StatChat 2025 - Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course

By Adam Carabine

Happy Saturday everyone!  This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Chicago Illinois for the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course.

The Chicago Street Course is a street circuit course on the streets of Chicago.  The track is 2.14 miles long, and features 12 turns.  Last year’s winner at this race was Alex Bowman.

Tomorrow’s race will be 75 laps long (for a total of 160.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 20 – 45 – 75.  Pit road speed is 35 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 40 mph.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 4,751 laps, for 6,881.84 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and Tyler Reddick is five behind.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Chicago Street:

Michael McDowell	6.00 over 2 races
Ty Gibbs	6.00 over 2 races
Kyle Busch	7.00 over 2 races
Justin Haley	9.00 over 2 races
Austin Cindric	10.50 over 2 races

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Chicago Street:

Josh Berry	36.00 over 1 race
JH Nemechek	35.00 over 1 race
Ty Dillon	35.00 over 1 race
Christopher Bell	27.50 over 2 races
AJ Allmendinger	27.50 over 2 races

The Chicago Street Course is a Road Course

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses:

Chase Elliott	7.44 over 37 races (7 wins)
SVG	8.92 over 8 races (2 wins)
Tyler Reddick	12.16 over 28 races (3 wins)
Chris Buescher	12.60 over 39 races (1 win)
Christopher Bell	13.59 over 28 races (3 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses:

Ryan Preece	24.88 over 25 races
JH Nemechek	24.58 over 9 races
Austin Dillon	23.98 over 41 races
Riley Herbst	23.00 over 2 races
Noah Gragson	22.36 over 11 races

Because the Chicago Street Course is so new to the NASCAR Cup Series, there is a two-way tie for winningest driver.  Shane Van Gisbergen and Alex Bowman have each won the race once, and that’s it.

Notable drivers who have not won at Chicago Street:

Kyle Busch	(has won at 24 other tracks)
Denny Hamlin	(has won at 19 other tracks)
Joey Logano	(has won at 19 other tracks)
Kyle Larson	(has won at 18 other tracks)
Brad Keselowski	(has won at 17 other tracks)

Shane Van Gisbergen earned his first Cup Series win at the Chicago Street Course – it was his first ever Cup Series race.

Based on average finish, Ty Gibbs and Justin Haley list Chicago Street as their BEST track, and Ty Dillon and Ryan Blaney list it as their WORST.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+614 pts
Chris Buescher	+587 pts
Bubba Wallace	+403 pts
Chase Briscoe	+360 pts
William Byron	+320 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-326 pts
Ty Gibbs	-287 pts
Todd Gilliland	-275 pts
Joey Logano	-275 pts
Josh Berry	-223 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

Chase Elliott	10.28
Christopher Bell	12.06
Chase Briscoe	14.89
Ryan Preece	17.83
JH Nemechek	19.11
Josh Berry	20.35
Todd Gilliland	20.53

Worst Career Year

Cole Custer	23.94
Carson Hocevar	21.83
Zane Smith	19.56
Ty Gibbs	19.11

Rookie of the Year Battle

SVG	268 (1 win)
Riley Herbst	206

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	656
Toyota	641
Ford	610

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick	637
Joe Gibbs	617
Trackhouse	505
Penske	499
RFK	492
23XI	459
Spire	439
Legacy MC	436
Front Row	423
RCR	400
Kaulig	386
Hyak	328
Wood Bros	293
Haas Factory	235
Rick Ware	140

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

William Byron	179
Ryan Blaney	145
Kyle Larson	134
Denny Hamlin	132
Tyler Reddick	128
Chase Elliott	106
Bubba Wallace	101
Austin Cindric	99
Alex Bowman	99
Carson Hocevar	91

Milestone Watch

Chase Briscoe	Looking for his 20th Career Top 5
Joey Logano	Looking for his 170th Career Top 5

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	159 races
Cole Custer	115 races
Bubba Wallace	97 races
Erik Jones	97 races
Kyle Busch	75 races
Michael McDowell	66 races
Daniel Suarez	52 races
Brad Keselowski	41 races
AJ Allmendinger	38 races
Alex Bowman	34 races

The race begins Sunday, July 6th at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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