NASCAR announces rotating pace car for Chicago Street Race between Ford, Chevy, and Toyota

The upcoming Chicago Street Race is going to feature not one but three rotating pace cars throughout the NASCAR event. This is going to be a showcase of everything that makes NASCAR great. So, it makes sense that they would want to present different cars wherever possible.

The way this is going to work is pretty simple. Whichever manufacturer wins the pole award (ex: Kyle Busch – Chevy, Joey Logano – Ford, Denny Hamlin – Toyota) will start the race with their pace car at the front. After the start, the pace cars will rotate throughout the race when needed.

There is a little bit of pride and bragging rights to win here for these manufacturers. Get your car in front of the field when everyone is paying attention and waiting for the green flag to drop.

“As the industry unites to support an unprecedented NASCAR event weekend, we are proud to welcome Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota as our official pace cars for the Chicago Street Race,” Julie Giese, president of the Chicago Street Course Race said in a release. “We look forward to showcasing the cars that will compete in the race through the streets of downtown Chicago prior to leading the field to green over race weekend.”

The announcement also mentioned that whichever manufacturer is second in the rotation this year will go first in 2024. The third manufacturer will lead the 2025 race in Chicago.

While this is a points-paying race, it is also an experiment in many ways. NASCAR is making this an entire event. It isn’t just the Chicago Street Race, it is also a huge music festival and basically a weekend-long party in Chi-Town. It is going to look much different from your usual road course or oval race, that’s for sure.

AJ Allmendinger is excited about the Chicago Street Race

For one NASCAR Cup Series driver, the Chicago Street Race is a huge opportunity. At this point, almost all NASCAR full-time Cup drivers know their way around a road course. It isn’t like the old days. But almost none of them are familiar with street racing.

AJ Allmendinger is very familiar with the streets, though. The Dinger went to Chicago earlier this year to preview the course and give his take on it all. The former ChampCar driver is happy with the way the course is laid out.

“So just the way it’s laid out, just kind of the broad scheme of things of looking at it, it does feel like there’s passing opportunities and going to be some good racing,” Allmendinger said.

“What makes especially on the Cup side of it so difficult is you’ve got the best drivers in the world, and we’ve seen that at all the road courses,” the driver continued. “It’s not just three or four guys that stand out anymore. I mean, it’s a tough field from one through 36. So I hope that experience helps, but put it this way – I’m not relying on it saying ‘Oh, that’s what’s gonna make the difference.'”

Is there a chance we see Allmendinger run away with the Chicago Street Race? The Kaulig Racing driver has a knack for the twists and turns of the road course. It would make sense that he would do well on this street course. Just a couple of more weeks until we find out how Allmendinger and this entire Cup Series field perform at Chicago.