The Chicago Street Course is undoubtedly the most awaited event of NASCAR’s 75th-anniversary calendar. Come July 1st-2nd, the busy bustling streets of Chicago, Illinois will be closed off for regular traffic. The 2.14-mile-long track will take drivers through Michigan Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, around Grant Park, and South Columbus Avenue. Meanwhile, drivers have already noted issues pertaining to their first-ever street course race, and narrow, no room for error are among early opinions.

The unique track layout will be the ultimate test of adaptability for drivers. As a stark departure from NASCAR’s oval circuits, the Chicago Street Course will feature 12 sharp corners, both left and right, with many high-speed straightaways. Apart from its contrasting layout, the course surface too will pose a major challenge to drivers. With concerns regarding the Chicago Street Course rife in the fraternity, two times Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch recently pointed out the abundant flaws of the street circuit.

“A Really Tight Spot”: Kyle Busch Didn’t Bite His Tongue Talking About the Chicago Street Course

Traditional racing circuits see drivers at the edge of the limits. Often braking late into the corners, drivers try to maintain a higher corner entry speed for a speedy exit. This, however, may not be the case in Chicago, as drivers would have to go hard on the brakes at the sharp 90-degree corners. The practically non-existent runoff areas, along with the rough patch strewn bumpy, slippery road conditions, will not help driver confidence either. The narrow track will also feature elevation changes as opposed to NASCAR’s banked circuits. While contending for the top spot, drivers will also have the added worry of keeping their machines intact during the unforgiving narrow circuit race. 

Speaking regarding the daunting track conditions, Kyle Busch went ballistic on the track’s layout. Having previously experienced the circuit on iRacing and simulators, the NASCAR veteran said during a media availability at Nashville, “It’s really rough. It’s bumpy. It’s slippery. There’s some corners that are very challenging.. some blind ones at that.”

“When you’re going around the Bean on the left-hander, that’s really, really slippery and there’s a huge bump going through (turn) nine before you get into (turn) 10. The wall in (turn) eight before you go around the left-hander is, to me, really narrow over there.”

The RCR driver further added, “You’re barely trying to miss getting your right front ripped off; not bouncing off that and killing your car on the left side. So there could be more room given over there, I feel like. That’s probably a really tight spot that could use a little bit of help, just based off of what the simulator is telling us. But other than that, it’s going to be a tight street course. That’s what tight street courses are.”

“Survival…it’s going to be a survival race”, said Busch, speaking on what the race conditions would be like. Kyle Busch, however, is not the only driver who has come forth expressing concerns regarding the Chicago Street Course.

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Earlier this week, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney also spoke out regarding the major obstacles that drivers would face at the Chicago Street Circuit. Expressing concerns over drivers being hesitant around the sharp corners, Blaney said to NBC, “The only thing I would like to see different is some runoffs in those 90-degree corners, if you overshoot one you have a kind of a bailout place. So I think you’ll see guys kind of hesitate at some of those corners to begin with, but once you get more confident in it, you’ll be going pretty good.”

Which driver do you think will ace the challenges of the Chicago Street Course? Let us know in the comments.

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