Denny Hamlin expects to see a lot of crashes at NASCAR Chicago Street Race

Denny Hamlin doesn’t believe NASCAR’s highly anticipated Chicago Street Race will feature the cleanest of racing.

During his latest Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained that he’s expecting to see plenty of crashes this weekend, especially during the Xfinity Series showdown.

“I think that there’ll be significant practice crashes,” explained Hamlin. “Certainly in the Xfinity Series. It is going to be, I don’t know how much track time they’re going to get, so you better be ready.

“Everyone have their — all the Xfinity Series drivers, have your helmet on. Be buckled down, ready to go when they drop the green, because who knows how much time you’re going to get.”

Alas, we’ve seen plenty of chaos at brand new tracks that NASCAR has tried out over recent seasons, such as the Charlotte Roval and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, so it’s fair to say Hamlin’s right in expecting there to be some tore up race cars this weekend.

One thing is for sure, Denny Hamlin will be hoping he’s not one of them. Whoever is the last car standing on Sunday will go into the history books, and the veteran driver is hoping it’s him.

Chase Elliott explains expectation for Chicago Street Race

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin’s rival in Chase Elliott explained what would make the event successful from multiple perspectives.

“I don’t know. That’s a good question,” Elliott responded, asked what the Chicago Street Race needs to be considered a successful event. “I think it depends on which hat you’re wearing. You know, if you’re wearing a competitors hat, for me, it’s us going up there and being in a position to win. From a fan standpoint, you know you’re tapping into a part of, a part of the country that I think has a lot of race fans. A lot of NASCAR fans. But into a city limits that a lot of those people may not typically come out to yet. Or somewhere up there, that typically hasn’t been the case. So for them, I think it’s about it being a good event, and it being exciting. There being a lot of stuff going on for them, and they feel like they’re at ‘the’ event. That means to feel like the event that weekend, over the Cubs game, or whatever it may be. So I think that would make it successful, from a promoter standpoint. 

“You know, from the racing side, I don’t necessarily think, I don’t think I have to leave the racetrack and think, ‘Oh wow, that was a really great race,’ for it to be successful to the viewership, or to the people who show up in attendance.”

Per usual, Elliott will be one of the biggest attractions at the track this weekend, and many would love to see him end up in Victory Lane on Sunday. The funny thing is though nobody knows what to expect in this race, so it’s going to be up for grabs.

Time will tell, but it’s hard to bet against Chase Elliott any given week, and the Chicago Street Race will be no different.