Camping World 400
The Camping World 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. The inaugural race was held in 2001. Previously, the race was held in July from 2001 through 2010, with night races held from 2008 to 2010. Then from 2011 to 2017, the races was held as the first race of the Cup Series playoffs in the round of 16. In 2018, as part of the schedule realignment, the race was held on the last weekend of June. Alex Bowman is the defending winner of the race, having scored his first Cup win in a race that ended at sunset due to a rain delay.
Race history
In May 2000, as Chicagoland Speedway was under construction, it was announced that the track would hold a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race beginning in the 2001 season. Tropicana served as the race's sponsor from 2001 to 2004, followed by USG Corporation from 2005 to 2007, LifeLock.com from 2008 to 2010, GEICO from 2011 to 2013, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutica from 2014 to 2015, and Nickelodeon has sponsored the race through the network's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series since 2016. Kevin Harvick won the first two runnings of the race in 2001 and 2002, while Tony Stewart has the most wins in the race's history, having won it three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2011. Traditionally run in early to mid July, the race became the opening race of the NASCAR playoffs in 2011, moving the race to mid September in the process. Since a schedule realignment in 2018, the race returned to a July race weekend. On May 8th, 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was announced that the race would not take place in 2020.Past winners
- 2006 and 2016: Race extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish.
- 2011: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
- 2013: Race started more than one hour late and then halted after 109 laps for five hours due to rain; the race started during the day but ended at night due to the delays.
- 2019: Race delayed more than 3 hours after 12 laps due to threatening weather; the green flag was moved up 14 minutes and ended under the lights just after 9pm ET.
- 2020: Race cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple winners (drivers)
Multiple winners (teams)
Manufacturer wins
Race reports
- 2001: The race was the inaugural race hosted in Chicago. The dominant car was rookie Kevin Harvick who led 113 of 267 laps. The polesitter was Todd Bodine and teammate Jimmy Spencer rounded out the front row for Travis Carter Enterprises. Harvick went on to win the race, his second Cup victory, narrowly beating Robert Pressley.
- 2010: The race began the pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Afterward, Jim Cornelison, the Chicago Blackhawks national anthem singer, performed the United States National Anthem while Duncan Keith gave the command to start engines.Kevin Harvick drove his race car to the garage area. On lap 197, it was said that Harvick's crew members were changing a fuel pump. On lap 212, Edwards passed McMurray for the fourth position. One lap later, Reutimann passed Jeff Gordon for the first position. Fifteen laps later, Biffle's engine failed. One lap later, Johnson made a scheduled green flag pit stop. On lap 233 Bowyer claimed the lead as Reutimann came to pit lane for a pit stop. Afterward, Edwards and Montoya led as green flag pit stops continued. Green flag pit stops finished on lap 236, after Reutimann reclaimed the lead. On lap 242 Edwards claimed the second position from Jeff Gordon. Reutimann remained the leader, and crossed the finish line first to clinch his second career victory in the Sprint Cup Series. Edwards finished second ahead of Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Jamie McMurray.
- 2014: Almirola made his final stop as the caution came out with 36 laps to go after Carl Edwards' car cut down a left-rear tire, and Larson cycled back to the lead in the process. While pitting, Almirola blew his car's engine, and he retired from the race. Almirola later described himself as "heartbroken" with the result. The race restarted with 30 laps to go, but only ran for a handful of laps before Clint Bowyer brought out the fifth caution of the race, with 23 laps to go, after he hit the wall in turn 1. The race restarted with 18 laps to go, and Harvick retook the lead from Larson before Keselowski moved to the head of the race the following lap. The caution flags flew for the sixth time with ten laps to go after Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Danica Patrick made contact on the front stretch. Upon exiting her car, Patrick stated that she "talked with Ricky afterward and we're fine". The race restarted with six laps to go and Brad Keselowski coasted on to victory lane, for his second successive win. Keselowski expressed his delight at the result, stating that he "was waiting for an opportunity to strike and it came. The car stuck and everything came together".
- 2015: After drag racing through the front stretch, Kurt Busch passed his brother for the lead with 46 laps to go. Edwards began the final cycle of pit stops with 29 laps to go. Kurt Busch pitted with 28 laps to go and handed the lead to Hamlin. Hamlin pitted with 24 laps to go and handed the lead to teammate Matt Kenseth. Kenseth hit pit road with 23 laps to go and the lead cycled back to Kurt Busch. Allmendinger was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. Debris in turn 2 brought out the sixth caution of the race with 10 laps to go. The debris were pieces of a brake rotor that came from the No. 83 car of Matt DiBenedetto. "Did the yellow even need to come out? I don't even know," Kurt Busch said after the race. He, Gordon and Hamlin opted to stay out while the rest of the lead lap cars opted to pit. The race restarted with five laps to go. Gordon got a good start on Kurt, but he was passed underneath by Hamlin, forced up the track and ultimately finished 14th. Denny drove on to score his 26th career victory.
- 2016: The race restarted with two laps to go in overtime, Blaney was no match on old tires against Truex on new tires. Truex passed him on the backstretch with two to go and drove on to score the victory.