Ben Kennedy felt the inaugural Chicago street course event was a “remarkable” and “historic” weekend for NASCAR.
Sunday’s race around the 12 turn, 2.2-mile course saw the best in NASCAR’s top series battling wet conditions and a new environment, with Shane van Gisbergen capping off the event by claiming the win in his first NASCAR start.
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“I would say, first of all, a huge thank you to the city of Chicago,” said Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and racing strategy. “The city showed up so well today from the backdrop on NBC to the energy among the fans in the city and the crowds. It was certainly remarkable to see. (We) really appreciate the collaboration with the city, the various departments, obviously Choose Chicago, the sports commission, everyone involved.
“A lot of credit to Julie Giese and the entire team here in Chicago that have been working on this every single day since we announced on July 19 of last year getting this event ready for this weekend and Four Leaf Production, as well. Certainly, a neat event. Good to see a first-time winner in Shane and as a fan, it was a lot of fun to watch.”
The weekend went off seemingly without significant issues. And from when cars were first on track Saturday for practice and qualifying, interest around the course was evident as fans who didn’t have a ticket tried to get a look any way they could.
On Sunday, heavy rain delayed the start of the race. However, those in attendance still seemed to be enjoying the event. Fans flocked to the areas around the course as well as pit road and the garage afterward.
“A lot of people seemed like they were having a really good time,” Kennedy said. “Obviously, we’re going to have a very deep dive post-mortem after this event. A lot of surveys will go out collecting a lot of feedback. Of course, there were a lot of things that went according to plan; there were some things that didn’t go according to plan, obviously with the weather.
“We’re going to have a lot of takeaways from this weekend, which I think will be really good, but from what I’ve seen so far, certainly from the fans and from a lot of folks in the industry has been positive.”
Newly elected Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson was in attendance Sunday and spent a lot of time with NASCAR executives and industry members throughout the week. Kennedy said Johnson welcomed NASCAR to the city with open arms.
“He came to the race today,” Kennedy said. “Had the chance to speak at the drivers’ meeting, as well. The relationship with the Johnson administration has certainly been strong, as well as his staff, and then I’d say to add on to that, the relationship with Choose Chicago and the sports commission, Kara Bachman and everyone on that team.
“If you go back two or three years of us trying to put this event together and the planning process, a lot of folks were here today that were with us from the very start in some of those early conversations.
“It was neat to see them. Some of them were actually down in victory lane kind of taking in the moment and soaking it all in, because I know NASCAR and the industry put a lot of effort in, but the city certainly put a lot of effort into this event and it showed.”