Narrow, right-angled turns, or as Dale Earnheardt Jr likes to put it, “cracks and imperfections“—such are the early opinions, characterization, and moot points concerning the Chicago Street Race. The first-of-its-kind street race is scheduled for July 3, and its build-up has been terrific.

Predictions by Denny Hamlin have come though. Accompanied by Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron, Hamlin took a look at the potential takeaways from the coming weekend. Excitement is the first word one would associate with the race for Hamlin.

Denny Hamlin expresses concerns about losing momentum due to yellow flags

Denny was just warming up when he started with, “Hopefully, we have a good crowd, excited for that, and, you know it certainly from a driver’s perspective, it’s gonna be hard for us not to be critical, right? It’s not this or not that, right? It’s just leaning into the advent itself and understanding. It’s a historic event for our series to be on a street course for the first time.” But the discussion soon diverted to how all the teams must be wondering about capitalizing on the prospects Chicago offers.

From the looks of it, it seems like taking the lead early on in the race will boost the chances of winning the race massively. With the narrow channels, there could also be possible congestion of cars in the 4th turn giving an advantage to the cars which are either ahead of the stack or behind it. Denny explained the same in his podcast, Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin.

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“My crew chief tells that the best strategy is if we’re not in the top 5, we need to be dead last because when the wreck happens at turn 4. These turns have one lance. He’s like they’re all gonna just pile in and so you just wanna be far enough back to not be in it so. I’ve got to get to the top 5s somehow.”

With special attention to the high chances of a wreck bringing the yellow flags down, he added, “I just hope that we can stay green long enough, right? You don’t want to lose momentum with the yellow flags within the last 10 laps of the race cos it might not ever end. I mean we could have an unprecedented 9 green white checkers to finish the Chicago race cos it just funnels down to one and half lanes in some portions of the track.”

Another peek at a hands-on experience on the track by NASCAR has left the fandom concerned about the proceedings of the race. Further, the fandom has shown its affirmation of Hamlin’s statements and raised concerns over the damage potential of the track.

NASCAR fandom confirms Denny’s suspicion

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Citing the venue as a recipe for danger, fans have shown their support for Hamlin’s predictions. Strengthening his argument, some fans have classified the race as a lost case already. One of the fans on Twitter, commented, “This will be a bad race, as there will be more wrecking than there will be passing. There are hardly any passing zones and this is not going to be a good race imo.”

“The first spin is going to take out half the field. Didn’t see many safer barriers around those corners either. Early prediction, the tow truck driver will be the big winner,” said a fan further solidifying Hamlin’s claims.

“I’m afraid qualifying is gonna be a huge factor in this race. And having track position. Doesn’t look to be a lot of passing zones.” Although this comment is equally applicable for all races, starting the grid at the front will indeed be a main attraction for the drivers.

Although the race promises a show of flair, a more crude version of racing, it also shows a prospect for a horror showing for the drivers.

Watch This Story: Worrying roadblocks to NASCAR’s $113 million worth Chicago Street Race dream