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The opportunity to become the first-ever NASCAR Street Race Champion is only a month away, and no driver wants to miss it. The excitement of winning is overwhelming, but the track poses a tricky challenge to attain victory.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took to the track on Wednesday to test it out and identify the current challenges. In addressing the drivers, he emphasized that its sharp turns will make the track difficult to conquer. Drivers have already taken note of some issues with the narrowness of the track.

After the Hall of Famer, recently, Kyle Busch, also had the chance to test the track through iRacing. He shared insights about the challenges that drivers will face and highlighted an unusual aspect that he called “weird” of this highly anticipated street race track.

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What was the “weird thing” that Kyle noticed during the test drive?

During Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s test run on the track, he expressed his astonishment, stating that he had never seen a track like this before. One particularly challenging section is at Michigan Avenue, where drivers must apply their brakes and reduce their speed to 40 mph. As they decelerate from 140 mph to 40 mph, there will be a cluster of cars in that area, creating a situation where everyone will be vying for accurate passing opportunities.

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Dale Jr. raised concerns about a potential ‘traffic jam’ scenario, explaining, “Drivers are going to force each other into barriers. They’re not going to move over and allow each other the room they’re going to need. There’s gonna be a lot of contested spots where drivers are gonna push each other into walls even unintentionally.

Similarly, when Kyle Busch tested the track, he noted that the corners were “really, really tight.” Even in the simulator, he addressed it by saying, “You’re coming down this straightaway and there’s another straightaway there, but the ground, the road is separated with a wall in the middle and there’s cones that are blocking off where they don’t want you to go, so I thought that was weird.

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Busch suggested extending the wall, but NASCAR has got a reason behind it. KBM owner addressed the reason by saying, “I’m like, just extend the wall, but maybe they don’t want to extend the wall because they need areas for safety crews to get out. I’m not the scientist on that. It just seemed weird when you’re coming around the corner and you’ve got to miss the end of a wall.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. addresses the controversial impact of ‘Cracks and Imperfections’ on the track

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Since the Grant Park 220 is being held on the streets of Chicago, there isn’t a dedicated track that can securely accommodate race car tires. JR Motorsport’s team owner, who shares the excitement about the event, further discussed the nature of the track. He emphasized that it could be unsettling for drivers due to its status as a modified road.

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Junior said, “Cracks and imperfections. We call that character in a racetrack. It challenges drivers because it shakes the car loose from the track. It’s going to shake their stomach a little bit.”

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To provide more clarity to the drivers, he mentioned, “They’re going to have to start braking into turn seven as the car crests this hill, and that’ll be an unorthodox thing to do. The car is going to want to lock up the tires when they hit the brake pedal there. So that’ll be fun to watch them try to crest the hill, brake, slow down, turn right. All of those things at the same time.