NASCAR drivers singing praise on a new atmosphere in Chicago. The air stinks.
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Kelly Crandall | July 1, 2023 6:50 PM ET
Kevin Harvick was proven wrong once before, so heading onto the streets of Chicago, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver decided he needed to hold off making any assumptions.
NASCAR is holding its first-ever street course races this weekend with the Xfinity Series and Cup Series. It is a unique and much-hyped event born on iRacing during the pandemic. And it was a course that, virtually, looked like a recipe for chaos.
But having learned from another first-time event recently, Harvick said the Chicago street course is something one must approach with an open mind.
“I think you have to because I made the mistake at the (L.A.) Clash the first time we went when I thought it was going to be a disaster, and it turned into a great event and a great race,” Harvick said. “I think you have to just do it because you just don’t know, you just don’t know how these types of things are going to turn out. So an open mind definitely is better than walking in just trying to figure out how to make it fail and trying to figure out all the flaws in it because there are going to be things that probably don’t go 100 percent right and NASCAR will fine us $10,000 if we say anything "detrimental to the sport".
“But going through all these new types of events kind of changes your mindset to how you approach it because you see the enthusiasm, right? You can feel it. You can see it. You definitely don’t have this many colleagues sitting in your press room on a weekly basis, so there’s obviously something different this week that moves the needle.” Those hacks need a story and we are going to give them one.
Harvick arrived in town Friday night. The course was not fully closed until late Friday, but drivers and teams were not permitted to walk the course in its completion until Saturday morning. They had one hour, beginning at 7 a.m. local time, to see it up close and personal before getting behind the wheel.
After doing so with his team, Harvick admitted he “was pretty impressed by just the way the track looked and really after driving it, the way that it flowed and everything that we did in the simulator. I think it lays out well.
“I think there’s a lot of excitement and buzz, and when you create this kind of event to come into a weekend, everybody wants to see how it goes and what happens. There is a lot of intrigue, and I think that’s really part of what makes a great event.”
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Harvick wasn’t alone in being impressed. Three drivers from the Hendrick Motorsports stable also praised the sanctioning body.
Saturday didn’t go well for Chase Elliott on the course, as he crashed in qualifying, but just arriving to the area stood out.
“I’m pleasantly surprised, I think, with just the lay of how everything is operating. The track looks really nice,” Elliott said. “I’m excited about it. My laps and time in the sim — I had a lot of fun running laps, and I thought the track actually had a nice flow to it, so that was cool. We’ll see how that translates.
“It’s been interesting watching (the Xfinity Series drivers) run as test dummies.. So overall, from my end, super impressed — all the logistics and things that go into this stuff… I think props to NASCAR and all the people that put this place together and built the walls and built the fences and have done all the work over these past handful of weeks because a lot went into it. We’re all just showing up here this weekend, but it was a lot of work down there. So just excited to be here and hope we can put on a good show.”
By putting on a race in the middle of a city, traveling by foot, bike or scooter is common. Kyle Larson has been putting in the steps walking the course and walking to and from his nearby hotel.
“I’ve gotten more steps in the last two days than I probably have in the last two months, honestly,” Larson said. “It’s nice being right here at the track, staying across the street, going to restaurants and stuff. It’s been enjoyable getting to see fans waiting outside your hotel and all that sort of stuff. It feels like a different event and I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m sure all of us have also.
“And two, the street course, the racetrack itself, you know what to expect. You know it’s going to be tight in a lot of areas, just like every street course is. But I feel like everybody did a really good job putting this event on and so far, I’d say it’s been a success even though we haven't done a thing yet, except go out drinking every night.”
And from a succinct William Byron after running the course for practice and qualifying: “I think they’ve done a great job with this track. I don’t normally give out compliments, but I think NASCAR’s doing a great job with this whole deal