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NASCAR has never been to a street race before like this week at the Chicago Street Race, but drivers in NASCAR do have plenty of experience turning left and right. Some drivers tend to struggle at this more than others. Which NASCAR drivers tend to struggle on road courses?
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By the Numbers: 0 Wins; 1 Top-5; 7 Top-10s; 18.0 Avg. Finish; 23 Starts
Breakdown: Like most race tracks, Byron tends to qualify well at road courses with four career poles, but he just does not find good finishes consistently. He got his first career top-5 on a road course at Circuit of the Americas back in March, but he also finished an underwhelming 14th at Sonoma earlier in June. Then again, this is an entirely new race track, so, maybe that plays into Byron’s hands.
By the Numbers: 0 Wins; 1 Top-5; 2 Top-10s; 25.1 Avg. Finish; 23 Starts
Breakdown: Bubba Wallace has never led a lap, has qualified inside the top-10 only once, and has finished outside of the top-30 seven times on road courses. It’s just not a style of racing that he tends to race well in. His lone top-5 on a road course came during the chaotic Indianapolis Road Course race last year, so, maybe a chaotic race this weekend will allow that to happen again.
By the Numbers (Since 2018): 0 Wins; 2 Top-5s; 4 Top-10s; 18.1 Avg. Finish; 23 Races
Breakdown: Early in his career, Brad Keselowski had his moments on road courses with five top-3 finished in his first 16 races. However, since then, he has been not great. Since 2018, Keselowski has only found the top-5 twice, and these struggles even go back into his Penske days. Something just has not clicked with Keselowski on road courses during his career.
By the Numbers: 0 Wins; 0 Top-5s; 2 Top-10s; 21.8 Avg. Finish; 30 Races
Breakdown: Austin Dillon has never finished in a single digit position on a road course. He has led seven career laps on road courses, but that’s his only highlight. He just has not figured out how to race on road courses throughout pretty much all of his Cup career.
By the Numbers: 0 Wins; 0 Top-5s; 2 Top-10s; 21.7 Avg. Finish; 36 Races
Breakdown: Aric Almirola has run a full-season’s worth of road course races, and he only has two top-10 finishes to show for it. Regardless of equipment, that is not a good record, and Almirola has only led one career road course lap as well. It’s just not been an ideal scenario for Almirola on road courses during his career.
With the Chicago Street Race being an unknown for everybody, that could level the playing field this weekend. It’s definitely a different type of race track than NASCAR has ever raced on, and no one really knows how things will play out.
