The celebrities of NASCAR are set to race on the streets of Chicago — the circuit’s solely road race of the season — for the second time this weekend.
With the Grant Park 165 Chicago Road Race far and away essentially the most uncommon race weekend on the schedule, here is what you might want to know.
The fundamentals: Begin occasions, TV networks, race lengths
The Xfinity Sequence and Cup Sequence will take to the town streets this weekend. Each collection can have a 50-minute observe session on Saturday, in addition to a qualifying session to set the sphere.
The Xfinity Sequence area will placed on the primary present of the weekend, with Cole Custer trying to defend his 2023 Chicago win.
On Sunday, the Cup Sequence area might be trying to deny Shane van Gisbergen’s repeat bid.
Saturday Schedule (All occasions Japanese):
- NASCAR Xfinity Sequence Follow, 10 a.m. (USA Community, NBC Sports activities App)
- NASCAR Xfinity Sequence Qualifying, 11 a.m. (USA Community, NBC Sports activities App)
- NASCAR Cup Sequence Follow, 12:30 p.m. (USA Community, NBC Sports activities App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- NASCAR Cup Sequence Qualifying, 1:30 p.m. (USA Community, NBC Sports activities App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- NASCAR Xfinity Sequence The Loop 110, 3:30 p.m. (NBC, NBC Sports activities App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday schedule:
- NASCAR Cup Sequence Grant Park 165, 4:30 p.m. (NBC, NBC Sports activities App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
The NASCAR Xfinity Sequence race might be composed of fifty laps across the 2.2-mile road course. In the meantime, the Cup Sequence race will include 75 circuits.
Impression of the race
Why, it’s possible you’ll ask, is NASCAR so eager on holding a race that may be a logistical nightmare? Shutting down metropolis streets on a vacation weekend might not sound like an ideal thought, however it may repay in the long term.
Holding a race in a significant market equivalent to Chicago — particularly if the market likes the race and latches onto the thought — may convey main returns, each financial and when it comes to boosting NASCAR’s recognition.
Final 12 months’s Chicago Road Race was the second-most-watched race of the season behind the Daytona 500. With this 12 months’s Daytona 500 being postponed to Monday, Chicago has an outdoor likelihood to be the most-viewed race of 2024.
Per The Climate Channel, the present forecast requires a slight likelihood of rain on Saturday and Sunday. NASCAR officers should pray to the racing gods that rain stays out of the image as a result of the occasion can’t be delayed or postponed previous Sunday afternoon.
Who’re the favorites?
With climate situations anticipated to be drastically totally different over the weekend than they had been in 2023 — a deluge plagued final season’s race — no one is aware of what to anticipate so far as the racing product on what ought to be sizzling and slick metropolis streets.
Shane van Gisbergen received final 12 months’s race on a wet day, however the hotter climate and sunny skies will make for a race weekend the place driver talent ought to be on full show.
Within the Xfinity Sequence race, no one might be seen extra favorably than van Gisbergen, who received the inaugural Cup Sequence occasion in Chicago final 12 months.
His Kaulig Racing teammate, road-course ace AJ Allmendinger, can by no means be counted out. Neither can defending Chicago winner and Xfinity Sequence champion Cole Custer, who’s on the lookout for his first win of 2024.
In Sunday’s Cup Sequence race, van Gisbergen is as soon as extra being billed as one of many favorites. Look to Toyota to attempt to spoil his repeat bid, nevertheless. The trio of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick ran up entrance in final 12 months’s race.
Chevrolet will even have the Hendrick contingent of William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, in addition to Allmendinger making a visitor look in a 3rd automobile for Kaulig Racing.
The important thing to predicting the winner of Sunday’s race? Throw the 40 drivers on the entry record right into a hat and cross your fingers. The favorites for the race may be repeated again and again, however Sunday’s race might be one of many largest unknowns within the Cup Sequence in a very long time.