to give time for cleanup.

Lap 231:  Back to yellow after a quick delay for track clearing. 

Lap 234:  Green flag again!  Larson ahead of Logano.  Larson got a huge shove and got the lead easily.

Lap 236:  Larson looking good.  His teammate Alex Bowman, who isn’t in The Chase, is pressuring Logano for P2, and it’s slowing them both down.  If it just stays green…

Lap 238:  CAUTION – Chris Buescher.  Brake failure.  He’s in the wall.  We go to a Red Flag again, will do some quick cleanup, and then we’re going to OVERTIME!

Lap 240:  (This was the scheduled end of the race, but we’re back under caution right now)

Lap 242:  Green flag, but then immediately a CAUTION for SVG going around. 

Lap 245:  Green flag, Larson and Bowman on the front row!  Larson gets the lead and keeps it.

Lap 246:  Mercifully, they take the white flag.  Next flag ends the race – Larson still leads!

Lap 247:  Kyle Larson wins! 

Kyle Larson’s First Win of 2026, Breaking a 51-race Winless Streak

This was Kyle Larson’s first win since he won at the first Kansas race of last year.  It’s his first win ever at WWTR-Gateway, though this is only the fifth year the track has been on the Cup Series schedule. 

It’s his 33rd career Cup Series victory, in his 430th start.  The win moves him to second place in the Championship standings, and he’s only 9 points back from current leader, Denny Hamlin.

What's Next?  

Next weekend is the third race of The Chase, and it’s a fairly famous one.  The Bristol Night Race returns on Saturday night!