NASCAR drivers ready for history-making, street-course race in downtown Chicago

The spectacle of NASCAR stock cars roaring through the streets of downtown Chicago this weekend will be a first for the sport, presenting both opportunities and challenges that are being taken seriously across the board.

Ahead of the first street course in NASCAR Cup Series history, there seem to be two prevailing thoughts.

The first is the anticipation and excitement of NASCAR doing something new. For so long, the schedule was easily predictable, but in recent years not only have there been new venues but races on dirt and inside a football stadium. Racing on the downtown streets of a major city is a logical next experiment.

“It’s the same path NASCAR’s been going down the last couple of years with the Coliseum and even bringing back North Wilkesboro and trying dirt at Bristol,” AJ Allmendinger said. “There are certain things that some people love, and some people hate, but at least it’s something new, and I really do believe back the last time I was in Cup, the schedule was so bland and boring, and you’d go to all the same racetracks and racetracks twice in eight weeks. I felt like, especially during the summer months, it was very monotonous what we had to do. And I felt like you could always feel that energy in the garage; the summer months were kind of brutal.

“So, trying to new things and being able to bring a race to an iconic city like Chicago, a great sports city, to bring it to the people, that’s the biggest thing. We have the best fans in the world, but we’re trying to make new fans at all times.”

Allmendinger is willing to bet new fans will be made this weekend. He also understands some won’t like it, and that NASCAR can’t please everyone.

“But you’re bringing the race to the people, and you’re letting them experience something they wouldn’t have driven an hour for,” said Allmendinger. “So, I think that’s big for the industry.”

NASCAR is expecting ticket buyers from more than 48 states and a number of countries. Through its database, NASCAR has seen that most ticket buyers are first-timers to a race.

The inaugural Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum had the same vibe. It was new and unexpected and had plenty of hype leading into the weekend.

“I look back at the Busch Clash last year at the L.A. Coliseum, and before we left for that race, everybody thought it was going to be a complete joke, and we thought we were going to look like complete fools, but it was probably the best event of last year,” Kevin Harvick said. “When you look back at that, and you remember how much fun you had in the car, and you see the way it was perceived and the way the racing was and everything that happened, it was a phenomenal way to kick off our season.

“Chicago’s obviously a huge market for anything with all the people and eyeballs, and I’m all for events. I love great events, and Chicago is going to be an event. It’s in a great setting, and I think everybody’s looking forward to the challenge of the course and trying to do everything we need to do to put on a good show. Whether you have a good race or not, the event is almost made before you get started.”

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez made a bold prediction about this weekend.

“I think it’s going to be one of the greatest events in NASCAR’s 75-year history,” Suarez said. “Nobody knows how the racing will turn out, but as an event, I think it’s going to be incredible. We just need to get time on the track, and we’ll see how the race plays out. I suspect it’s going to be pretty crazy, which the fans usually love.”

What’s in store with the racing product is the second talking point.

“I don’t know how the race is going to be,” Allmendinger said. “The race could be great. The race could be boring. I don’t know, but it’s going to be a lot going on with all the concerts, all the festivities and things like that. It’s big for the sport to try this, and I think we’ve all got to have an open mind. I can promise you, at some point for the teams, it’s going to be kind of a pain because the haulers are outside the racetrack, the cars are inside the racetrack — things like that, it’s not going to be easy. But have an open mind to it and see what people think about it afterward.”

Kyle Busch might have an open mind, but the Richard Childress Racing driver was clear when asked what to expect.

“Survival,” Busch said. “It’s going to be a survival race. … I want to say it’s like Turn 1 at Indy. If you start 20th, you might as well not even accelerate to get to Turn 1 because it’s probably going to look like the Roval restart that we had when we all went off into the barrier in Turn 1. It’s survival.”

The course will have a little bit of everything. There are wide lanes on Columbus Drive and Lake Shore Drive but also plenty of narrow areas. Unlike road course races that drivers are used to that have run-off areas — dirt, grass, or asphalt — there won’t be many in Chicago.

No one knows what to expect Sunday, but the only consensus is that it will be an adventure.

“I think that you’re going to be aggressive,” said Michael McDowell. “All of our races are still going to be track position, so you’re going to want to make sure that you’re staying up front and keeping track position. But at the same time, [it’s] very narrow, surrounded by concrete barriers, and you can’t make any mistakes. So, that’s what the challenge is of a street race. You have to go for it, but when you take those risks, it takes time, so you have to balance when you do that.”

A closer look at the Chicago street course

The 12-turn course is still under construction, being completed in segments to avoid extended traffic shutdowns. It will not be a closed course until Friday evening, with no official running until Saturday morning. Xfinity Series drivers will get the first crack at it with a practice session set for 11am ET Saturday.

The many variables in play regarding the Chicago race include:

• Columbus Drive, which will serve as pit road and the frontstretch, has been repaved. Other newly paved areas are over bridge transitions to bring the surface even. Those areas include Balbo Drive going over the railroad tracks and a pedestrian bridge on Lake Shore Drive. There are an estimated 90 manholes throughout the course, but many are capped up by the wall because they are so close to the street curbs.
• Tuesday was painting day for pit road, including the 28-foot pit stalls. The traditional pit road camera system will be used as NASCAR received permission from the city to mount its cameras on light poles.
• NASCAR is using many shared resources. For example, fencing around the course is being built by the same group that did so for the NTT IndyCar Series races in Nashville and Detroit. In race control, a company familiar with street course races — from working the Monaco Grand Prix and the necessary camera system and software needed — is involved in installing it.
• The emergency crews for on-track work will come from Michigan, Milwaukee, Road America, Iowa and other Midwest tracks. NASCAR will also have help from the Chicago Fire Department, which will station its units on fuel island with the Sunoco operations. Chicago FD will also work with racing operations concerning pit medical and fire carts.
• A fire prevention group visited the Charlotte Roval last season to do recon. Another group, including Chicago police, attended the race at Circuit of The Americas in March.
• Just as with any road course race, there will be cutouts on the Chicago street course for emergency vehicles to enter and exit the course. For the drivers, escape locations to get to the garage will be the driver’s left at Turn 2 and the driver’s left at Turn 12.
• Turn 4 and Turn 11 have run-off areas for drivers who encounter trouble. Tim Bermann, NASCAR Sr. Director of Competition Operations and a Chicago native, noted that Lake Shore Drive is six lanes wide. Columbus Drive is also wide. “Almost Pocono wide,” Bermann said. According to Bermann, the narrowest section of the Chicago course is still a foot wider than the entire racing surface of Road America.
• Charlie Jones, the CEO of Four Leaf Productions and co-founder of Lollapalooza, has a team working with NASCAR as they are familiar with the city of Chicago, having put on events there for over 20 years. Jones knows the ins and outs of working with the city on street closures, permits, working with politicians, etc., and they’ve helped with grandstand builds, suite buildings and the concert side of the weekend.
• The main spotter stand will be inside the suites, and they will have the front row closest to Turn 1. A second location is outside Turn 4, as well as the ninth floor of the Symphony Center.
• The restart zone will be coming into Turn 12. NASCAR officials backed up the restart zone after feedback from drivers following the COTA race. The concern is that at tracks with a tight Turn 1, it leads to dive-bombing pass attempts. By moving the restart zone back, the goal is for drivers to be spread out. However, drivers will not have to wait until the start/finish line to change lanes on a restart. Once the green flag is displayed, drivers will have to cross a white line on the frontstretch at the entrance to pit road before they can pull out of line.
• The choose rule will be coming through the bus loop at Turn 9.
• There are nine scoring loops around the course.
• NASCAR does not expect any point on the Chicago street course to require policing of track limits.