Kyle Busch Believes NASCAR Can Expand Their Street Course Portfolio After Profitable Chicago Outing

NASCAR headed into uncharted territories when they announced the Chicago Street Race for the 2023 Cup Series. Trying something that Formula 1 has more or less mastered by now, NASCAR held its inaugural Chicago Street Race in Grant Park where the Cup Series debutant Shane van Gisbergen shocked the world by leaving veterans of the sport in his rear-view mirror. The success of the event has sown the seeds of more such races to come and this theory was also backed by Kyle Busch.

It is no secret that NASCAR is on the lookout to grow its fanbase. While the iconic ovals and superspeedways still continue to be the essence of NASCAR, more street races like Chicago could well help the sport tap into new markets. Speaking on the possibilities of such more races, Busch even hinted at one or two potential venues.

Kyle Busch hints at a new street course race venue for NASCAR

For NASCAR to race on an oval and to race on a street are two very different things, and not just for the drivers. When planning a street race, one has to keep in mind residencies, local businesses, and other necessary infrastructure. Hence, a street race requires multiple levels of clearance and solutions to challenges, like traffic and noise. However, with NASCAR already having a success story under its belt, Kyle Busch believes more of such races can be expected in other parts of the country.

Taking to Doug Rice and Brad Gillie of GoPRNLive, Busch said, “Yes, you know looking at the City of Vegas they all weren’t too thrilled with F1 being out there. But it was a great show, it was a great race, it put on a really neat aspect there so maybe there’s something with that.”

“There’s other areas that have been rumored around something like Long Island, but you never know. That will definitely make some people not too happy.”

Heavy rain during the race day at Chicago did somewhat try to play a spoilsport, but luckily, the drivers were able to put on a show for the fans. Interestingly, NBC had a 2.52 rating and 4.632 million viewers, which made it the most-viewed race on the platform in six years. While SVG took home the win, Busch himself managed a top-five finish during the race despite the nasty crash.

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The 2-time Cup Series champion even went on to explain how he planned for the street race at Chicago, which eventually got him a good finish.

Busch explains the strategy that worked wonders for him at Chicago Street Race

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Let’s just say it was a good change seeing Cup drivers not make only left turns at the Chicago Street Race. This was indeed a challenge for all the drivers out there who were used to racing on ovals or superspeedways. Adding to the challenge was the heavy downpour that day, which sure added more excitement to the whole event. But Kyle Busch and a few others had devised a plan that saw them churn out good enough results on the day.

Explaining his play in Chicago, Busch said, “As we were able to be pulled out of the tire barrier and not have much damage, we just kinda played the strategy where we were looking at the time of day and we were looking at no [track] lights, obviously. So we were like, ‘this race isn’t going to make it full-distance of laps’. So we kept coming under those yellows that we were having and kept putting fuel in it, making sure we had the freshest stuff. And when everybody else was going to run out and they had to pit we would cycle in front of them and that worked out for us to our advantage, we got a top-five.”

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Going into his second season with RCR, Busch will be hoping to make monumental improvements to his performances and win the championship for RCR, whose last Cup title came in 1994.