CHICAGO, Ill. – Welcome to the unknown.
Welcome to a NASCAR Cup Series race of untested variables and potential surprises.
Welcome to an event where no driver has an advantage born of experience in a Next Gen car.
Welcome to another NASCAR “first” — Sunday’s Grant Park 220 on the newly constructed Chicago Street Race (5:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR’s finest will take to the streets of the Windy City, racing on a 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit in the shadow of Chicago’s skyscrapers and just yards from the shores of Lake Michigan.
In looking for a favorite on the narrow, unforgiving course, AJ Allmendinger comes to mind, both for his obvious talent on road courses and for his history of street course racing in IndyCars.
“Chicago is going to be very interesting,” Allmendinger said. “A street course takes me back to my roots of racing open-wheel and being at a lot of different street courses. I think it’s a venue that, if it’s put on right, we can have a great weekend there as an industry.
“It’s a race track that a small mistake can have a huge penalty when it’s that narrow and surrounded by concrete walls. Anything can happen, and we’re not really sure what to expect. Street racing is some of the most fun I’ve had racing in my life, so I’m looking forward to getting to Chicago and trying it out in a Cup car.”
It goes without saying that NASCAR’s Next Gen race car is a far cry from an IndyCar. Like the rest of the Cup drivers, Allmendinger will start from square one in learning how the heavier Next Gen car will behave during NASCAR’s first-ever visit to a circuit comprised of city streets.
It’s also germane to point out that Allmendinger’s last three street course races, all in 2013, ended in DNFs (did not finish). He fell out of the Long Beach race with a gear box failure, and in two attempts in a doubleheader at Detroit’s Belle Isle, he crashed before completing a lap on consecutive days.
Will there be ample passing zones in Chicago? NBC Sports analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. remarked during a reconnaissance trip around the course that the racing surface actually seemed wider than he expected after first trying the iRacing simulation of the track.
Like Allmendinger, Michael McDowell has street course experience in different types of cars. He ran an IndyCar at Surfer’s Paradise in Australia in 2005, competed in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series at Long Beach in 2006 and drove at Trois-Rivieres in Quebec in the Grand American Road Racing Series in 2006.
“I think going to a new course that nobody has any experience on—tricky and challenging—it’s going to play into the hands of guys that have done races like this, and that adapt quickly,” said McDowell, who drives the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports. We’re talking about the best drivers in the world, so they’re going to figure it out really fast.
“I don’t think I have an ‘advantage.’ I just feel like my comfort level is a bit higher than the majority of the guys that haven’t seen a street course before. We think about this race as a race we need to go and win to get into the Playoffs. So that’s what we’re focused on.”
Source: Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service
