The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the Chicagoland Speedway for the inaugural running of the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 on the 1.5-mile D-shaped tri-oval racetrack.

Although two of the three Top-Tier NASCAR Touring Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, this will mark the first appearance by the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the Joliet, IL track.   The 1.5-mile D-shaped track promotes three-wide racing which should be exciting to watch the Camping World Trucks race side by side. 

Aric Almirola will pilot the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Camping World Truck and has one prior start at the Chicagoland Speedway in 2007.  Almirola piloted a NASCAR Nationwide Series car starting third and led a lap when he was caught up in an incident ending his day early.

“With this being the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland, it’ll be awesome racing under the lights,” Aric Almirola said.  “Fortunately, we’ll have a day of practice to get the truck dialed in.” 

The Chicagoland Speedway is located approximately one hour outside of Chicago, Illinois.  After leaving O’Reilly Raceway Park last month on his way to Iowa Speedway, Aric Almirola stopped and made his first visit to the Windy City.

“It was awesome to see downtown Chicago. With all the traveling we do, most people would think that we get to see all the cities and tourist attractions,” Almirola explained.  “However, we are always in and out so quick that we only see the track. Which for me is fine, because I love to race. But it was nice to be able to visit downtown Chicago and be a tourist. I would suggest to anyone who is in Chicago, to take the architectural tour by boat through the city. It’s amazing to see how many buildings there are along the water and what they were used for back in the day. And it was neat to hear the story of Mrs. O’Leary and how the Great Chicago Fire was started from her barn.” 

The Billy Ballew Motorsports team will bring chassis #24 which was last run at Kentucky Speedway by Brian Ickler.

The Series will have two extended practice sessions on Thursday with a final practice, qualifying and the 150 lap, 225 mile race Friday, August 28, 2009.

Televised coverage of Keystone Light Pole Qualifying will be carried on SPEED beginning at 5:00pm ET.  Live televised race coverage begins at 8:30pm ET with MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio joining in at 8:45pm ET.