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Friday Faceoff: Will 2024 Be the Last of the Chicago Street Course?

Will this weekend be the last Chicago street course race we’ll see?

Luken Glover: There are a lot of moving parts to it. First, NASCAR and Chicago have a contract that runs through 2025, though the city can terminate that agreement. Second, the Taste of Chicago food festival will be in September for the second consecutive season, typically a Fourth of July tradition for the city. There were also several Chicago citizens who, after last season’s NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity series races, voiced that they do not want the race to return.

However, the race produced some key benefits as well. The race was NBC Sports’ most-watched NASCAR race in six years. It also created several economic benefits for the city, bringing in $109 million, an additional $23.6 million in media value, and 97% of hotel rooms booked. NASCAR does have leverage with the potential of returning Chicagoland Speedway to the schedule, though that is nearly an hour from the city itself. If it doesn’t return and NASCAR keeps a street course, an established city for street racing like Detroit or Las Vegas could be an option.

Andrew Stoddard: No, but it will be the next-to-last race in the heart of the Windy City. NASCAR and Chicago will honor their current agreement but not renew it after 2025. The more traditional NASCAR fans are not enamored with the Chicago street course, and citizens of Chicago are not overly fond of the arrangement due to road closures and other adjustments needed to run the race. The economic windfall from the race is undeniable, but it will likely fall once the novelty of the event wears off. Also, there is a perfectly good 1.5-mile track about an hour from downtown Chicago, and Next Gen cars have put on fantastic shows at intermediate tracks. Chicagoland will return to the Cup schedule in 2026.

Kevin Nix: No. NASCAR and Chicago will honor their three-year agreement, but next year’s running will be the last time NASCAR ever takes to Chicago’s streets. We will see a rotation of different street courses in the coming years, and NASCAR should race the old Detroit Belle Isle configuration that the NTT IndyCar Series ran for nearly a decade. That layout was very conducive to IndyCar entries and would put on a similarly entertaining show with stock cars.

Mike Neff: It is hard to say. The whole thing is completely up to politics, so we’ll see what the new leadership in the Windy City wants. Street courses and stock cars are not a good show, but if there is a need for one, you want to have it somewhere with good, wide streets. For a fanbase that was screwed over, NASCAR should have it in Louisville or Lexington, Kentucky.

See also
2-Headed Monster: Should NASCAR Change the Overtime Rule?

All three Team Penske drivers will now compete in the Cup playoffs. Who will make it the furthest?

James Krause: A lot of people are going to be getting on the Joey Logano bandwagon this weekend after his win at Nashville Superspeedway. As Lee Corso would say, not so fast, my friend. Ryan Blaney is still the defending champion and last year put together one of the better playoff runs we’ve seen in the short history of the Championship 4 format. He’s been the most consistent Ford in the field since the start of the season and could have three wins if not for a few inches at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a few drops of fuel at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe deserve credit for their strategy at Nashville, but it doesn’t change the fact the team’s pace is inconsistent at best on intermediate tracks.

Stoddard: There are two things you can rely on in life: death and taxes. Let’s add a third item to that list, and that is success for Logano in even-numbered years. Logano won both his Cup championships in even-numbered years, hoisting the trophy in 2018 and 2022. Logano also made the Championship 4 in 2014, 2016 and 2020. As for his teammates, Austin Cindric has been quiet since his win at Gateway, and Blaney has been inconsistent so far in his title defense season. Bet on Logano carrying the Penske banner in the playoffs.

Neff: It is a momentum-driven system, for sure. We have seen Logano get hot and make a run. Blaney is consistently strong. He would be the pick to make a run and become the first back-to-back, winner-take-all champion.

Nix: Blaney. He’s been far and away the most consistent Penske driver this season, as Cindric and Logano won when they were below the cut line. Blaney has eight top 10s in 19 starts and is only tracking slightly worse than last year’s numbers in top 10s and average finish. It’s likely he will have more top fives than last year if he keeps this pace up, so it’s reasonable to say he can make a deep run if he snags an opportunistic win. Cindric and Logano just haven’t sustained their levels of success, and their subsequent wins seem like outliers.

Did Zane Smith save his job in Cup with his second-place result at Nashville?

Stoddard: It will take more than a runner-up finish under unpredictable circumstances for Zane Smith to keep his spot in Cup. It is a matter of simple math. There are four drivers under contract with Trackhouse Racing and three full-time seats for the organization in 2025, assuming it buys a charter as is rumored. Daniel Suarez has clinched his spot in the playoffs. Ross Chastain made the Championship 4 in 2022 and is likely to make the playoffs this year. Shane van Gisbergen has won twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year and is showing significant improvement on ovals. That leaves Smith as the odd man out. The best-case scenario is that he sticks with Spire Motorsports in 2025, but I see him taking a step back to the Xfinity Series next season.

Krause: No. Smith’s lucky break with strategy landed him his first top five this season. That’s great, but he still sits 34th in the points standings and last among drivers who’ve run every race. Smith wasn’t expected to be a contender in Spire equipment, but he’s consistently being outperformed by fellow rookie Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie. If Cup teams are looking for one of the 30 or 40 best drivers in NASCAR, Smith isn’t quite on that list yet. Smith is 17 points back of Harrison Burton, who just got his ride handed to Josh Berry and likely will be looking at a step back to Xfinity or the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Considering how young they are — Smith being 25 and Burton 23 — that’s far from an end to their Cup potential.

Nix: I will go a step further and say he saved his career. He’s been lost in the hustle and bustle of both Spire and Trackhouse and before last week’s race, it seemed like he would be discarded and forgotten about across the board. Not only was he not performing well, he wasn’t getting noticed by other teams, either. Last week’s runner-up result serves as a reminder that Smith is quite talented and needs a stable team to reach his true potential without his seat being in jeopardy. A full-time Xfinity ride at a top team would do wonders for him before he makes the jump back up to the Cup Series in 2026.

Glover: Not to take anything away from Smith, who was just feet away from pulling a massive upset, but his result was a product of the chaos. Had Cindric not spun with two laps to go, Smith wouldn’t have finished inside the top 20. His average running position was 28.7. After a dismal first few months, Smith has finally found hints of stability recently. Still, there is a lot of work that has to be done, and with Trackhouse’s other option in van Gisbergen returning to the site of his first Cup win this weekend, we could get a larger picture by the time Chicago is over.

See also
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Will anyone currently below the Xfinity cut line make the playoffs?

Neff: There is always the possibility of Jeb Burton or Anthony Alfredo catching lightning in a bottle one weekend, but right now the field looks pretty set.

Glover: I don’t see anyone winning their way into the playoffs unless the races at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta turn into a game of survival, which is very possible. If Brandon Jones can find what he did at times in his tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing, he has the best chance to win his way in. However, we have a legitimate points battle to watch. Ryan Sieg is only 11 points behind Sammy Smith. In JR Motorsports equipment, Smith should have the advantage. Yet Sieg has proven that he can run inside the top 10, and he came inches away from winning at Texas Motor Speedway in April. I give Smith the slight advantage, but don’t sleep on the veteran Sieg.

Krause: No. Sieg, 11 points back of the cut line, was nearly a winner at Texas but hasn’t been close to the front often enough to think he’ll make up the gap to Smith. From there, there are a few drivers — Brennan Poole, Josh Williams and Burton, to name a few — who have shots at Daytona and Atlanta to win and sneak their way into the playoffs.

Stoddard: Even with the current close battle at the cut line, it’s hard to envision anyone below it making the playoffs. In the end, Smith’s superior equipment with JRM will outlast Sieg and his smaller, family-owned team. Jones and Burton are the two drivers below the cutline most likely to win their way into the playoffs, but neither have shown winning speed this season.

Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.

James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.

Frontstretch.com

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kevin Nix

Kevin Nix has been with Frontstretch since February 2023. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, his dream is to be in the NASCAR media sphere full-time. He is a video assistant, working on the back end to streamline video and audio quality of all at-track interviews. Nix also writes about news every Monday for the site.

Nix graduated with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has bachelor's degrees in Communications and Political Science. In his downtime, he likes to read, play video games and take walks in the Arizona weather - when it's not too hot.

Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.


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DoninAjax

If you want to watch a real “race” with real “race” cars and drivers who don’t feel entitled here is the 1972 Southern 500:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crN54LyVPl4

Watch and weep!

Last edited 7 months ago by DoninAjax
MarkM

I certainly consider myself a “traditional” NASCAR fan, having attended my 1st major league NASCAR race at Charlotte in 1968, 3 years before Winston was the title sponsor, & writing about the sport for years, & I not only enjoyed the Chicago race last year, but hope they keep it, (or another street race), on the schedule.

I’m guessing a lot of “traditional” fans here have no clue of the proposed “L/R” street racing division NASCAR thought up 30+ years ago. This is just a progression of that old idea. But then I learned a long time ago, most “traditional” fans have no clues of the sport “BE”, (Before Earnhardt or even Earnhardt Jr.).

Last edited 7 months ago by MarkM