NASCAR shortens length of Grant Park 220 in Chicago

With limited daylight, NASCAR has moved the Chicago Street Race to 75 laps. The Grant Park 220 won’t go the full 100 laps. Drivers and teams have been informed after Stage 2 that the race will just be 75 laps. Everyone is going to have to rework their strategy on a dime and figure it out.

There were teams that pitted right before that decision came down and they will benefit the most. Other drivers are going to have to hope for the best as they pit later and try to pass the slower cars afterward.

Race will be shortened to 75 laps.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 3, 2023

This completely changes the race as NASCAR moves from 100 laps to just 75. It is the right call to get this race complete and to give these teams a heads-up ahead of time. Everyone knows the deal, but some benefit more than others.

Just as we thought Chase Elliott was going to have a wasted day in Chicago, he was in third with a chance to win. Justin Haley was the leader coming out of Stage 2 and was doing his best to hold on to that lead. It was remarkable after watching Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick outpace the field for most of the afternoon.

Bell soon found himself going from sweeping the stages to spinning out and getting passed by the field. It was a tough end to what was a really impressive race overall for the No. 20.

Grant Park 220 traffic jam

Whoever wins this race is going to go down in NASCAR history. So it makes sense why we are seeing the Grant Park 220 heat up. William Byron was in a position to make a run for the lead. However, he found himself in the wall at Turn 11 and then, chaos.

A traffic jam like many predicted would happen all weekend finally came to reality. There were more than a dozen cars packed tight on the track as they came around the blind turn and ran out of track to drive on. No heavy damage from this incident, however, it did trigger a caution as they sorted out the mess that was created.

The Grant Park 220 traffic jam was dealt with but that wasn’t the end to the chaos. Drivers would soon find themselves spinning out and making contact with the tire barriers once again. Turn 6 in particular took Tyler Reddick out of his top-5 position.

As this race comes to an end, drivers are going to have to figure something out, or the leaders are going to run away with this race. Who will find that grip and speed to win this race?