NASCAR Chicago Street Race: For second year in a row, rain interrupts Grant Park 165

CHICAGO — Fans — and once again, rain — flooded downtown Chicago Sunday for the NASCAR Chicago Street Race weekend’s main event, the Grant Park 165.

Thousands watched as race cars roared by on the city streets between lengthy delays caused by intermittent downpours. Rain fell hard as the race’s start was delayed half an hour and picked up again early into the competition, bringing out the caution flags, slip-ups and ponchos.

Many fans left Grant Park as the race came to an early, temporary halt.

Berwyn resident José Fernando, a towel covering his head, was among the soaked crowd members heading for the exit. The dry Saturday undercard race was “awesome,” the 25-year-old new racing fan said. But he didn’t want to stick around in the gloomy, wet conditions.

“I’m not trying to experience that from last year,” Fernando said at his second, rainy NASCAR race. “Hopefully, it turns out better next year. I really had high hopes for this.”

But lots of fans stuck around until the race started up again around 7:20 p.m.

Michael Wilson and his family, all of whom were clad in rain ponchos as they stood under an awning, had come prepared.

“Anytime it says sunny, bring your poncho,” Wilson laughed. He and his family came out to NASCAR as casual fans and planned to wait out the rain as long as they could.

Esha Patel, 35, and her husband, Rick Patel, 36, who live in the West Loop, also hid out under the same awning. The couple withstood the heat of the early afternoon and then hunkered down for the downpours.

They made the decision to get tickets for the race this morning, having checked the forecast for rain.

“Rain or shine, he loves it,” Esha Patel said about her husband. “As long as he’s here, I’m here,” she said.

The stands emptied just minutes after former Chicago Bear Matt Forte and race grand marshal shouted for drivers to “start their engines.” Viewers grumbled as they found cover, some recalling the torrential downpours that hit the 2023 race. But the fans returned moments later after most teams put rain tires on their cars.

NASCAR officials declined to comment on whether the race was affected by an incident involving a pro-Palestinian protester who climbed a fence and handcuffed himself to it before first responders took him down.

Driver Shane van Gisbergen, who won the inaugural Grant Park race last year and the undercard Xfinity Series race Saturday, took the lead early in the race. He radioed in early to complain about the conditions as water puddled on the road and mist sprayed behind cars.

“We can hardly drive here,” van Gisbergen told his pit crew. “It’s nearly undrivable.”

Moments later, van Gisbergen’s car was struck by another driver. The crash wrecked van Gisbergen’s car and took the favorite out of the race well before the halfway mark. Shortly afterward, race officials stopped the competition to get standing water off the track.

A massive crowd camped out at the corner of Balbo Drive and Columbus Drive during the wet start. Their lawn chairs, as close to the fence just a few feet away from the track as possible, were abandoned.

But most fans were undeterred. The rain wasn’t as bad as last year’s, said Marshall Velasco, of Logan Square. Velasco sat under a tree on Columbus nonplussed and said he planned to stick it out.

“I wasn’t watching the weather close enough, so I didn’t bring any ponchos,” he said.

The 71-year-old said this is his second year coming with his brother and son, and they’ve made it a tradition.

“I like the smell of the fuel,” Velasco said, laughing. “I used to work at the airport.”

Thousands of fans continued to brave the weather as the smell of rain and burnt rubber fell over downtown Chicago. They held onto the spots they staked out along the 2.2-mile, 12-turn track built atop Michigan Avenue, Columbus and DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Last year, many of the weekend’s concerts and sideshows were canceled amid torrential rain. But the event got off to a smoother start Sunday amid sunny, warm weather before the conditions took their dark, wet turn during the main event.

The fence just feet away from the track along Columbus Drive was completely lined by fans long before the race’s start.

Marie Rushing, 35, claimed a spot there ahead of her first NASCAR race. The Oak Lawn resident scored tickets at racer Bubba Wallace’s “block party” event Friday in Douglass Park, she said.

Her 3-year-old son, Kenzo, played with a toy car on her lawn chair as she waited for her husband to return with earplugs. Behind her, a few thousand fans listened as Australian country music star Keith Urban performed to a mostly empty field.

“I’m really excited to see how fast the cars are, up close and personal. And to see the excitement on my son’s face,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Joliet resident Dawn Firlit said she took the train alone into the city as she walked through the open-to-the-public “NASCAR village” in Butler Field.

Firlit has seen plenty of big races, including the Indy 500 and Daytona 500, but Chicago’s contest, in only its second year, already has a special place in her heart.

“You can’t beat the race in Chicago,” Firlit said. “It’s a road course — it’s so different. I’ve just been taking pictures of everything — the skyline, the cars.”

Dean Rottman, 13, who lives near O’Hare International Airport, convinced his parents to bring him to the race last year. Despite the weather, “it was a blast,” the racing-obsessed teen said, listing the kinds of tires race cars use in the rain. His parents say he’s an encyclopedia of NASCAR knowledge.

Rottman’s parents are not NASCAR fans, but they’ve attended two years in a row to support their son and have gotten hooked on the sport.

“I wasn’t sure if it was just a passing fad,” said his mother, Jill Rottman. “It turns out he’s a legitimate fan. So, what he’s interested in, now I’m gonna be interested in.”

Now, she’s rooting for Cup Series leader Kyle Larson, although her son is a Chase Elliot fan.

“That’s what adds a little spice to the family,” she added.

Larson won the pole for the Cup Series race Saturday, earning him Sunday afternoon’s starting spot.

As the race began, Mayor Brandon Johnson came out to cheers and jeers.

“Enjoy Chicago, enjoy the weather, enjoy the food,” Johnson said to the crowd moments before the rain began.

Johnson quickly changed out of a long-sleeve shirt into a full driver-style fire suit to ride in a pace car at the start.

The big race wasn’t the only thing drawing visitors to downtown Chicago. As fans checked the sport’s stars, some visitors took a pit stop to get a look at other, unrelated big names — like Claude Monet, Grant Wood and Georgia O’Keeffe. It was business as usual inside the Art Institute of Chicago.

Museum visits rose 20% this year for the race weekend, an Art Institute spokesperson said. In the Impressionist galleries, crowds lingered by Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.” Visitors appeared undisturbed by the commotion of the race, while outside the museum, NASCAR fans filed by, a few stopping in the Art Institute’s lobby to take a break from the heat.

The Sunday race marked an important test for both NASCAR and Chicago. When the skies finally cleared for the Cup Series race last year, 4.8 million viewers tuned in to see cars zip below the city’s skyline as the sun set.

The race, NASCAR’s first on city streets, was widely hailed by fans as a thrilling change-up and became NBC’s most-viewed NASCAR race in six years. The city agreed to host the race a second year despite pushback from nearby businesses and Loop residents who decried street closures, blocked park space and noise.

NASCAR chipped in $2 million to help pay for expensive police overtime needed to run the race and cut six days of street closures. The city and racing authority have the option to host the race for another year.

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