Kyle Busch has been very impressive in his first season with Richard Childress Racing. He is equal with William Byron for most wins so far at three each.
Although none of those victories came at tracks with right-hand turns, Busch has a pair of runner-up finishes at COTA and Sonoma this year, showing that he is a true threat at road courses as well.
But next week, the inaugural running of the Chicago Street Course race will be something very different.
“It’s really rough," explained Busch during his media availability at Nashville Superspeedway. "It’s bumpy. It’s slippery. There’s some corners that are very challenging. Some blind ones at that. When you’re going around the Bean on the left-hander, that’s really, really slippery and there’s a huge bump going through (turn) nine before you get into (turn) 10.
"The wall in (turn) eight before you go around the left-hander is, to me, really narrow over there. You’re barely trying to miss getting your right front ripped off; not bouncing off that and killing your car on the left side. So there could be more room given over there, I feel like. That’s probably a really tight spot that could use a little bit of help, just based off of what the simulator is telling us. But other than that, it’s going to be a tight street course. That’s what tight street courses are.”
It's not uncommon for NASCAR races at road courses to get a bit rowdy (yes, pun intended) towards the end, with COTA 2023 and the 2022 event at the Indy RC being prime examples of that. But COTA has plenty of run-off and IMS has a lot of grass that can offer drivers an escape. Chicago is lacking in both those areas. Any incident will likely result in damage to the car and leave other drivers with nowhere to go. Busch touched on that, saying the event will be all about "survival" and just making it to the finish.
"It’s going to be a survival race. I feel like we had a couple of those – I can’t remember the last one that we had, but I want to say it’s like turn one at Indy (RC). If you start 20th, you might as well not even accelerate to get to turn one because it’s probably going to look like the (Charlotte) ROVAL restart that we had when we all went off into the barrier in turn one you know what I mean. It’s survival.”
NASCAR hasn't been afraid to go bold with new events in recent years, from putting dirt on Bristol to racing inside a stadium in Los Angeles. So what would makes next weekend's race a success?
“To me, action – having a good race and story to tell about a street course," explained Busch. "You know, I looked at the IndyCar race from (the) Nashville (street course) the first year they did it. They had that big pileup and about blocked the track. Things like that. It’s not action that us drivers want to see, but fans kind of sometimes enjoy calamity. And that then turns into a social moment where they’re like – hey, check this out. If we’re those guys, then so be it and that’s kind of where it’ll lay.
"It's a spectacle, right? It’s something that I don’t think NASCAR has ever done in a long, long time – the Cup Series, if ever, I’m not sure."
The race has attracted the attention of some international stars as well, with former F1 World Champion Jenson Button planning to make his second Cup start of the year in the event. Additionally, three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen — who is no stranger to street courses — will make his NASCAR Cup debut at Chicago with Trackhouse.
