With hopes for a weekend with finally clear skies, NASCAR is back in the Windy City for the third edition of the Chicago Street Race.
Since the inaugural event two years ago, the Cup and Xfinity series have been affected by inclement weather. After both series’ races were shortened by thunderstorms in 2023, the Cup Series ended 17 laps short of the full distance last year because of rain delays.
Alex Bowman is the defending winner of the Cup race. Shane van Gisbergen returns to Chicago this season as a full-time driver in NASCAR’s premier series after winning the inaugural race in his Cup debut for Trackhouse Racing (he also won last year’s Xfinity race).
Chicago will be the second round of the In-Season Challenge. Here are the matchups (with driver seeding):
—Brad Keselowski (17) vs. Ty Dillon (32)
—Alex Bowman (8) vs. Bubba Wallace (9)
—Chase Elliott (5) vs. John Hunter Nemechek (12)
—Erik Jones (20) vs. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (29)
—Ryan Preece (15) vs. Noah Gragson (31)
—Tyler Reddick (23) vs. Carson Hocevar (26)
—Ty Gibbs (6) vs. AJ Allmendinger (22)
—Chris Buescher (3) vs. Zane Smith (14)
Shane van Gisbergen won in Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race.
Chicago weekend schedule
(All Times Eastern)
Saturday, July 5
Garage open
- 8:30 a.m. – midnight — Xfinity Series
- 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. — Cup Series
Track activity
- 10:30 – 11:20 a.m. — Xfinity practice (CW App)
- 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. — Xfinity qualifying (CW App)
- 1 – 1:50 p.m. — Cup practice (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 2 – 3 p.m. — Cup qualifying (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 4:30 p.m. — Xfinity race (50 laps, 110 miles; Stage 1 at Lap 15, Stage 2 at Lap 30; TNT, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, July 6
Garage open
- 11 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. — Cup Series
Track activity
- 2 p.m. — Cup race (75 laps, 165 miles; Stage 1 at Lap 20, Stage 2 at Lap 45; TNT, MRN SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Weekend weather
Saturday: Mostly sunny with a high of 95 degrees, winds from the south-southwest at 10-20 mph. It’s expected to be 93 degrees with a 3% chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity race.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. A high of 83 degrees and winds from the west-northwest at 10-15 mph and a 56% chance of rain. It’s expected to be 82 degrees with a 52% chance of showers at the start of the Cup race.
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