2024 NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 Preview
Photo: Mike Dinovo/USA Today
After a breakthrough in the 75th anniversary of NASCAR, the Chicago Street Course is back for this weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series. Coverage of the ‘Grant Park 165’ begins at 4:30PM EST on NBC.
Last year’s inaugural race on the streets of Chicago was the beginning of the historic rise of Shane van Gisbergen, winning in his first NASCAR start EVER! A feat that hasn’t been done since the 1963.
Best Bets for Cup
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Best Bets for Cup |
Shane van Gisbergen +500 | Top 5 -170 | Top 10 -650
Shane van Gisbergen enters this weekend as the favorite for both the Xfinity Series AND Cup Series in Chicago. Last year, SVG took the NASCAR world by storm as he went on to win in his first NASCAR start, the first driver to do so since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. However, that occured in the Project #91 machine prepped by Trackhouse Racing. He’s entering this weekend for Kaulig Racing, where he’s yet to finish inside the Top 10 this season in three Cup starts. He’ll be an interesting driver to keep an eye on this Sunday.
Tyler Reddick +700 | Top 5 -130 | Top 10 -470
Tyler Reddick was distraught after his 3rd place finish last weekend at Nashville. He’ll look to erase that from his mind this weekend. Reddick is one of five drivers to finish inside the Top 10 in both road course races this season. He’s recorded five Top 10 finishes in his last six races. Reddick will be searching for victory lane this Sunday.
Christopher Bell +750 | Top 5 -115 | Top 10 -410
Christopher Bell led the most laps in last year’s race, but finished 18th. He’s finished 2nd at COTA and 9th at Sonoma earlier this season. Prior to his DNF at Nashville, Bell had five straight Top 10 finishes, including wins at Charlotte and Loudon. He’ll look to return to finishing inside the Top 10 with a potential trip to victory lane this weekend.
Kyle Larson +750 | Top 5 -115 | Top 10 -410
The last time NASCAR went to a track with lefts and rights, Kyle Larson went to victory lane. Larson finished 4th in last year’s race around the streets of Chicago, but he’ll have to stay out of trouble with Denny Hamlin, as the two have had multiple run ins with each other over the past two races. As long as Larson stays clean, he’ll have a good shot at winning this weekend.
Chase Elliott +1000 | Top 5 +125 | Top 10 -300
Despite spinning out on the last lap at Nashville, Chase Elliott still has yet to finish worse than 19th all season. Elliott has been known to be a great road course racer throughout his Cup career, winning seven of his 19 Cup races on them. He finished 3rd in last year’s race at Chicago, and he should be contending for the win again on Sunday.
Chris Buescher +2000 | Top 5 +250 | Top 10 -150
There’s three things guaranteed in life: Death, taxes, and Chris Buescher being a damn good road course racer. He’s finished inside the Top 10 in ELEVEN of thirteen road course races in the NextGen. He even finished 10th on the streets of Chicago last year. Just look for Buescher to keep doing his thing this weekend.
Justin Haley +8500 | Top 5 +1000 | Top 10 +290
Last year’s race would’ve resulted in the same shock, if not more of a shock, had Justin Haley gone to victory lane instead of SVG last year at Chicago. Haley was passed with less than 7 laps to go by SVG and would go on to finish 2nd. Even in Rick Ware Racing equipment, Haley is still proving doubters wrong. He’s recorded two Top 10 finishes at Darlington and Gateway, and was close to recording three more Top 10 finishes in the last three weeks at Iowa, Loudon, and Nashville. Don’t count him out this weekend.