By 
NASCAR fans share their perfect tailgate beverage
What are you drinking when you watch NASCAR? Mackenzie Salmon is at the USA TODAY 301 and she collected an impressive list of beverages from fans in New Hampshire.
For the second time, NASCAR heads to the “Second City.”
In 2023, drivers started their engines on the streets of Chicago. As is the case with best-laid plans, the 2023 Grant Park 220 had a bit of a monkey wrench thrown into it: Mother Nature got involved, with the start of the race delayed due to rain, and darkness led to the shortening of the race to 75 laps.
In his NASCAR Cup Series debut, Shane van Gisbergen took home the checkered flag, holding off Justin Haley and Chase Elliot en route to his first podium and his first win. “SVG” became the first driver in modern NASCAR history to win his debut.
This year, van Gisbergen will have an opportunity to defend his win, as he starts fifth on the grid, behind pole sitter and 2024 points leader Kyle Larson.
USA TODAY Sports will be covering highlights, updates and more from today’s the Grant Part 165 below.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen won the opening stage, which ended under caution as the rain began to come down harder.
Gisbergen, who also won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race on the streets of Chicago, took the lead on Lap 13 and held it through the end of the 20-lap first stage. Drivers then hit pit road to change to wet-weather tires.
Here are the top 10 finishers in Stage 1:
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 16 Chevrolet
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
- Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Ford
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
Lajoie brings out first caution in NASCAR Chicago street race
Corey Lajoie spun coming out of Turn 4, bringing out the caution on Lap 17. LaJoie, who started 20th, hit the wall with the back of his No. 7 Cheverolet and couldn’t get turned around as the field of cars approached, forcing officials to to throw the first yellow flag of the day.
NASCAR officials decided not to open pit road before the end of the 20-lap opening stage, ending it under caution. With more rain fast approaching, teams will have a chance to decide whether to switch to wet-weather tires at the stage break.
Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen passed Ty Gibbs on Lap 13 of the Grant Park 165. Gibbs was forced to slow as the leaders came up on the back of the field, and SVG took advantage, moving past the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on the inside of Turns 11 and 12. There are 20 laps scheduled in the opening stage.
Ty Gibbs, who started second, has led 10 lap so far in the Grant Park 165. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver surged past pole sitter Kyle Larson when the green flag dropped. Starting on primary slick tires, Gibbs has maintained the lead through the first half of the 20-lap opening stage.
Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen has moved up to second, followed by Christopher Bell, Larson and Chase Briscoe.
The green flag has waved for the Grant Park 165 with pole sitter Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports and Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing leading the 40-car field past the start/finish line in Grant Park. Some drivers have changed to wet-weather tires, while others are driving with the primary slicks. Some of the downtown streets have puddles, while others remain mostly dry.
Ty Gibbs immediately jumped to the lead ahead of Tyler Reddick and Larson.
Cars have rolled out of pit road to take a one-lap inspection of the course for the Grant Park 165. Drivers are cruising down the downtown streets at pace-car speed trying to determine whether they should keep their normal slick tires or change to rain tires, which have treads.
While you should not expect the torrential downpour that happened in 2023, the Grant Park 165 has had a run-in with Mother Nature already on Sunday.
Prior to the start of the race, the streets of Chicago were sprinkled with a little light rain. Rain is expect to fall in light sheets over the next hour.
NASCAR designated the track as wet, and teams are prepped with rain tires in the event that wet weather does continue play into the festivities this afternoon.
A light rain has begun falling in downtown Chicago before the start of the Grant Park 165. Crew members have covered the cars on pit road to keep them from getting wet. NASCAR and Goodyear have brought rain tires to the event, so the race should be able to go green before long if the rain doesn’t become too heavy.
Former Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte gave drivers the command to start engines for the Grant Park 165. The two-time NFL Pro Bowler played eight seasons in Chicago and two with the New York Jets before retiring in 2017.
Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney is among nine drivers that will drop to the rear of the field before the green flag waves for the Grant Park 165 in Chicago. Eight of the nine needed to make repairs to their cars following Saturday’s on track-session, which NASCAR considers unapproved adjustments.
Aside from Blaney, the other drivers who made repairs are Chris Buescher, Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton, William Byron and Erik Jones. Josh Bilicki’s car failed pre-race inspection three times, invalidating the team’s qualifying time while also resulting in a pass-through penalty down pit road at the beginning of the race.
NBC is broadcasting the Grant Park 165 and will have a pre-race show at 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. local).
The Grant Park 165 can be live streamed on Peacock, the NBCSports website and the NBC Sports app. The race is also available to stream on Fubo.
The Grant Park 165 is 75 laps around the 2.2-mile street course for a total of 165 miles. The race will feature three segments (laps per stage) − Stage 1: 20 laps; Stage 2: 25 laps; Stage 3: 30 laps.
Kyle Larson is in pole position as drivers gear up for Sunday’s race. Here’s the lineup:
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
- Michael McDowell, No. 34 Ford
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 16 Chevrolet
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
- Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
- Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
- Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Chevrolet
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford
- Justin Haley, No. 51 Ford
- Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Toyota
- Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
- Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Ford
- William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
- Noah Gragson, No. 10 Ford
- Ryan Preece, No. 41 Ford
- Zane Smith, No. 71 Chevrolet
- Harrison Burton, No. 21 Ford
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
- Austin Hill, No. 33 Chevrolet
- Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Chevrolet
- Josh Berry, No. 4 Ford
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 13 Chevrolet
- Joey Hand, No. 60 Ford
- Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Ford (did not attempt qualifying lap)
- Kaz Grala, No. 15 Ford
NASCAR Chicago weather update: Forecast for Grant Park 165
The forecast in Chicago Sunday for the Grant Park 165 is mostly favorable, though a chance of thunderstorms nonetheless looms.
The National Weather Service is projecting a 30% chance of precipitation at 3 p.m. local time, half an hour before the start of the race, with the chance of rain peaking at 4 p.m., at 31%. The NWS is also forecasting the chance of thunderstorms at that time between 30% and 50%.
As a band of storm clouds rolls through the area, traveling east, the chance for rain and thunder will gradually decrease as the afternoon wears on, with the chance of rain falling to 21% by 6 p.m.
Per the NWS, the temperature is expected to hover around the mid-to-low 80s, with a projection of 86 degrees at 3 p.m. Wind gusts of up to 17 miles per hour are expected throughout the afternoon.
Drivers will cruise down iconic streets like Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive and past famous landmarks like Buckingham Fountain during the Grant Park 165. The 12-turn, 2.2-mile circuit will start on Columbus Avenue and wind through the downtown streets before it hits the start/finish line in front of Grant Park.
Shane van Gisbergen won his NASCAR Cup Series debut, chasing down Justin Haley and Chase Elliott on July 2, 2023, in a memorable finish to the series’ first street race. The New Zealand native and three-time Supercars champion led the final eight laps and pulled away from Haley by 1.259 seconds to become the first driver to win his Cup debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.
Seven races remain in the regular season, including Sunday’s race in Chicago, before the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin on Sept. 11. A regular-season win virtually locks up a playoff berth, but the possibility still remains that there could be more race winners than available playoff spots since 11 drivers have a least won victory this season.
2024 winners (points in parentheses): Kyle Larson 3 (664); Denny Hamlin 3 (621); Christopher Bell 3 (576); William Byron 3 (570); Chase Elliott 1 (644); Tyler Reddick 1 (611); Ryan Blaney 1 (560); Brad Keselowski 1 (531); Joey Logano 1 (470); Daniel Suarez 1 (383); Austin Cindric 1 (367).
The Grant Park 165 starts at 4:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. local) on the streets of downtown Chicago.
