NASCAR Road Course Comes to the Streets of Chicago

NASCAR will host a race on the streets of Chicago in July 2023, series officials and the city of Chicago announced Tuesday.

The race, dubbed the NASCAR Chicago Street Race Weekend, will be held July 1-2 next year and will consist of both NASCAR's top series, the Cup Series, and the IMSA The IMSA race will be held on Saturday, July 1, and the Cup Series race on Sunday, July 2. The start/finish line and pit lane will be located on South Columbus Drive, and the course will run through Grant Park and adjacent to Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. The course will use portions of South Lake Shore Drive, Balbo Drive, East Congress Plaza Drive, East Roosevelt Road, and East Jackson Drive. Racer notes that this layout is the same one that will be used for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series virtual race in June 2021.

NASCAR has added road courses in recent years to supplement its traditional ovals, but for now they are all permanent circuits, not temporary street courses; the 2022 season opener at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Bristol Motor Speedway, which opened the 2022 season, and the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Chicago race is another example of organizers experimenting with new formats.

The street races also keep NASCAR in the Windy City, a valuable market. Chicago Speedway near Joliet, Illinois, lost its race after 2019. Chicago's street races will also replace Road America on NASCAR's calendar. The race at that Wisconsin road course has been held on the same weekend the past two years, drawing large crowds to the historic track.

Will the street course in downtown Chicago offer better racing than these two traditional venues? Attention.