Chicagoland can be again on the calendar after seven years to host a race in July. Earlier than that return, NASCAR hosted a two-day Goodyear tire take a look at on Tuesday and Wednesday. Ford’s Ryan Blaney was certainly one of three drivers who took half within the session and shared his expertise on the take a look at.
The 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway final hosted a NASCAR race again in 2019. The observe had since been idle for essentially the most half, besides in 2023, when it hosted the SuperMotocross playoffs. The 2-day take a look at gave a glimpse of what’s but to return in July.
Whereas speaking to RFKRacingDigest, Ryan Blaney spoke about his studying from the testing. He stated, “We made a bunch of lengthy runs this morning. In order that was good. These tire checks, their major focus is we’re making an attempt to choose the tire that we’re going to run right here (within the July race) and sort of future improvement stuff with Goodyear.”
Blaney additional spoke about his expertise working with the Goodyear workforce and stated that it has been a productive testing. Every workforce was supplied with eight units of tires, which primarily consisted of the left-side tires. The take a look at helped Goodyear decide the drop off of the tires, because the observe hasn’t been utilized in fairly a while.
Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have been the opposite drivers testing for Chevrolet and Toyota respectively. The 2-day gave the groups and producers an thought how numerous tires will carry out at Chicagoland after they return.
For Ryan Blaney, this go to to the observe introduced again reminiscences from his earlier visits. The 2023 NASCAR cup collection champion additionally talked about NASCAR’s future in Chicago.
Ryan Blaney talks about NASCAR’s future at Chicago
Earlier this yr, NASCAR introduced that it will not host the Chicago road race after three iterations. Earlier than this, the collection wasn’t racing within the metropolis between 2020 and 2022.
Ryan Blaney shared the significance of racing out there and why it might be a mistake for NASCAR to exit it. He stated:
“It’s a big metropolis, a whole lot of severe sports activities followers sort of all throughout the board, whether or not it’s soccer or baseball or motorsports, issues like that. So it’s essential to have a presence right here, that’s for certain. And although we’re simply 45 miles (from downtown Chicago), it’s nonetheless a minimum of gettable right here.”
NASCAR will return to racing at Chicagoland Speedway on July 5.
