Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes test drive on NASCAR Chicago Street Race course
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In exactly one month, some of the fastest and most skilled drivers in the world will be unleashed on the streets of Chicago.
It's all legal, of course, during the first-ever NASCAR street race, which will come to Grant Park on the first weekend of July.
Two-time Daytona 500 champ Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't be racing next month, but he gave the course through Grant Park a test run on Wednesday – in an SUV in regular traffic. CBS 2 Sports Director Marshall Harris took a ride with Earnhardt and NASCAR Chicago President Julie Giese.
"I have long been excited about a street course race in NASCAR," Earnhardt said. "I just didn't know when or where it might happen or if it would ever happen."
The NASCAR legend won't be racing in next month's NASCAR Chicago Street Race, but he's been waiting for this, even if the city's streets will provide a very different challenge than the simple winding ways of a traditional road course.
"Even that little strip of paint will have different grip than the surface of asphalt," he said. "So at a high rate of speed, 100 miles an hour, through a turn like this, going across all those imperfections and changes can be a challenge."
It's not only a new course. Drivers won't get much time to get used to it the week of the race.
"In that first practice, there will be so many drivers making mistakes, having problems, hitting things," he said.
Harris: "It's gonna be messy."
Earnhardt: "Yeah, and messy is good in this instance. So it just really confirms the challenge of a street course, or any new course."
The just over 2-mile loop is full of sharp left and right turns taking drivers on Michigan, Columbus, and DuSable Lake Shore Drive to name a few streets, but it's the left turn off Columbus and down Balbo Drive that will likely leave them airborne.
"The car's gonna be lifting, lifting, lifting and it's gonna land right here and as soon as it lands, they've got to stop the car for this turn, right?" Earnhardt said.
Harris: "Because it's a sharp turn, 90 degrees."
Earnhardt: "But they can't touch the brake pedal until the car lands or it will lock the tires up so when the car lands and the brakes hit the ground, they're going to pound the brake pedal extremely hard."
Harris: "How fast do they go on the straightaways compared to when they come around these turns? How much do they have a chance to slow down?"
Earnhardt: "This should be anywhere from 70 to 90 miles an hour through the turn. They'll be some breaking zones where they'll get below 50, maybe? But for the most part, like there are some very fast turns.
"Drivers are gonna force each other into barriers. They're not going to move over and allow each other the room they're going to need. There's gonna be a lot of contested spots where drivers are gonna push each other into walls even unintentionally."
Harris: "Is there more grace then, on the drivers' parts?"
Earnhardt: "No."
Harris: "I know how angry drivers can get at each other."
Earnhardt: "There won't be, I bet, because there is the easy excuse, 'Hey man, I didn't see.'"
Earnhardt expects widespread use of virtual race simulators in the coming weeks as drivers cram for a course that's never been given or tested.
Harris: "Can you learn from the virtual race?"
Earnhardt: "So if it's a third gear corner in the simulator, it would be a third gear corner when you downshift into third or go into downshift exiting turn five, all of what would happen around the same spot in the simulator around the real world. So it's pretty trustworthy."
Earnhardt said he actually got familiar with the course through a 2020 virtual race and that he's going to try to find a way to run a lap when he comes back to broadcast this year's race. And though these cars won't be going as fast as they would on a track, he's expecting to see big accidents.
NASCAR will have two races on the weekend of July 1 and 2 in Grant Park. The Loop 121, part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will be at 4 p.m. on July 1. The Grant Park 220, part of the NASCAR Cup Series, will be at 4:30 p.m. on July 2.
The weekend also will feature concerts by The Chainsmokers, The Black Crowes, Miranda Lambert, and Charley Crockett.
Tickets are available at nascarchicago.com.
