Can NASCAR really call the city of Chicago, as the old song says, “my kind of town”? I surely doesn’t seem so. There was some promise with a good Xfinity Series race on Saturday that saw Shane van Gisbergen playing with Kyle Larson like a cat plays with a mouse, and then eventually winning the race.
But Sunday, was another mess. Remember 2023’s inaugural race? The one that was slated to go 100 laps, but due to heavy rains, and despite having wet weather gear, including tires, the race was delayed, red flagged and finally cut short by 25-laps due to darkness.
We go to 2024 and they begin the race at 3:30pm Central time – Chicago time – and then, without taking into account a possible summer shower, hoped they would get the race in, this time slated for only 75-laps…but sure enough, hot and humid conditions conspired to bring showers during the race, and instead of switching to wet weather gears – read tires – NASCAR decided to red flag the race.
This is yet another bad decision by NASCAR. If you’re going to race, then RACE! IndyCar does it, Formula 1 does it! What in the what are you doing NASCAR? Either go all in on racing on the streets of Chicago, or bail out. Whatever you do, do ONE OF THEM!
Here’s another thought. In the aftermath there was a lot of talk about moving to timed races…nope, that is not the answer. You want the answer, move the race up. When scheduling it, don’t set it at 3:30pm Central time, leaving a street course that has no lighting to be able to race in the dark, little to no margin for error.
Slate the race to begin at 1pm Eastern/Noon Central time, or 2pm Eastern/1pm Central time. That way you have much more daylight to play with.
Or, instead of fishing NASCAR, cut bait and let’s go to an actual road course, you know, like the ones you had been going to instead of a street race, like Road America or Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Either way NASCAR, fish or cut bait – playing with it like SVG played with Larson and the rest of the Xfinity Series field isn’t going to cut it with the fans of the sport for long.