2023 NASCAR Cup Series Race Eighteen Chicago

NASCAR called the Xfinity series race at 1340 eastern – before they ever had a chance to line up. They said they are adhering to Chicago city rules for festival safety. So the first Xfinity series Chicago street race was more like a practice session in the end.

Race number: 18
Cars in the field: 37
Pole: ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11)
Outside pole: Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45)
Stages: 20-25-55
Next race: Atlanta

The drivers have been called to their cars.

Ricky Stenhouse (47) was beginning to do an interview when Dave Burns of NBC announced breaking news the drivers have been called to their cars. Stenhouse was wearing street clothes while standing there. He gestured to his outfit when Dave asked if he is ‘ready to go racing’, saying, “Obviously not”.

The cars roll off pit road.

The idiot shots have started during the warm-up laps – wet windscreen shots and bumper shots so you see rain drops on a windshield, a hood and the street with a pace car in the distance. Idiotic camera shots if you’re trying to provide exciting television. That seems to indicate the NBC broadcast team doesn’t believe there will be anything to see on-track with the cars in this event. I guess the radio broadcast will be the only option to ‘see’ the actual racing.

MRN just said this is Kip Childress’ last drive as the pace-car driver and official with NASCAR.

NASCAR digital reports starts and restarts will be single-file until conditions improve.

Green flag waves under low clouds.

Hamlin gets the early lead, but is caught and passed by Tyler Reddick (45).

Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) spins on lap 1 of 100.

Erik Jones (43) hits the wall and takes teammate Noah Gragson (42) and Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6) with him on lap 1 of 100.

Denny Hamlin has slid into the tire barrier on lap 1 of 100.

The race remains green through all of that.

Television is showing a hood and wiper the street and a driver driving – so nothing to see on television.

Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch (8) hit the tires barrier so hard he’s under the tires. Caution comes out on lap 2 of 100. He’s spinning the tires trying to back out, but the tires are just spinning. MRN says there’s too much weight on the hood for the car to back out successfully.

The wrecker has pulled the 8 car from under the tire barrier.

Caution on lap 12 of 100 for Noah Gragson (42) burying his hood under the tire barrier and getting trapped.

One of the things I really miss is watching the race develop as the cars go around the track. When you can actually see the cars and watch them race each other you can watch the race develop and watch the track transition. I find it exciting. When all you’re seeing is windshields and hoods and track surface and drivers driving you don’t see anything interesting. The view from the windshield is – as all drivers say, very limited. The track surface, the hood, the bumper, the wall, and a person driving make for very boring television. Rarely are any of those things interesting viewing. A split-screen of them is just as boring as a single screen of them.

Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) wins stage one

Some cars are changing to slicks from the rain tires at the end of stage one.

MRN reports Joey Logano (22) hits the tire barrier on lap 21 of 100. He does not get buried and is able to drive away.

Jenson Button (15) gets run over and turned trying to enter pit road on lap 22 of 100.

More cars pit for slicks.

Todd Gilliland (38) hits the tire barrier with help from Joey Logano (22).

Chase Elliott (9) hits the tire barrier on lap 25 of 100 and is able to back out and continue the race.

Caution on lap 29 of 100 for Noah Gragson (42) getting stuck in the tire barrier again in the same location as before. This time he’s having trouble getting the car to re-fire.

On lap 39 of 100 Alex Bowman (48) goes for a spin with help from ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11).

Caution on lap 40 of 100. Bowman tried to get it turned in the right direction and traffic caught him in progress and had to almost come to a stop.

MRN reports on lap 43 of 100 Alex Bowman has come to a stop on the track.

Caution comes out on lap 44 of 100 for a fire under the hood of Alex Bowman’s car.

Christopher Bell (20) wins stage two under caution.

MRN announces that NASCAR has told them the race will end on lap 75 due to impending darkness.

Caution on lap 48 of 75 for a traffic jam/stack up wreck involving Kevin ‘Happy/KHarv’ Harvick (4), Corey LaJoie (7), William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24), and Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23), Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) and Kyle Larson (5).

Restarting on lap 52 of 75 with Justin Haley (31) and Austin Dillon (3) up front due to staying out while the leaders pitted at the end of stage two.

Martin Truex ‘MTJ’ Jr (19) spins on lap 52 of 75. After the field passes around him, MTJ gets it turned around and continues.

Noah Gragson (42) gets into the tire barrier on lap 53 of 75. He backs out and continues on.

Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) hits the tire barrier on lap 55 of 75. He gets it re-fired and continues racing.

Caution on lap 57 of 75 Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45) brings out the caution buried under the tire barrier.

On lap 61 of 75 Austin Dillon (3) hits the outside wall. He tries to continue but is creeping slowly. Dillon chooses to back the car up pit road.

What’s the purpose of NASCAR NON-STOP if you’re not actually showing the race? Usually they show some view that precludes the viewer from seeing the actual racing.

A couple of cars have gotten in the wall and the tire barrier. Of course since the shot doesn’t allow me to see who. They switch between a distant shot of one car that is blocked by a fence and wall, to an in-car shot that showed a dashboard and hood, to a blimp shot so far away you could barely make out the cars in the darkness, haze and distance. MRN returned from commercial break and told us the incident involved Kevin Harvick (4), MTJ (19), and Harrison Burton (21) hitting the tire barrier.

Caution on lap 67 of 75 for Martin Truex Jr (19) buried in the tire barrier.

Shane Van Gisbergen (91) was making a move for the lead on Justin Haley (31) as the caution came out.

The field has continued the single-file restarts for the entirety of the event.

Restarting on lap 70 of 75 with Justin Haley leading.

Shane ‘SVG’ Van Gisbergen (91) quickly takes the lead from him.

Darien Grubb is SVG’s crew chief.

Stenhouse brings out the caution on lap 74 of 75 or Ricky Stenhouse Jr (47) buried into the tire barrier after being t-boned by Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (23)

Restarting in overtime.

SVG (91) will lead the field to the green flag.

SVG takes the white flag.

Shane Van Gisbergen (91) wins in his first NASCAR start.

SVG made the race worth watching at the end. Once Christopher Bell (20) and Martin Truex Jr (19) were out of contention, and Kyle Busch (8) Shane ‘SVG’ Van Gisbergen (91) looked like the only person racing instead of trying to maintain position gained through pit strategy.

MRN reports the last time a driver won his first NASCAR Cup Series race was Mark Donohue in 1973.

When SVG began making his move the race became more interesting to listen to and to watch – when they would show it. I’m very glad a driver won the race rather than Haley lucking into another decision. The television presentation of the event was abysmal overall. More often than not they were showing something other than the video a fan would want to see. I understand they are handicapped by a lack of broadcasting talent to properly call the racing action, but I wish NASCAR would require them to actually entice the viewer into becoming a NASCAR fan and buying NASCAR products – including race tickets – by providing excellent televised coverage of the speed, the power, the talent, the excitement, the thrills, the developing action of a NASCAR race.

MRN spent a lot of time talking on and on and on about the people in attendance with a lot of emphasis on the people in buildings and along the fence trying to get a view of the action. It sounded to me like they were spending a lot of time talking about people who chose not to buy a ticket. I didn’t see anything in that race that would make me want to buy a ticket if I could watch it for free from a balcony, or rooftop, or fence-line in Grant Park. The crowd at a race does not thrill me – neither to see it, nor hear it, unless I am a part of it and it’s a fun crowd.

The event included more crashes than I expected. It was pretty mediocre until NASCAR announced they were shortening it. The fact that they didn’t really begin racing until after the announcement of a truncated event indicates to me that they weren’t bothering prior to that point. That’s one of the problems with the races. The drivers just don’t race for most of the event. The action is generally limited to the final 20-30 laps. In a 200-600 lap race, that’s unacceptable and horrifically boring. In the past the drivers logged laps, of course, but the on-air talent was entertaining and also enlightening. Steve Byrnes and Darrell Waltrip would explain why the drivers were logging laps and what they were planning and when they would make moves and how the differing strategies might play out and also what was going on in the garage of interest to fans. The viewer learned a lot, about NASCAR, about the psychology and strategy of racing, about the drivers, about the possibilities w
hile being entertained and engaged. Now the drivers in the booth talk about things that interest drivers and everything else they can think of, but rarely very much that interests a fan who has never had the opportunity to drive and NASCAR Cup car. The televised video is so often of random drivers driving, the track surface, the wall, a hood, a bumper and other items without context that show the viewer nothing visually stimulating and little of relevance to the NASCAR race that is the subject of the broadcast. I graduated from listening to the race on the radio to watching the television broadcasts. I only listened to the radio calls when I couldn’t see the televised races. Now I have returned to listening to the races due to the lack of quality of the television programming. I miss watching great races. I miss watching mediocre races presented in such a manner to provide a fun viewing experience. There were few races on FOX that were so boring they were unwatchable during t
hat time period. The broadcast team could engage the viewer in all but the most awful race. NASCAR needs to return to that quality of broadcasts of its events. The teams used differing strategies that the broadcasters could explain in a delightful manner that allowed you to follow what appeared to be a lack of action and got you more and more excited as the laps wound down. The drivers used to have personalities and talent. The events used to be less predictable. The unexpected occurred and provided excitement and surprises. I would like to see NASCAR return to the days when it sounded and looked like a sport; when the broadcasters didn’t talk about storylines and conference calls. I hear that at work all week. I don’t work in a sport. I don’t want to hear about work topics during my time off. There needs to be professional broadcasters, good at their jobs, who know how to present and are capable of presenting a NASCAR event in the most exciting, engaging manner. Instead
of sounding like a marketing gimmick described by hucksters, they need to return to the days when the presentation of a race looked like a professionally produced, well-funded, national sporting event. These days it looks and sounds amateurish and without focus. I see so many images that aren’t cars racing it would take me some time, if I was unfamiliar with the programming, to figure out what I was watching. Rarely would I spend the time to do so, because the video is rarely interesting – other than the sky shots, which don’t say racing to me.

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Next Race: Daytona

GO 48 & 9!!!!