NASCAR announced on Tuesday that it is adding a race in a “major metropolitan market”—downtown Chicago.
The Cup Series’s first-ever street race will take place in July next season. Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and strategy, said in the press release, “Like the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, we seized an incredible opportunity to add an unprecedented element to our schedule and take center stage in the heart of another major metropolitan market.
“This is the ideal setting for the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race. The NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen cars and the IMSA machines will race along the shores of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago, marking a truly historic moment for our sport.”
Before the news was officially announced but was widely reported that it was expected to come, Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave his thoughts on the unprecedented move.
“This is awesome news. A new challenge to see the best stock car drivers in the world tackle. A great market,” he tweeted. “Pretty cool how @iRacing was used to test the idea as well. Can’t wait to broadcast the first race there!”
The first-ever street race comes on the heels of hosting the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles earlier this season, and it will return for the 2023 season. Fans, though, had a mixed reaction. The Chicago race will replace Wisconsin’s Road America road course event for next year’s schedule, Kennedy confirmed.
