Through nearly 75 years of its history, NASCAR had raced all across the United States on all types of racetracks, from the smallest of dirt ovals to the biggest and fastest of superspeedways. But never before had NASCAR’s top level raced on the streets of a major city — until the city of Chicago changed all that.
For the third consecutive year, NASCAR commemorates July 4th weekend with its annual Chicago Street Race weekend, culminating in the Grant Park 165 in downtown Chicago. Through two years so far, this event has played host to a Coming to America story that saw Shane van Gisbergen go from a visiting New Zealander who won in his NASCAR debut to a full-time Cup driver, and a return to Victory Lane last year when Alex Bowman ended a two-year winless streak.
This year, the increasing intensity of the battle for the NASCAR playoffs takes center stage in Second City, as only four open spots for non-winners now remain on the playoff grid. One such spot was filled last week, when local hero Chase Elliott won in Atlanta to stamp his place in the playoffs and clear the way for his run at a second Cup title.
Where to watch the NASCAR Cup Series in Chicago
When: Sunday, July 6, 2 p.m. ET
Where: Chicago Street Course — Chicago, Ill.
TV: TNT
Stream: fubo (try for free)
Storyline to watch
This weekend brings with it some special intrigue in qualifying, as there’s set to be a focus on the race to make the race: 41 cars are entered for 40 available spots in the field, which marks the first time since 2018 a non-Daytona 500 Cup race has had more than 40 cars entered. With five Open cars competing for four available spots in the field, one car, driver, and team will be forced to load up and head home if they’re the slowest of the Open cars in qualifying Saturday.
Three of the Open cars are being fielded by full-time Cup teams, with 23XI Racing fielding the No. 67 for Corey Heim, Richard Childress Racing bringing the No. 33 for Austin Hill and Kaulig Racing fielding the No. 13 for reigning V8 Supercars champion Will Brown. Barring something unexpected, the battle for the final spot in the field may come down to the Live Fast Motorsports No. 78 driven by Katherine Legge and the Garage 66 car driven by Josh Bilicki, who spoke to CBS Sports this week about the pressure to make the field.
“We’re the smallest team by a longshot with a fraction of the next team’s budget, so people are probably counting us out already,” Bilicki said before offering his own reasons for optimism. “I’ve ran every Cup race in downtown Chicago, I did a lot of sim work the last couple years. So I feel like physically I’m prepared, mentally I’m prepared … It’s gonna be tough for us for sure. But I think I have the experience to do what it takes to make the field on Sunday.”
More towards the front of the field, this weekend also sees the continuation of the In-Season Challenge, which was completely turned on its head a week ago when No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin, No. 2 seed Kyle Larson and more were eliminated in large part due to a 23-car pileup that cleared the way for major upsets. This week’s In-Season Challenge matchups are as follows:
- No. 32 Ty Dillon vs. No. 17 Brad Keselowski
- No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 9 Bubba Wallace
- No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 5 Chase Elliott
- No. 20 Erik Jones vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- No. 31 Noah Gragson vs. No. 15 Ryan Preece
- No. 26 Carson Hocevar vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick
- No. 22 A.J. Allmendinger vs. No. 6 Ty Gibbs
- No. 14 Zane Smith vs. No. 3 Chris Buescher
NASCAR news of the week
- Trackhouse Racing announced this week Daniel Suarez will not return as the driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet in 2026, making Suarez a free agent in what was billed as a “mutual decision.” Suarez, the first driver hired by the team when it entered NASCAR in 2021, will drive elsewhere next season after earning his first two Cup wins driving for Trackhouse and finishing a career-best 10th in the championship standings in 2022.
“I’ve had some of the best years of my Cup Series career at Trackhouse. We had great successes as a team and I gained some incredible friends,” Suarez said in a statement. “We took a team nobody had even heard of in 2021 and in just a couple of years we were winning races and running up front on a weekly basis.
“Just like the seasons in a year, sometimes things change and we have mutually agreed to each go in our own direction. I wish Trackhouse nothing but the best, this No. 99 team will always be special to me. And like I always say, the best is ahead!”
While the No. 99 seat is now open for 2026, The Athletic reports Trackhouse is expected to promote 18-year-old Connor Zilisch from the Xfinity Series to run for the team full-time next season.
Pick to win
Shane van Gisbergen (+185) — Rumors of Shane van Gisbergen’s demise as NASCAR’s top road racer turned out to be greatly exaggerated. SVG absolutely waxed the competition just a few weeks ago in Mexico City, leading 60 of 100 laps and dogwalking the field on the final green flag run to earn his second Cup win by 16.5 seconds — the largest margin of victory in a Cup race since 2009. SVG will yet again be favored at Chicago, where he won in his very first start in 2023 and easily could’ve won last year had he not gotten hit from behind and knocked into a crash not of his making.
