NASCAR Races Into Chicago

By Todd McClamroch in News on Jul 13, 2007 3:57PM

Chicagoist freely admits that most of our NASCAR knowledge comes from the movies including the 80's classic (we use that term loosely) "Stroker Ace", the recent animated film "Cars" and, of course, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". So we decided to do some research for this post and learned that Chicagoland Raceway is actually a perfect track for some fast shake and bake racing action.

The Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5-mile, D-shaped tri-oval speedway. According to Buck Fever of the Rowdy NASCAR podcast the layout of the track allows for high speed racing "we're talking right around 200 miles per hour getting into turn one".

In addition to being a fast track it is configured in a way that is conducive to passing leading to some exciting action all around the track. Driver of the #20 machine, Tony Stewart, talked to Frontstretch about the track, "I think you can pass anywhere, really. If you get a guy that misses the bottom of the corner and he bobbles, you can get around him. But even if someone doesn't make a mistake and you've got a little better car than they do, the groove is so wide that you have plenty of room to get a run on a guy."

Although many go to the race for the high speeds and the "tradin' of paint" the winner might be determined in the speed regulated pit row. Buck Fever commented, "We've seen at this track long green flag runs. That puts pressure on the pit crew to perform under green. It may be easiest to gain or loose that all-important track position in the pits, you better be fast ... Don't be surprised if this race is won in the pits or lost."

The festivities start today with the fight for the Pole, qualifying and practice time. Saturday will feature the Busch Series USG DUROCK 300 followed on Sunday by the main event the NEXTEL Cup Series USG Sheetrock 400 which can also be seen on TNT beginning at 1:30 CT. If you can't make it out to the track get in the NASCAR spirit by picking up some Busch beer and renting one of the top 10 NASCAR movies according to Sports Illustrated.