The first two trips to Chicago for street races have featured inclement weather. The weekend forecast makes it appear that this trend will continue this weekend as Cup Series teams head to the Windy City for the third time.
According to the WeatherUnderground forecast, there is only a 2% chance of rain on Saturday. The Sunday forecast, however, calls for an 80% chance of rain at 1 p.m. CT, the start time of the Cup Series race (TNT, Max). WeatherUnderground also calls for possible thunderstorms between 12 and 3 p.m. CT.
This forecast has left drivers split between those who don't mind racing in the rain and those who would much rather race under sunny skies.
"Myself, I don't necessarily mind the rain," Todd Gilliland said. "We've ran well there in the past there, but on the flip side of it I'm ready for Chicago to have a weekend go as planned and hope the fans can experience all of that fun stuff behind the scenes.
"I think the whole experience would be much smoother without rain and I'm hoping that for the fans for sure."
Last season's Chicago street race, also known as the Grant Park 165, had two different rain delays. The first occurred shortly before engines were set to fire to start the event. The second then occurred after defending winner Shane van Gisbergen crashed after contact from Chase Briscoe. This delay lasted 1 hour and 43 minutes and led to NASCAR ultimately shortening the street race by 17 laps.
The inaugural street race featured a historic level of rain, which first delayed the Xfinity Series race before shortening it by 30 laps. The rain, which created calf-deep puddles, delayed the start of the Cup Series race by more than an hour. It pushed the race up against the impending darkness and forced NASCAR to shorten the event from 100 laps to only 75.
Van Gisbergen won the race in what was his NASCAR debut.
"Honestly, I'm just hoping we have good weather this weekend in Chicago," William Byron said. "The last two years it has rained, and it really changed the dynamic of how the race goes and who is a factor. It would just be cool to see how the race plays out when that element isn't involved."
Byron was one of many drivers who expressed the hope that the rain will stay away. He joined Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher, among many others. Ryan Preece, however, explained how he favored the rain.
"I've enjoyed the fact that it's rained and the reason I've enjoyed it is it kind of shakes things up," Preece said. "A street course is really tough.
"It's very tough to pass, so when you have moments like rain and other things you can't predict, it makes it a little bit more exciting and opens up the box for strategy, so I've enjoyed it. I think it'll be different if we go there and there isn't rain."
Based on the forecast, it appears that Preece will get his wish.