CHICAGO — Drivers will finally get their chance Saturday to check out the Chicago Street Race track, one of the talked-about events on the NASCAR circuit for months.
Everyone is curious about how the course will play after all the hype.
“It’s hard to say what it’s going to be like because I haven’t been on the track yet,” Bubba Wallace said Friday during a stop at Wrigley Field. “I’ve walked a little bit of it and you can’t really get a feel because you’re going like a thousand times faster than walking when you’re in the car.
“I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a good vibe, a good buzz going around and a lot of people genuinely curious about how it’s all going to work. Just going to go out and out on a show.”
Practice Saturday will be from 12:30-1:20 p.m., with qualifying from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The inaugural 100-lap race is scheduled to start Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
Chicago has been anxiously awaiting the event since last summer, when former Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a three-year deal with NASCAR to stage the event downtown. The idea was greeted with trepidation, a bit of skepticism and downright hostility over the traffic closures and noise issues that accompany the race.
Scheduling it on a holiday weekend and blocking off access to the lakefront was also a head-scratcher to some.
But as Sunday’s race nears, more residents seemingly have come around to the idea. Some tradeoffs are necessary to bring a premier event to Chicago, and if all goes well, the race could enhance the city’s already solid reputation as a tourist destination.
The track itself looks kind of cool, racing around Buckingham Fountain and Lake Shore Drive.
“When the race is really far out, everybody obviously is wondering how it’s going to work,” racer Tyler Reddick said. “NASCAR has been doing everything we can with the city to make the traffic situation as ideal as possible. That’s why the streets aren’t fully closing down until the last possible minute.
“It’s been a really interesting situation for everybody. For NASCAR, it’s the first time they’ve done it and also for the Chicago Athletic Commission. It’s been really cool to see it all come together and awesome that it’s race weekend, and Sunday we’re going to be doing some crazy stuff out there.”
What kind of crazy stuff? No one really knows because the drivers haven’t had an opportunity to race on the track and test its crazy turns.
“The streets don’t close until (Friday night), and with the street course and Lake Shore Drive and some of the other roads in and around that area, they can’t have it shut down for traffic flow reasons,” Reddick said. “Just trying to help out everyone that lives here.”
Surely the downtown residents appreciate any help, at least the ones that haven’t already fled to southwest Michigan or Wisconsin for the weekend.
Both Wallace and Reddick were part of the 23XI racing team co-owned by former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota and Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota were parked outside Wrigley on Friday, giving fans a glimpse into what it looks like inside a racing car.
Reddick said the drivers’ lack of knowledge of the Chicago track won’t matter once they get on it for practice and qualifying.
“It’s fine,” he said. “It makes the situation even more unique. It’s going to really take a long time to clean up all the dust and oil that sits in normal highway conditions that make the track a little more slick.
“We’ve done a lot of prep work and I think we’ve done a good job with it. It’s going to be something like we’ve never done before, and that just makes it awesome.”
NASCAR’s decline in viewership over the last decade-plus, combined with the rise in popularity of Formula 1 racing, has led to speculation events on pop-up tracks like the inaugural Chicago Street Race could be the wave of the future. NASCAR traditionally boasts a more rural fan base and is considered a regional sport by many.
But times are a changing.
The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, a preseason race held on a purpose-built track inside the iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, provided the NASCAR Cup Series a ton of publicity before the Daytona 500 started the season.
NASCAR is hoping the much-hyped Chicago race can do the same.
“I don’t know anything about publicity,” Reddick said. “It’s about creating a really awesome, unique experience for the fans, something different they haven’t tried before and just see if it works. ‘How is it going to go?’
“Really excited to see it, even the travel getting to and from downtown Chicago.”
Wallace said the Chicago Street Race doesn’t suggest this style of racing — on a pop-up track in city settings on a course that sort of resembles a Formula 1 track — will be the future of NASCAR. The more traditional oval track racing will always be the norm.
“The future is just for us to try something different,” Wallace said. “Look for what we did with ‘the Clash’ out in L.A. in the Coliseum. I think we’re just trying something new. As far as more street courses (on the schedule), I don’t know.
“There are a lot of excited people to see what kind of product we’re going to put on. It’s going to be cool, going to be different for sure.”
How different?
“We’ll find out,” Wallace said. “I have no idea.”
