NASCAR Cup Series drivers finally took to the streets of Chicago Saturday after months of hype and anticipation for the sport’s first street course race.
“It’s wild. It’s wild in a good way,” 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace said. “The only thing I talked to my team about is I don’t feel – when I’m in the race car – the city aspect as much as you see it (outside the car). For me, it’s like, OK, don’t hit that concrete wall, don’t hit that one, look at the brake markers, make sure you hit the apex of the corner.
“So, I think we go into race mode, and it’s a good thing we’re not paying attention to the outside. But yeah, I’d say bonkers is a good word (for the weekend).”
“H onestly, it’s pretty close to what I expected,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s cool to be right there on the limit with literally no room for error.”
Because it’s a new course, NASCAR gave teams 50 minutes of practice before going into qualifying. There were a few issues in practice as drivers like William Byron and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stepped over the limit and hit the wall. In qualifying, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick had heavy crashes.
“Driving t he race car is super fun,” Bowman said. “I am really enjoying that.”
Justin Haley could not qualify after his team had a shock issue in practice. He said Kaulig Racing just missed it when it came to the shock package, leading to him scrapping the wall. Even still, he was complimentary of the course.
“Besides the walls being a lot closer than a normal road course, it’s fine,” Haley said. “There are no issues.”
Some expected the course to feel more claustrophobic than drivers might be used to because of the walls and fencing. Unlike traditional road courses, where there is plenty of run-off area before getting to a tire barrier or fence, Chicago is completely enclosed.
“It’s fun,” Haley said.
Ryan Preece “loved” driving the course. But the Stewart-Haas Racing driver knows the fun can quickly dissipate.
“It was awesome,” Preece said. “I enjoyed it because it’s a constant challenge for yourself to keep pushing further and further into the corner and not overstepping it because I think you saw that one time you overstep it, there is no second chance.
“If you hit a wall, you’re going to bounce off into the other wall. If you overdrive it, you’re probably going to slide right into the tire barrier. So, it’s just finding that line.”
Stenhouse’s crash in practice came because he made a mistake entering the loop – Turn 8. Misjudging the right-hander and turning too soon, Stenhouse hit the wall with the right side of his JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, which sent him into the opposite wall.