The NASCAR Cup Series won’t be the only tour taking it to the streets of the Windy City in 2023, as the Xfinity Series will participate in the inaugural Chicago Street Race race weekend as revealed by Wednesday’s 2023 schedule release.
Perhaps the most anticipated weekend of the entire 2023 schedule, Chicago’s festivities will kick off Fourth of July weekend with the Xfinity Series taking the green flag on July 1 to mark the first official NASCAR national series competition ever held on the streets of a major city. The unprecedented action will see the sport’s top stock car drivers competing next to skyscrapers and hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago on a course that runs past Lake Michigan and Grant Park.
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“Two of the headline events in 2023 are North Wilkesboro and the Chicago Street Course,” NASCAR Senior Vice President for Racing Development & Strategy Ben Kennedy told NASCAR.com. “As you think about our 75th anniversary next year, I think a great blend of history and nostalgia of going to a place like North Wilkesboro … blending that with something new and out of the box and different with our first ever street course as a sport. We’re excited to bring the Cup Series there, along with the Xfinity Series.”
The addition stands as the biggest change to the schedule for the series, but another road-course date was added for June 10 at Sonoma Raceway as well. This marks the first trip to the California track for the series. That’ll make it two weeks in a row on a road course for Xfinity Series competitors, seeing Portland International Raceway return for a second year on the schedule a week prior on June 3.
Also worth noting – Bristol Motor Speedway, which closes out the regular season in 2022, will instead open the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs under the lights on Sept. 15. Road America will also return to the Xfinity Series schedule for the 14th consecutive year.
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