Last weekend, Alex Bowman was crowned the winner of NASCAR’s second annual Chicago street course race after the event concluded before reaching the final lap.
The reason behind the race finishing early, though, was not because cars couldn’t make it on track — at least not entirely. The race ended due to the time limit being reached before the planned 75-lap race could be concluded.
As a staff report from NASCAR detailed, the race was delayed for almost two hours due to wet weather in the area. At the time the race began, drivers had the option to go with slick or wet-weather tires, and that’s a column topic for another day. In fact, it would more than likely have been this week’s educational expedition if not for the race finishing by time instead.
It’s incredibly important to note that a time limit is not the usual NASCAR way, so to speak. However, with the mounting pressure on the Chicago Street Race event itself, as discussed last week, the city of Chicago tightened its grip on the race, much to the chagrin of some fans.
The race was always going to be cutting it close on the clock, even if it went the full distance. Allowing the cars ample opportunity for more time on the track — weather permitting — seemed like the logical move here, but it’s not what NASCAR was going to run with. To top it all off, stage breaks at road courses were supposed to be a thing of the past, but that changed earlier in the year, as most fans will remember.
Magnedeth (certifiably cool username) made a great point, too. If the race was always against the clock, would it not be smarter on NASCAR’s part to start the race as early in the day as possible? Yes, the NTT IndyCar Series ran earlier in the day, but if the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …