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Earlier this week, NASCAR officials and Chicago City mayor Lori Lightfoot confirmed the first street race in downtown Chicago. The event is scheduled to go down on July 2nd, 2023. The race will be a 12-turn course going 2.2 miles long.
The highly awaited announcement sparked mixed reactions from NASCAR drivers and fans. Dale Earnhardt Jr., the semi-retired stock car driver-turned-sports analyst, was thrilled by the announcement.
Earnhardt Jr. has been behind the booth for a while and has broadcast several Cup races following the announcement. Claiming that he can’t wait to broadcast the first race there, he took to his Twitter account and wrote:
“This is awesome news. A new challenge to see the best stock car drivers in the world tackle. A great market. Pretty cool how iRacing was used to test the idea as well. Can’t wait to broadcast the first race there!”
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The idea of street racing was tested in 2021 through iRacing, where Cup Series drivers competed in the Windy City 110, an iRacing Pro Invitational Series race in Chicago. Following the event, William Byron was among the drivers who were fascinated by the idea, and he cited that the environment was conducive and they might thrive on the street course.
Earlier this year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went hard on the idea of street racing after the question of street racing popped up in the “Ask Jr.” segment in his Dale Jr. Download podcast. He was asked his thoughts on street racing, and in his response, Earnhardt Jr, stated that he had watched IndyCars racing in the street, and he didn’t see the fun in it.
In his statement, he said:
“I watched a little bit of the IndyCar over the weekend in St. Pete. I guess I need to ask, what’s fun about watching cars racing around a street course?”
Speaking about his experience with iRacing, he stated that the only fun with the race was seeing drivers struggling.
NASCAR VP has been pushing for new ideas for the Cup Series schedule
The start/finish line and pit road for the Chicago Street Race will be located at South Columbus Drive. The cars will race through Grant Park, the northern edge of Soldier Field, and then to Lake Michigan. Other racing series like IndyCars and F1 have been racing in the street for a while, but NASCAR has never had the opportunity to hit the streets, and this will be their first.
Ben Kennedy, NASCAR vice president, has been pushing for new ideas for the Cup Series schedule, including an exhibition race at the LA Coliseum earlier this year. The Chicago street race has been on his main agenda, and he has been working hard to bring it to life. Eventually, it will be happening next summer.
The street course will replace one of the road courses in the schedule, which in this case will be Road America, which has only hosted two races this season.
