NASCAR fans, get ready for a street race.
Chicago will host the Cup Series’s first-ever street race next season as the stock cars go zipping through downtown with Lake Michigan and Grant Park as a backdrop.
“Chicago’s streets are as iconic as our skyline and our reputation as a world class sports city is indisputable,” Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot said in a press release. “I am thrilled to welcome our partners at NASCAR to Chicago for an event that will attract thousands of people to our city. Chicago’s world class entertainment and hospitality industries, coupled with our city’s history as a conduit for sports talent, make us the perfect hosts for this unique event.”
It will be a 12-turn, 2.2-mile street course, featuring Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive. The start/finish line and pit road will be located right in front of Buckingham Fountain on South Columbus Drive, and the stock cars will battle it out through Grant Park. The track will also go past the northern edge of Soldier Field, which is all too familiar with stock car racing.
The stadium, home of the Bears, was the other location to ever host a NASCAR Cup Series race in downtown Chicago in 1956.
NASCAR’s top executives and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace were in Chicago for Tuesday’s formal announcement. The race is a three-year deal and will replace Wisconsin’s Road America road course event for next year’s schedule, NASCAR senior vice president Ben Kennedy confirmed.
“I’d say of all the changes, this is our boldest change in the schedule. We’ve said, and it’s been pretty synonymous when we announce the schedules, that we want to be bold and innovative and we think about new venues and new concepts that we’re going to,” Kennedy said in Tuesday’s press conference. “This is No. 1 on the list for us right now, and it’s certainly going to be the most anticipated event of our season and one of the biggest sport events in our country in 2023.
“We’re really excited about it, and as Mayor Lori Lightfoot had mentioned, when you think about Chicago, you think about the rich history of sports here, you think about the iconic skyline, you think about the iconic landmarks around the city, Navy Pier, Cloud Gate, a handful of them, to actually have our NASCAR Cup cars racing around the streets of Chicago is going to be something just incredible.”
