“You Certainly Don’t Want…” – Denny Hamlin on His Expectations From NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race

For a racing series that has never raced at a street course before, things could get really stressful for the teams and the drivers this Sunday in Chicago. This weekend NASCAR is headed down to the Windy City to race in the sport’s first-ever street course race. However, ahead of the grand spectacle, many wonder what the race would actually be like. Recently, while speaking on his podcast, Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on the outcome of this weekend’s race.

He specifically focused on the racing aspect of things and how things might get chaotic if a caution comes up during the final stages of the race.

Denny Hamlin shares his expectations for the Chicago Street Race

Anyone who has seen the renders of the circuit layout would understand how difficult this race would be for the drivers, especially to wrestle a heavy Next-Gen car around the tight walls. Hamlin expected that the race was due to witness several crashes. The JGR driver believed that most of them would be seen during the Xfinity Series practice since that will take place before the Cup cars get their track time.

Hamlin stated, “I just hope that we can stay green long enough. You don’t want to lose momentum with yellow flags and we certainly don’t want yellow flags within the last 10 laps of the race. Because it might not ever end. I mean, we could an unprecedented nine green-white checkers, to finish the Chicago race. It just again, it funnels down to one and a half lanes in some portions of the track.

“I think that there’ll be significant practice crashes, you know, certainly in Xfinity series. It is gonna be I don’t know how much track time they’re gonna get so you’ve got to be ready. Everyone had their, all the Xfinity drivers have their helmet on your deep buckle down, ready to go when they dropped the green because who knows how much time you’re gonna get.?”

What does the full weekend schedule look like for Grant Park 220?

The race should be fairly dry in terms of the weather, although National Weather Service predicts a 55% chance of rain and temperatures hovering in the 70s. Adding rain to an already uncharted territory would surely up the ante and make things a bit more tricky for the teams and drivers involved. Meanwhile, as per the timings and overall schedule shared by Bob Pockrass, the weekend looks as follows:

Saturday

• The day will start with the Xfinity practice running from 11:00 to 11:50 AM ET.
• Xfinity qualifying will take place at Noon ET.
• Cup practice follows, from 1:30 to 2:20 PM ET.
• Cup qualifying starts immediately after, at 2:30 PM ET.
• The day’s events culminate with the Xfinity race at 5:00 PM ET, which is divided into stages of 15 laps, another 15 laps, and finally 25 laps.

Sunday

• NASCAR RaceDay will begin at 3:00 PM ET and can be watched on FS1.
• The Cup pre-race show will air on NBC at 5:00 PM ET.
• The main event, the Cup race, will start at 5:30 PM ET on NBC, broken into stages of 20 laps, 25 laps, and a final 55 laps.

The green flag for Saturday’s Xfinity race will wave at 5:21 PM ET / 4:21 PM CT. Viewers can catch it live on USA. Furthermore, on Sunday, the green flag will signal the start of the Cup race at 5:54 PM ET / 4:54 PM CT. NBC will broadcast it live.