The Grant Park 165 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series race held on the Chicago Street Course, a street circuit in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States. The race was first held in 2023 and was the first ever street race contested in the NASCAR Cup Series. The NASCAR Xfinity Series also holds a race on the street course on the day before the Cup Series race.[2]
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| NASCAR Cup Series | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Chicago Street Course |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Corporate sponsor | McDonald's and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSI)[1] |
| First race | 2023 |
| Distance | 165 miles (265.542 km) |
| Laps | 75 All 3 stages: 25 each |
| Previous names | Grant Park 220 (2023) |
| Circuit information | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 2.2[2] mi (3.5 km) |
| Turns | 12[2] |
History edit
Background edit
On March 24, 2021, NASCAR announced that an imaginary street course in the Chicago Loop in Downtown Chicago would be the track for the fifth (and what turned out to be the final) race of the 2021 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. The iRacing event was broadcast live on NASCAR on Fox on Wednesday, June 2.[3] Rick Ware Racing Cup Series driver James Davison would win the virtual Chicago street race.[4] Ever since the announcement of the track's virtual creation for this iRacing event, there had been rumors and speculation that NASCAR would like to make this track a reality and have a street race in Chicago on the Cup Series schedule in the future. On July 7, 2022, Jordan Bianchi from The Athletic reported that an official announcement of a Chicago street race being added to the Cup Series schedule would come on July 19.[5] On June 17, Adam Stern from Sports Business Journal suggested that the Chicago Street Course could replace Road America on the 2023 Cup Series schedule as any street course race would likely replace one of the road course races and Road America did not have a contract to have a Cup Series race in 2023.[6] On July 19, the official announcement of the addition of the Chicago street race to the Cup Series schedule took place.[2] After the announcement, NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy confirmed Stern's report of the Chicago street race replacing the race at Road America on the Cup Series schedule in a question and answer session with the media.[7]
On March 7, 2023, NASCAR announced that the race would not have a title sponsor and would instead be named after Grant Park, which the street course will pass by. Similarly, the Xfinity Series Chicago street race was named The Loop 121 after the Chicago Loop, the area of the city in which the street course is located. It was also announced on that day that the Cup Series race would be 220 miles and 100 laps in length.[1]
NASCAR Hall of Fame member and championship-winning crew chief Ray Evernham stated in an interview on June 25, 2023 that cars should reach between 150 and 160 mph on the fastest part of the circuit (between ② and ④ on the map).[8]
The 2023 running of the event was held in the middle of violent storms lashing Illinois. The start of the race was delayed, and eventually ran for only 78 of the scheduled laps. New Zealand racing driver Shane van Gisbergen and triple Australian Supercars champion won the event.[9] in his first-ever NASCAR race running for Trackhouse Racing's PROJECT91 program after qualifying in third.[10] He also became the first driver to win in his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. Following the race win, van Gisbergen left Supercars in 2024 and came to the United States to race full-time in NASCAR.
On October 20, 2023, NASCAR announced that the 2024 Cup Series Chicago Street Race would be shortened from 220 miles (354.056 km) and 100 laps to 165 miles (265.542) and 75 laps.[11] This is about the same length of the rain and darkness-shortened 2023 race, which was 171.6 miles and 78 laps long.
Past winners edit
| Year | Date | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Race Distance | Race Time | Average Speed (mph) |
Report | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laps | Miles (km) | ||||||||||
| 2023 | July 2 | 91 | Shane van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 78* | 171.6 (276.163) | 2:50:48 | 60.281 | Report | [12] |
| 2024 | July 7 | 75 | 165 (265.542) | ||||||||
Notes edit
- 2023: Race shortened to 75 laps due to darkness following a rain delay, but extended due to NASCAR overtime.
See also edit
- 1956 NASCAR Grand National Series race at Soldier Field –a previous NASCAR Cup Series race held in the city of Chicago
References edit
- ^ a b "NASCAR makes major announcement on Chicago Street Race Tuesday". WGN-TV. Nexstar Media Group. March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Chicago to host first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race in 2023". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. July 19, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
- ^ Albert, Zack (March 24, 2021). "Sweet home Chicago: Street circuit coming to iRacing, Pro Invitational Series". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
- ^ "James Davison wins eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series at Chicago". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. June 2, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
- ^ Taranto, Steven (July 11, 2022). "Chicago authorizes NASCAR street course race beginning in 2023, per report". CBS Sports. CBS. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
- ^ Stern, Adam (June 17, 2022). "Sources: NASCAR close to bringing street race to Chicago". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
- ^ "(Twitter post)". Twitter. Bob Pockrass. July 19, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
NASCAR's Ben Kennedy says Road America won't be on the Cup schedule in 2023.
- ^ Steeve Greenberg (June 26, 2023). "How fast will they go in Grant Park 220? NASCAR great has a mighty big number in mind". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
I'm telling you, they're going to be hauling ass […] We're going to see 150, 160 miles an hour.
- ^ Clarke, Andrew. "Van Gisbergen Wins on NASCAR Debut". Auto Action.
- ^ Clarke, Andrew (2023-07-02) [2023-07-02]. "Van Gisbergen qualifies third for NASCAR Debut". Auto Action.
- ^ "2024 Chicago Street Races distances shortened". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. October 20, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Grant Park 220". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
External links edit