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As accommodating as the largest of American metropolises are to the American automobile, the streets of a major city are not suited for a driver's desire to be free and go fast. More often than not, city gridlock and the heavy traffic of rush hour bogs down the average driver, leaving them to their fantasies about what it would be like to put the throttle down and tear through the city streets.

This weekend, the fantasy of the average Chicago commuter is a reality for the best drivers in the United States: For the second year in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series is racing on the streets of Chicago, Ill. in the second annual edition of the Grant Park 165 through Chicago's Grant Park area. One year ago, the first street course race in Cup Series history was filled with unexpected developments, from a historic rainfall for July in Chicago to a shocking upset, with visiting V8 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen becoming the first driver in NASCAR's modern era to ever win in his Cup Series debut.

Things are much different a year later, with van Gisbergen now a full-time NASCAR competitor looking for back-to-back Chicago wins. But that means he won't be taking anyone by surprise this time, as the rest of the Cup field will try to capitalize on the opportunity this unique race presents to potentially change their season and put themselves in the playoffs.

How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series at the Chicago Street Course

Date: Sun., Jul. 7
Location: Chicago Street Course -- Chicago, Ill.
Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fubo (try for free)

What to Watch

Following the inaugural edition of the Chicago Street Race one year ago, NASCAR has made some changes to its competition procedures for this weekend in light of what was learned in 2023. For restarts, the location of the choose zone has been moved from turn 6 to turn 9 at the request of the drivers, and the field will now be given the "one to go" signal for a restart in turn 5 as opposed to turn 7.

While the restart zone remains ahead of turn 12 -- the final section of the course leading onto the main straightaway -- drivers must stay in line and in their lane until the start of the frontstretch, where there will be a designated line indicating where they will be able to change lanes.

Besides some procedural changes relating to starts and restarts, the Chicago course's configuration remains unaltered from a year ago.

News of the Week

  • Josh Berry has become the second Stewart-Haas Racing driver to find a new home for 2025, as it was announced on Wednesday that he will become the new driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford next season. Berry takes the place of Harrison Burton, who will not return to NASCAR's oldest team after three seasons and become a free agent.
  • NASCAR has docked Carson Hocevar 25 driver points and fined him $50,000 for his on-track actions at Nashville Superspeedway, which violated the sanctioning body's code of conduct. Hocevar appeared to retaliate against Harrison Burton for an earlier incident by intentionally spinning him out on the backstretch after a caution had come out.
  • Hendrick Motorsports announced that they have ended their relationship with sponsor Hooters, saying in a statement that the company "has not been able to meet its business obligations to our organization" as the restaurant chain's business has struggled. Hooters has a long history in NASCAR dating back to their sponsorship of Hall of Famer and 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, and the company had been the primary sponsor for Chase Elliott when he won at Texas earlier this year.

Pick to Win

Tyler Reddick (+550) -- Lost in the shock and awe of Shane van Gisbergen winning Chicago last year and his late-race duel for the win with Justin Haley was that throughout the first two stages of the race, it was actually Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell who were the class of the field. Reddick spent much of last year's event shadowing Bell at the front of the field, leading eight laps of his own before he crashed with less than 20 laps to go.

Reddick is looking for his first road course win since COTA in 2023, but his road racing record has continued to be excellent. He finished fifth at COTA in March of this year, and he led the most laps at Sonoma last month by pacing the field for 35 circuits before finishing eighth.