All outdoor events are weather-dependent to various degrees. Last year’s inaugural Chicago Street Race was a NASCAR success in terms of logistical achievement, but a bit of a dud due to thunderstorms that wiped out sideshow attractions and turned the main event into a spin class.

More than a quarter of the laps were run under yellow-flag conditions due to nine cautions, nearly all for loopty-loops as the grooved rain tires were no match for the wall-to-wall wetness and puddling.

So NASCAR is hoping Sunday’s Grant Park 165 paints a more accurate picture of what this unique event can be and what it might mean for future scheduling and future destinations.

∎ NASCAR shortened the prescribed length of this year’s Chicago street race — this time by design instead of potential rain. Last year’s race was scheduled for 100 laps and 220 miles, but due to horrible weather and pending darkness, it was shortened to 78 laps. Someone must’ve said, “that feels about right,” because this year it’s scheduled for 75 laps.

∎ The course is still 2.2 miles long with 12 turns, and all of the Chicago landmarks remain throughout Grant Park, including the Buckingham Fountain and Lake Shore Drive.

∎ The Chicago street race is the first NASCAR event basically birthed by gamers. During the 2020 shutdown for the pandemic, simulated races (eNascar and iRacing) became “a thing.” In 2021, an imaginary Chicago street circuit became part of the iRacing schedule, and when the rather realistic simulation proved workable, things escalated and went from dream to concept and, eventually, reality.

∎ The inaugural race last year is largely remembered for two things. First, the thunderstorms that wiped out nearly all of the extracurriculars, including concerts from a solid lineup of acts — Black Crowes, Chainsmokers, Miranda Lambert, Charley Crockett. The Chainsmokers returned this year as part of another lineup of musical guests that includes Keith Urban and the Black Keys.

∎ Oh, the second memory from 2023? We got to meet Shane van Gisbergen, the New Zealand native and three-time champ in Australia’s Supercars Championship, which includes stock cars on road courses. SVG used all of his experience, which includes racing on wet tracks, to run near the front throughout before taking the lead and keeping it over the final eight laps.

∎ Van Gisbergen rode that momentum to a NASCAR contract with Trackhouse Racing. This year he’s full time in the Xfinity Series while running select races in ARCA and the Cup Series, including this weekend in Chicago. He was no fluke, by the way — he won back-to-back Xfinity road-course races at Portland and Sonoma several weeks back.

∎ Chicago being Chicago, some of the city’s aldermen didn’t like the deal struck with NASCAR to bring a race to town and shut down busy streets leading up to the Fourth of July weekend. Also, the mayor who cut the three-year deal (Lori Lightfoot) was voted out of office a few months after the inaugural race, and the new mayor (Brandon Johnson) came in and, among other things, sought to tweak the NASCAR deal. Some reports have NASCAR paying an additional $2 million this year to “cover costs.”

∎ NASCAR is no stranger to the Windy City’s metro area. From 2001-2019, the Cup Series raced at Chcagoland in Joliet, 35 miles outside of downtown. In 1956, NASCAR’s big-league division raced inside Soldier Field, just blocks south of the current street course. Fireball Roberts won that race by a car-length over Jim Paschal. Tom Pistone, Curtis Turner and Glen Wood won NASCAR convertible races there in 1956-57.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR on Chicago Street Course | Some Windy City racing history