The month of June has arrived, which means the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is heating up. The drivers are in the St. Louis area (Madison, Illinois) to compete in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race will happen on Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and the Fox Sports App.
Chase Elliott will miss the race as he was hit with a one-game suspension for wrecking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday. Corey LaJoie, who normally drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, will take Elliott’s place and drive the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports. LaJoie has competed in 201 Cup Series races in eight years and has earned six top-10 finishes.
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“We are closer to a good truck team, I think … If that’s what a Cup team is, then holy cow, we’ve got a long way to go. But it’s fun sometimes to carry that chip on your shoulder and try to be the ones that are beating the Goliaths,” LaJoie said this week, per NASCAR.com. “But it’s definitely a cool opportunity and a cool week this week to be one of the Goliaths, sitting in one (of their cars), so we’ll see how it goes.”
Another driver to watch is Ryan Blaney who won the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday. It was Blaney’s first win of the season but has had a strong year with eight top-10 finishes, four top-five finishes and one stage win, which is good enough to put him in second place in the Cup Series standings. A good finish on Sunday could put him in a position to be on top of the standings and a favorite to win it all at the end of the year.
“A big weekend, and obviously winning the 600 is massive,” Blaney told reporters after winning the Coca-Cola 600. “I grew up coming here watching my dad race for a long time as a kid. It’s just what we did every summer. Really cool, and it was cool for my parents to be here as well. So that was a special moment. Fun night, that’s for sure. Monday races seem to go really well for me. I don’t know what it is, but definitely a fun night.”
