Roger Diez: NASCAR hits the street for the first time

It was a good weekend at Nashville for Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing. Chastain scored his first career NASCAR Cup pole on Saturday and notched his first win of the season on Sunday, holding off a charging Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps.

Chastain became the 11th driver to lock into the playoffs provisionally with a win, leaving five open playoff berths to fill with 12 races to go in the regular season. Ryan Blaney was the only DNF at Nashville after a frightening head-on crash into a concrete wall not protected by a SAFER barrier. Thankfully, his HANS device and other safety measures designed into the Gen 7 car prevented serious injury.

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This weekend NASCAR steps well outside its comfort zone for the first street race in the organization’s 75-year history.

During breaks in last Sunday’s TV race coverage Parker Kligerman provided a preview of the track layout, which resembles a figure 8. Fortunately, cars won’t be crossing each other at the intersection! This is entirely new territory for NASCAR, and the teams are scrambling to find the right setup for the cars.

Oddsmakers are also working from a fresh sheet of paper, and there are a few unfamiliar faces near the top of the charts. As usual, Kyle Larson is favored at 7-1, sharing those odds with road course ace Tyler Reddick. Nashville winner Chastain shares 11-1 odds with A.J. Allmendinger, who has raced on street courses in Formula Atlantic and Indy cars. Kyle Busch is at 14-1, William Byron 16-1, with Michael McDowell and Chris Buescher at 20-1. Another driver with a lot of open-wheel street racing experience is ex-F1 champion Jensen Button at 100-1 odds, and he’s my dark horse pick.

Saturday’s TV coverage includes Xfinity practice at 8 a.m. with qualifying at 9, followed by Cup practice at 10:30 a.m. and qualifying at 11:30. The Xfinity Loop 121 race is at 2 p.m. with USA broadcasting all. The Grant Park 200 for the NASCAR Cup cars airs Sunday on NBC at 2:30 p.m. Hopefully the air will be clear of smoke by Saturday.

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The NTT IndyCar series is also in action this weekend, racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a 13-turn, 2.258 mile natural road course. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon has six wins there under his belt, the most recent in 2019. Josef Newgarden has a pair of Mid-Ohio victories, the last in 2021 and his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin is the 2022 winner. Other drivers in the field who have won there include Colin Herta and Will Power (2020 doubleheader), Alexander Rossi (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2016).

Qualifying airs Saturday on Peacock at 11:45 a.m. with the race on USA and Peacock at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

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As if the Red Bull team needed any more advantage, this weekend’s Formula 1 race is at their home track, the Red Bull Ring in Austria. So far, the team has made a clean sweep of the season, and while Mercedes and Aston Martin have made inroads on Red Bull’s pace there’s still a significant performance gap.

Despite pleas from teams and fans, F1 boss Stefano Domenicalli is adamant that he will not take action to modify the technical regulations to clip Red Bull’s wings. The Austrian Grand Prix airs Sunday on at 6 a.m. with the second sprint race of the season at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, both on ESPN.

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Finally, I’m sending my deepest condolences to Jimmie Johnson and his family. They are suffering from the tragic loss of their in-laws and nephew earlier in the week. Johnson has withdrawn his entry for Sunday’s race.