Every driver wants to win a race, but there seems to be a lot more special if a win comes in a first-time event or race. That is no different this weekend, as NASCAR will run its first-ever street race.
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The highly hyped event in Chicago, Illinois still has a major question mark about who has an advantage. Could it be some of the road course aces like Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, or Martin Truex Jr, or could this play into the hands of someone like Jenson Button, who has plenty of street racing in his F1 background?
There are plenty of unknowns, but one driver who has made a knack for winning first-time events in recent memory is the defending Cup Series champion, Joey Logano. He fields a couple of topics about Sunday's race in Chicago on this week's episode of Behind the Wheel with Joey Logano on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Logano responded to the thought that he could have an advantage this weekend, basically saying yes, but wasn't too serious about it. Obviously, he's confident like he always is—but is still nervous for Sunday's Grant Park 220.
Does @joeylogano's propensity for winning at new venues give him an advantage for Chicago?
He says don't count on it...
😬 "I'm a little nervous about it [...] there's gonna be a learning curve."
More @NASCARChicago preview w/ the @Team_Penske driver → https://t.co/oek7E77mXk pic.twitter.com/wLlxfGAbQA
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) June 30, 2023
" Yeah maybe, I don't know if anyone really has an advantage over the next person," Logano said. "A very interesting race, interesting enough that I'm a little nervous about how this one goes, it's really hard to say on the way the track is laid out with the walls. Really the walls are what make me nervous, there is a lot of them, a lot of blind corners, it's going to be bumpy, and there is no room for error."
That has been the major sticking point for drivers and those around the sport. How is the racing going to be, and will this actually pay off?
Logano expects the race to put all the drivers through some tough challenges, especially if someone has a problem, and it could easily block the whole track. He foresees a big learning curve for not just the drivers alone but everyone involved.
"I'm sure it's going to be a learning curve for all the drivers, for NASCAR for the crew chiefs and teams, it's going to be a learning curve weekend for sure," Logano said. "We have to have a little grace, just like we did for this next-gen car when we first started with it, there's going to be a learning curve, we have never done anything like this before."
According to Logano, it's all going to be about where you qualify, and that is a great point. With so many unknowns, maybe he is the guy that finds a way to get the win on Sunday. That's how it went down in the Inaugural Clash at the LA Coliseum in 2022.
