Records and facts
This is an inaugural race at a track that has never been raced on in real life. The only previous races have been on iRacing.
In 2021, James Davison dominated the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Windy City 110, winning by nearly 56 seconds over Josh Bilicki. Justin Haley was third, then Garrett Smithley and Martin Truex Jr. No one will win
Sunday's 100-lap race by anything approaching that amount of time.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.2-mile street course, 100 laps (220 miles)
Banking: Variable
Grandstand Seating: 50,000
Pit Road Speed: 35 mph
Pace Car Speed: 45
mph
Opened: 2023
Website: http://www.nascarchicago.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASCARChicago
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NASCARChicago
Pre-Race Schedule:
Practice: Saturday, July 1, 1:30 - 2:25 p.m. ET on USA Network
Qualifying: Saturday, July 1, 2:35 p.m. ET on USA Network
Say What?!
"It’s going to be new, it’s totally different. Not like the roads in Alva, for sure. It’s a way to move the needle with our sport. I think over three-quarters of the tickets already sold are new fans, and I’m sure a lot of people are just going to walk-up when they hear the engines fire up. I think there’s signs all over town so they’ll at least know about it. And then when we go roaring down through there, there are going to be
so many new fans. I’m bought-in. It doesn’t matter, for me, how my personal race goes or my weekend goes. I could very easily drive it into the tire barriers about every corner if I’m not careful. I’ve done that on the simulator quite a bit. You make the brake zone by just a few feet and there’s no run-off. Yes, I want points and I want to win, but I’m more looking at it from the big picture of us as a whole and if it elevates all of us, it’ll pay off for me in the long run." - Ross Chastain
"I believe the Chicago street race will be one of the most challenging races that Cup has ever seen for sure. Yeah, we’re racing cars that were kind of made for road racing, but they’re still 3,600 pounds and big, heavy stock cars and we’re trying to run them on
streets and rough streets at that. Really tight, 90-degree corners so everything is going to be super, super close action, tight quarters, bumping and banging and probably hitting some barriers here and there. It’s going to be a heck of a show and a very interesting one at that, especially being the first time with nobody really knowing what to expect." - Kyle Busch
"I truthfully have no idea [what to expect]. I think we’ve seen a lot of attrition on the restarts at road course races this year and with the NextGen car, so I’d expect some of that. Maybe there will be some guys that take it easy, but I would guess you’ll have some ruffled feathers at some point and that could lead to
excitement.
"I’m excited. I wasn’t really sure how we were going to pull it off,
at first, but the more we’ve prepared and the closer it’s gotten, the more excited I am to get there and see what it’s all about. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of figuring out the new tracks and I’m ready to see what it’s really like when we get there." - Chase Briscoe
"Chicago will be interesting. No one has been on the track since they are just building it now and nobody has raced a street circuit in a Cup Series car. Lot of unknowns, for sure. We’ll see what we can do with our Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry TRD. Hopefully we can run well. Just going to have to be patient and learn as much as we can in the small bit of track time that we’ll have." - Ty Gibbs
