Via practically 75 years of its historical past, NASCAR had raced all throughout the USA on all varieties of racetracks, from the smallest of grime ovals to the most important and quickest of superspeedways. However by no means earlier than had NASCAR’s high degree raced on the streets of a serious metropolis — till town of Chicago modified all that.
For the third consecutive 12 months, NASCAR commemorates July 4th weekend with its annual Chicago Road Race weekend, culminating within the Grant Park 165 in downtown Chicago. Via two years to date, this occasion has performed host to a Coming to America story that noticed Shane van Gisbergen go from a visiting New Zealander who gained in his NASCAR debut to a full-time Cup driver, and a return to Victory Lane final 12 months when Alex Bowman ended a two-year winless streak.
This 12 months, the growing depth of the battle for the NASCAR playoffs takes heart stage in Second Metropolis, as solely 4 open spots for non-winners now stay on the playoff grid. One such spot was stuffed final week, when native hero Chase Elliott gained in Atlanta to stamp his place within the playoffs and clear the way in which for his run at a second Cup title.
The place to observe the NASCAR Cup Sequence in Chicago
When: Sunday, July 6, 2 p.m. ET
The place: Chicago Road Course — Chicago, In poor health.
TV: TNT
Stream: fubo (try for free)
Storyline to observe
This weekend brings with it some particular intrigue in qualifying, as there’s set to be a deal with the race to make the race: 41 automobiles are entered for 40 accessible spots within the discipline, which marks the primary time since 2018 a non-Daytona 500 Cup race has had greater than 40 automobiles entered. With 5 Open automobiles competing for 4 accessible spots within the discipline, one automotive, driver, and group can be pressured to load up and head dwelling in the event that they’re the slowest of the Open automobiles in qualifying Saturday.
Three of the Open automobiles are being fielded by full-time Cup groups, with 23XI Racing fielding the No. 67 for Corey Heim, Richard Childress Racing bringing the No. 33 for Austin Hill and Kaulig Racing fielding the No. 13 for reigning V8 Supercars champion Will Brown. Barring one thing sudden, the battle for the ultimate spot within the discipline could come right down to the Dwell Quick Motorsports No. 78 pushed by Katherine Legge and the Storage 66 automotive pushed by Josh Bilicki, who spoke to CBS Sports activities this week in regards to the stress to make the sphere.
“We are the smallest group by a longshot with a fraction of the subsequent group’s funds, so individuals are in all probability counting us out already,” Bilicki stated earlier than providing his personal causes for optimism. “I’ve ran each Cup race in downtown Chicago, I did a variety of sim work the final couple years. So I really feel like bodily I am ready, mentally I am ready … It is gonna be robust for us for certain. However I believe I’ve the expertise to do what it takes to make the sphere on Sunday.”
Extra in direction of the entrance of the sphere, this weekend additionally sees the continuation of the In-Season Problem, which was fully turned on its head every week in the past when No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin, No. 2 seed Kyle Larson and extra had been eradicated largely because of a 23-car pileup that cleared the way in which for main upsets. This week’s In-Season Problem matchups are as follows:
- No. 32 Ty Dillon vs. No. 17 Brad Keselowski
- No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 9 Bubba Wallace
- No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 5 Chase Elliott
- No. 20 Erik Jones vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- No. 31 Noah Gragson vs. No. 15 Ryan Preece
- No. 26 Carson Hocevar vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick
- No. 22 A.J. Allmendinger vs. No. 6 Ty Gibbs
- No. 14 Zane Smith vs. No. 3 Chris Buescher
NASCAR information of the week
- Trackhouse Racing introduced this week Daniel Suarez is not going to return as the driving force of the No. 99 Chevrolet in 2026, making Suarez a free agent in what was billed as a “mutual resolution.” Suarez, the primary driver employed by the group when it entered NASCAR in 2021, will drive elsewhere subsequent season after incomes his first two Cup wins driving for Trackhouse and ending a career-best tenth within the championship standings in 2022.
“I’ve had among the finest years of my Cup Sequence profession at Trackhouse. We had nice successes as a group and I gained some unimaginable mates,” Suarez stated in a press release. “We took a group no one had even heard of in 2021 and in simply a few years we had been successful races and working up entrance on a weekly foundation.
“Identical to the seasons in a 12 months, typically issues change and we’ve mutually agreed to every go in our personal route. I want Trackhouse nothing however the very best, this No. 99 group will all the time be particular to me. And like I all the time say, the very best is forward!”
Whereas the No. 99 seat is now open for 2026, The Athletic reports Trackhouse is predicted to advertise 18-year-old Connor Zilisch from the Xfinity Sequence to run for the group full-time subsequent season.
Choose to win
Shane van Gisbergen (+185) — Rumors of Shane van Gisbergen’s demise as NASCAR’s high street racer turned out to be significantly exaggerated. SVG completely waxed the competitors only a few weeks in the past in Mexico Metropolis, main 60 of 100 laps and dogwalking the sphere on the ultimate inexperienced flag run to earn his second Cup win by 16.5 seconds — the most important margin of victory in a Cup race since 2009. SVG will but once more be favored at Chicago, the place he gained in his very first begin in 2023 and simply might’ve gained final 12 months had he not gotten hit from behind and knocked right into a crash not of his making.