NASCAR and iRacing will unveil a Chicago street course that runs through Grant Park and just north of Soldier Field for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race on June 2 on FS1. The course will run on some of Chicago‘s most famous streets, including Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue and Columbus Avenue.
The addition of the Chicago street course to iRacing leads to the next question: Is this in preparation for a street course on the actual NASCAR Cup Series schedule?
“The impetus right now is solely that virtual event and bringing that to life on June 2,” said NASCAR Vice President Ben Kennedy, who handles NASCAR‘s scheduling initiatives. “That‘s been our focus in the near-term.
“If there is an opportunity to explore different types of venues or new markets in the future, I think there are certainly a ton of options out there, whether it‘s Chicago or other markets.”
NASCAR is working with The Specialized Marketing Group Inc. in Chicago on its potential street race, and TSMGI helped with the development of this course. They worked with the city to momentarily shut down streets on the circuit last fall to allow for a moving scanning truck that collected data for iRacing, which NASCAR has used to create prototypes of tracks to determine what works best.
— Fox Sports —
