Grant Park 220 in Downtown Chicago
(⏰ Sunday, 5 p.m. ET | 📺 NBC, NBC Sports App, Peacock | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Illinois, the 18th points-paying race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.
Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | Chicago 101
🚧 See the full course layout, turn-by-turn in photos 🚧
📍 Location: Chicago, Illinois 📐 Track length: 2.2 miles 🗺️ Course layout: Turn-by-turn in photos 🎟️ Buy tickets: Find weekend passes, seats for the race 💰 Cup Series race purse: $7,565,807 📏 Race distance: 100 laps | 220 miles 🔢 Stages: 20 | 45 | 100 (no stage cautions) -- 🚪 Entry list: SVG, Button, others join | Jimmie Johnson withdraws 📋 Starting lineup: Denny Hamlin races to P1 🚗 Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit Key things to watch 🔑 Saturday's sessions It's actually happening. It's here. Saturday afternoon, Cup Series cars drove through the streets of downtown Chicago for the first time and it was immaculate. Plenty of passing zones, hard dives into tight corners and much more action were on display throughout the one-hour practice session. At the end of the qualifying clock, it was Denny Hamlin who earned the event's first Busch Light Pole Award. Hamlin outpaced a strong run from Tyler Reddick and Australian Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen, setting the quickest mark around the 2.2-mile circuit in the final round of qualifying -- Hamlin and van Gisbergen nearly flip-flopped on the leaderboard from practice, with van Gisbergen topping the early charts. After another strong run on Saturday, budding road-course ace Reddick will start on the front row with Hamlin. | Read the full practice and qualifying recap, see highlights Big story lines Bringing the NASCAR party to the fans. Imagine waking up in Downtown Chicago and being able to watch race cars speed through the turns from your balcony or living-room window. That once far-fetched dream is now a reality, with NASCAR taking on one of its biggest and boldest challenges yet: a street race. Strap in for a weekend filled with family-friendly events for fans, plenty of on-track action, two races (Xfinity Series race on Saturday), live music and much more in one of the country's most iconic sports hubs. It's not just a weekend filled with hype, but one with incredible story lines that could play out during the race on Sunday. Can Chase Elliott win his way into the playoffs sooner, rather than later? Will one of the road-course aces take control of the race? Or will another winless driver come from below the cutline to shake up the standings? There is plenty to wonder about and pay attention to this weekend, for everyone. History tells us... Even with a field of talented road racers, Joey Logano may be the biggest wild card, again. Realistically speaking, the trend has to end at some point. But Logano has been an incredible force in first-time events for the Cup Series. He won the debut race at the Clash at the LA Coliseum, the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race and the first Cup Series competition at World Wide Technology Raceway. It's simply unprecedented. Even other drivers have taken notice. But Logano will be far from the favorite this weekend, entering with a trend of hit-or-misses at left-and-right-turn courses -- a track type he's never won on. In his last nine road-course events, he does have four finishes of seventh or better but also five finishes of 17th or worse. Expect the reigning champion to fly well under the radar on Sunday, but if he somehow manages to win this, too, it shouldn't really be that big of a surprise. He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for... Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen. If you're unfamiliar with the name, you will get to know this talented street-course ace throughout the weekend while he drives Trackhouse Racing's latest Project 91 entry. Coming to the United States for the chance of a lifetime, van Gisbergen will be the most experienced street racer in the field by a large margin -- and that could pay off well, given his 100-1 opening odds to reach Victory Lane. Either way it shakes out, it will be fun to watch him navigate not only the Chicago circuit but an extremely competitive field. | 🎙️ van Gisbergen on Chicago: 'Ain't going to be easy'