NASCAR Enjoy Illinois 300 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Sunday, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series tackle the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in the running of the Enjoy Illinois 300 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here is what you need to know ahead of the second race in the Chase.

Favorite: Christopher Bell (+420, per FanDuel)

Fresh off his first win of the season in the Southern 500, Bell could be poised for a repeat on Sunday. He has yet to win at Gateway in the four Cup Series races contested there, but he has finished 11th or better in each start and recorded back-to-back seventh-place finishes.

Bell will roll off fourth in Sunday's race and posted the best 15-, 20- and 30-lap averages in Saturday's practice. He has already cut into Denny Hamlin's championship lead (-12) after Darlington, and all signs point to him being a strong contender for the win again.

Underdog: Austin Cindric (+2200, per FanDuel)

When NASCAR ventures to shorter and flatter tracks similar to Gateway's layout, Team Penske is usually the team to beat. As a previous winner at the track in 2024, Cindric is no exception and certainly knows his way around there.

Granted, he benefited from teammate Ryan Blaney running out of gas in his 2024 win and has finished outside the top 10 in each of his other three starts at Gateway, but a 13th-place starting spot is more than enough to work with on Sunday.

Team Penske flexes in practice and qualifying

It was a strong start to the weekend for Cindric's Team Penske teammates as Blaney paced Saturday's practice session ahead of teammate Joey Logano and Penske-affiliated driver Josh Berry of the Wood Brothers Racing organization.

If that was not enough, Logano laid down a blistering lap in qualifying to win his 35th career pole. If recent history is any indication, expect the organization to continue its recent dominance on the shorter, flatter tracks in the series.

Brad Keselowski not backing down following incident with Carson Hocevar

The talk coming out of Darlington centered around the Stage 1 run-in between Keselowski and Hocevar. While Hocevar denied any wrongdoing after spinning the 2012 Cup Series champion and non-Chase driver, Keselowski made it clear during his media availability that he will "fight back with anybody in the garage" and is "not afraid of that."

It remains to be seen if there will be any fallout from the Darlington dustup, but Hocevar seems to be letting his driving do the talking going into the race. He qualified sixth and was inside the top five on the 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-lap averages. Keselowski, meanwhile, only qualified 23rd.

Some drivers already facing a huge points deficit in the Chase

Although Hamlin remains the points leader and the top nine in the standings are all within 72 points and still within striking distance, it gets a little more challenging from 10th on down.

Bubba Wallace (-81), Chris Buescher (-88), Hocevar (-89) and Daniel Suarez (-94) are a little worse off and could use a win to change their Chase outlook for the better. Cindric (-102), Ryan Preece (-104) and William Byron (-114), on the other hand, are all but eliminated already, barring a string of wins and a rash of stage points.