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NASCAR's next tweak to their schedule looks like it will be straight out of the Formula One playbook — A street race in a major city.
A long-rumored Chicago street race appears to now be a reality as the city has approved races on its streets for three years starting in 2023, according to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.
The move is the next logical step as NASCAR continues to diversify its schedule in race formats and locations in recent years. The most notable was to add a dirt race at Bristol in 2021.
There is some concern that, like the dirt track, the Chicago streets won't make for the best racing with NASCAR's NextGen cars. Instead, the race may be designed to give the current fans more variety and pique the interest of new fans with a marquee event.
It is that last point that Chase Elliott says is most important. The 2020 NASCAR champion and current championship leader says it is less important that the race be good and more important that it is just a good event for the fans.
"We need to make sure it is a good event," Elliott said before the Atlanta race. "The drivers may not like the track. It might not be ideal for us or whatever. But when you are in the middle of a city, and you have the ability to draw that kind of crowd out to your race, you better make sure it's put on well and done at a very high level, people have good spots to watch the race from, things to go do. Just make it an event. That's what it needs to be. It needs to be an event. I think as long as it's that, and it's done well, it will be a success whether the drivers like the track or not."
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One of the concerns about the race itself is that the streets might not be big enough for the new NextGen cars being used this season for the first time. William Byron made this point, comparing it to the simulated Chicago street race he participated in with iRacing.
"I'm very skeptical," Byron said. "I drove it on iRacing. iRacing does a great job with the tracks. If it is anything like that, it is very, very narrow. So we're going to have some work to do to create a passing lane ... We have to be able to get inside of somebody on the braking and not just hit the wall. There is some work to do there to get the track a little bit wider, a little more room for us to race each other."
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If you follow F1, this undoubtedly sounds familiar, as what Byron describes is similar to the criticism often laid at the Monaco Grand Prix. The modern F1 cars have outgrown the streets of Monaco, leading to few overtaking opportunities and a race that often lacks excitement.
More importantly to NASCAR, what Chicago would bring to their schedule is a big-city event where the atmosphere would be top-level, much like the Monaco GP, along with F1's newest race in Miami and presumably like their latest entry in 2023 in Las Vegas. The event could be great even if the race is not, something Byron mentioned.
"I think it's a cool idea," Byron said. "The atmosphere should be great. It should be exciting."
