Arts & Entertainment
New to NASCAR? Get Up to Speed With This Beginner’s Guide to the Chicago Street Race
A still from a promotional video for the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. (Courtesy of NASCAR)
The big buzz in town this weekend is sure to be NASCAR’s second running of the Chicago Street Race, taking over the city around Grant Park and the Museum Campus.
Don’t know a “spoiler” from a “splitter”? We’re here for you with a beginner’s guide to stock-car racing and what to look for during Saturday and Sunday’s events.
What is NASCAR?
NASCAR is the U.S. circuit of auto racing that uses production-based cars. These used to be cars a person could actually find in stock at a dealer, which explains the term “stock-car” racing. Today the race cars are specially built, but they still resemble autos you might see on the street — with a lot more decals and horsepower.
In contrast, Formula 1 and IndyCar circuits use single-seat, open-cockpit models, with tires that sit outside the body of the car. Where NASCAR autos will hit speeds of 100 miles per hour in Chicago (on straightaways), Formula 1 or Indy cars can get up to 240 mph.
What’s a street race?
Instead of circling an oval track, cars will race through a twisty-turny 2.2-mile course on Chicago’s streets. Last year’s wet pavement made for added excitement on the course, with numerous crashes into safety walls at turns, something that isn’t likely to be repeated under dry conditions.
How many laps or miles?
That depends on whether you’re watching Saturday’s race or Sunday’s, because the street race is actually two separate events.
Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, with a 2:30 p.m. start, is the Loop 110: 50 laps for a total of 110 miles.
Sunday’s Cup Series race, with a 3:30 p.m. start, is the Grant Park 165: 75 laps for 165 miles.
The Chicago Street Race course. (Courtesy of NASCAR)
What’s the difference between the two?
Think of the Xfinity Series like NASCAR’s version of Triple A baseball, where drivers develop their skills before getting called up to the majors, which, in NASCAR terms, is the Cup Series.
Drivers do move between the two series, though. Last year’s winner of the Chicago Street Race, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG, for short), races full-time in the Xfinity Series. He’ll be defending his title in this year’s Grant Park 165, as well as racing in the Loop 110 — one of nine drivers competing in both events.
Besides SVG, what drivers should I pay attention to?
Kyle Larson currently sits atop the Cup Series standings, so he’s a contender. Tyler Reddick has the most finishes in the Top 10 this season, and Denny Hamlin has led more laps than anyone other than Larson.
Hot hands include Joey Logano and John Hunter Nemechek, coming off Cup Series and Xfinity Series wins, respectively, last week in Nashville. And don’t sleep on Martin Truex Jr., the Cup circuit’s best driver still winless in 2024.
How can I watch?
On screens, NBC will broadcast the races live and also stream the action on Peacock.
Want to catch the Street Race in person? Tickets are still available, including new single-day general admission passes, which start at $45 for youth and $150 for adults.
Admission includes access to the race’s festival grounds, with food vendors, concerts (Keith Urban and the Black Keys are among the performers) and more.
This being Chicago, plenty of people discovered points along the course where they could glimpse the cars whiz by for free, as the Sun-Times reported in 2023.
What else do I need to know?
Look for colored flags being waved on the course. A green flag starts the race, a checkered flag ends it, a white flag means there’s one lap to go, and yellow and red flags indicate different levels of caution — yellow calling for a slower pace and red bringing drivers to a halt.
Pit stops are also entertaining, as six-person crews change tires, refuel and perform adjustments and repairs in mere seconds. Fun fact: Pit crews have been clocked changing all four tires in under nine seconds. (Formula 1 crews, which are larger, can change tires in two seconds.)
See if you spot a crew peeling off a car’s windshield. These giant clear stickers are applied in layers, and removed one by one throughout the race to give drivers a clear view of the track. The windshields themselves are made of a polycarbonate that’s strong enough not to shatter on impact, but soft enough to get easily scratched. (Think about your iPhone screen and its protective covering.)
Pay attention to strategy. Some basic moves are “drafting,” which is when one car follows so close behind another, they’re practically touching. This creates a vacuum between the two, with the lead car doing all the work, pulling the second along with it.
A “slingshot” is when the drafting car steers around the leader, breaks the vacuum, and gets an extra burst of speed to take the lead.
Wait, what about “spoiler” and “splitter”?
In the simplest of terms, a spoiler is the thingamajig on the back of the car and a splitter is the thingamajig on the front.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
