Drivers react to Chicago street course: 'It's so wild. It's almost surreal'

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CHICAGO — NASCAR drivers know they face a treacherous 2.2-mile circuit on the streets of Chicago as they compete in the first Cup Series event ever on a street course Sunday.

But there is nothing that they see as a glaring issue as they race around Grant Park on a course that includes main Chicago streets Columbus Drive, DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue. 

The images were always going to be awesome, and drivers beamed about their experience Saturday. Cup drivers practiced and qualified while Xfinity drivers practiced, qualified and then were racing late Saturday afternoon.

“The view is incredible — of all the racetracks I’ve ever been at, this is by far the coolest views,” said Xfinity driver Justin Allgaier, who grew up in Illinois. “It’s so wild. It’s almost surreal.

“Coming here as a kid, never did I think this was a possibility.”

As for the course, it includes six 90-degree turns, which is rare for them as most of the purpose-built road courses have sweeping turns. They also have significant practice and simulation time.

But for Chicago, the course was just completed Saturday morning as Michigan Avenue was still open for cars Friday. There obviously was no test, although this idea started four years ago when NASCAR had virtual racing company iRacing scan the streets for drivers to virtually race and practice the court.

So to get through the initial sessions Saturday without any major issues was a relief for many.

“They have done 99 percent of the job great,” Cup driver Daniel Suarez said about the track. “Yeah, we can improve a couple of brake marks, maybe a couple of tire [barriers] that can be a little bit longer.

“But in my mind, the racetrack is ready to race. … The racetrack is better than we were expecting.”

Several drivers wrecked in practice and qualifying, which wasn’t unexpected. Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. all will go to backup cars while William Byron and Justin Haley both needed repairs to their primary cars.

“I just have to learn how to be a little less excited and just ease into it,” Byron said. “Bristol dirt, when we first went there, I hit the wall. I have to do a better job on my end to not be an idiot.”

Stenhouse hit a curb and a wall that juts out just slightly at a turn from Michigan to Congress Plaza Drive where the wall has to take into account a curb and a light. Elliott also had trouble in that area.

“I was having fun until I wasn’t,” Stenhouse said. “I don’t know what you’re going to change. The curb on the inside is where it ends. There’s really nothing else that you can do to make the entry to that corner any more open.”

Other drivers also said there isn’t much that can be done in that area.

“[Nothing to change] unless they can alter the middle of the regular street for Turn 8 and move that wall and the streetlight,” Elliott teammate Kyle Larson quipped. “The track is really fun. I think there’s area you can pass.”

NASCAR spent more than $50 million on this experiment (it includes full-length concerts during the weekend by The Black Crowes, The Chainsmokers and Miranda Lambert), and part of that went to significant course infrastructure, including repaving some areas and welding down manhole covers. 

“I hit walls and jumps and all kinds of stuff,” said Alex Bowman, who is on the playoff bubble when it comes to points. “It’s interesting for sure. But it’s super fun. … It’s really sketchy [in some areas] just with how rough it is.

“Jeff Gordon said ‘It’s sick.’ So we’ll go with ‘sick’ instead of ‘sketchy.'”

It’s all about perspective. The perspective is that the sketchiness is that they don’t have much run-off area if they make a mistake.

“The biggest thing for us is trying to cut it as close as you can to some of these corners on the apex — a lot of race tracks we go to, we don’t have a wall there,” Stenhouse said. “Here, there’s just way less room for error.”

Drivers will still have spotters located in areas high above the track but their sight lines aren’t great. Spotters are being stationed in one of the main suites on the frontstretch, atop a Chicago “big bus” outside one of the turns and on a Chicago Symphony building balcony that overlooks Michigan Avenue.

“I don’t think any of the spotters are going to be doing much of anything,” Kyle Busch said. “It’s just so hard to see. Their vantage points are so bad, that if you are going to rely on your spotters, you’re going to have lot bigger issues.” 

For just the second time, NASCAR is using mufflers to try to keep it from being too loud amid the city streets, especially for an event that has around 80 percent of ticket-buyers new to the ticket database of NASCAR-owned tracks.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.

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