‘Seeing is believing’ as NASCAR awaits adventurous Chicago Street Race

AUSTIN, Texas — There are aspects of a NASCAR race that simply can’t be grasped without seeing them in person. The sheer speed and roaring engines are startling, and the enormous scale of the scene is overwhelming — from the length of the track to the expansive garages and sprawling spectator areas.

Such an event is a big undertaking even at the Circuit of the Americas, an established track on a 1,500-acre property that hosted the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday. And this summer, NASCAR will try to recreate it in a fraction of the space on the Chicago lakefront.

Setting aside any sparring over the event itself and how it pushed Taste of Chicago to September, the Chicago Street Race will be an unprecedented spectacle for the city and the sport when drivers take the course July 1-2.

It’s a first-of-its-kind course for NASCAR, which is looking to make headway in a non-traditional market for auto racing. It’s also creating a striking stage along Lake Michigan, around Grant Park and past Buckingham Fountain with the iconic skyline as the backdrop.

As if that’s not challenging enough, the goal is also to build a 2.2-mile track that stays true to the heart of the sport rather than being merely a novelty.

The uniqueness has gotten drivers’ attention, even with more than three months left until the race.

‘‘There’s a lot of seeing is believing, where you just have to go to it,’’ former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski told the Sun-Times. ‘‘It’s a testament to a NASCAR that didn’t exist five or 10 years ago, that was unwilling to go try new things and challenge itself. . . . Hopefully it ends up being a great moment.’’

Keselowski and several other drivers said they already had tested the Chicago course on iRacing’s simulator because they’re so curious. They’re also ultra-competitive about the shot at being the first to win it.

The prevailing early assessment seems to be that the seven 90-degree turns and some of the narrower stretches likely will lead to crashes. When drivers turn onto Michigan Avenue, for example, that part of the course will use only the northbound or southbound lanes because of the median. They’re expected to reach speeds around 100 mph on straightaways but might be forced to decelerate to 40 mph on turns.

That’s the essence of NASCAR: finding the edge of danger without going over it.

The high degree of difficulty is part of the draw when 50,000 people show up eager for entertainment. It also gives drivers a new problem to solve, and those who adjust best will be in contention.

‘‘That place presents a lot of opportunity because there’s gonna be some wrecks,’’ Austin Dillon said. ‘‘It’s tight racing for these types of cars. It’s an opportunity for one team to hit it right and take home the trophy.’’

Added Keselowski: ‘‘That racetrack is gonna be really difficult to maneuver, which means there will be a lot of attrition, a lot of wrecks. It’ll be about how do we go fast but make ourselves as immune as possible to the attrition.’’

There was quite a bit of that in Austin, which has a road track with sharp turns (like Chicago) rather than an oval, but is longer at 3.4 miles. Tyler Reddick, who races for Michael Jordan’s 23XI team, won the race by 1.4 seconds over Kyle Busch. Unprompted, he brought up the Chicago Street Race and how he hopes to apply lessons he learned while winning at COTA.

As they wait for Chicago, running the virtual course is all the drivers can do to prepare until shortly before the race. It’ll be built from scratch in late June.

Setting up a NASCAR race in the middle of downtown sounds nearly impossible, and that’s exactly why Julie Giese wanted to do it. Giese left her position as president of Phoenix Raceway last summer to spearhead the Chicago endeavor, enticed by the chance to do something historic.

‘‘To be part of that was incredibly appealing,’’ she said. ‘‘I always love a challenge.’’

She certainly has one now.

Giese oversees every aspect of the race, which is wide-ranging responsibility. She’s in conversations with NBC about how to showcase the action and the scenery — ‘‘The venue’s the star,’’ Keselowski said — as well as coordinating concerts and tracking ticket sales. Amid those interests, she also is trying to maintain competitive standards for the drivers.

She simultaneously is aspiring to create a race like no other while making sure it’s just like the other races.

‘‘It’s going to be so different than anything we’ve ever done,’’ Giese said. ‘‘We’re really good at moving from track to track to track, but you’re not doing this on a fixed property. You’re having to build it, move it in quickly and then remove it. It’s a tremendous lift, but it’s exciting.

‘‘It will be a music and racing festival, but the hallmarks of that weekend are the races Saturday and Sunday. So we’re making sure that it is a course that will deliver a good on-track product.’’

The logistics for that part of it include what Giese called ‘‘standard repairs’’ on parts of the streets that needed it anyway, so at least drivers won’t hit potholes, but not a full repave for the course.

‘‘Part of racing on the street is racing on the streets that everyone is driving on a daily basis,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s part of the charm.’’

The stakes are high for this experiment. NASCAR has a three-year deal with Chicago for the street race but hopes this is just the first step toward more adventurous courses. Other leagues, most notably the NHL, have hit the jackpot by looking outside their conventional venues.

In hockey, however, the sites still have been relatively in line with the league’s existing markets. Chicago is far from a NASCAR hotbed. Keselowski called it a market ‘‘that can be hard for us to reach.’’ But if this race works — on TV and for fans attending — it’ll be a springboard to try it in other cities.

‘‘We really want to take our sport to new markets, and to do that you have to think outside the box about where you’re going to race,’’ Giese said. ‘‘There’s only a certain number of permanent racetracks around the country. If you want to expand beyond that, you need to be bold and innovative.

‘‘This is a great proof of concept for us.’’