It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve had a NASCAR preview up on Apollo, as I took a break. Now we’re back for the 2025 Grant Park 165. At Pocono, Chase Briscoe claimed his first victory with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Last week at Atlanta, Chase Elliott scored the win at his hometown track in a thriller of a race. With two new winners, the playoff picture tightens up even more. Additionally, NASCAR’s in-season tournament kicked off last week, adding an extra layer of intrigue to proceedings.
Let’s dive into the entry list for Chicago first!
2025 Grant Park 165 Entry List
For the first time in awhile, more than 40 drivers will attempt to make the field for the NASCAR race. This means that one of the five open entries will not make the race for Sunday.
Those open entries are SuperCars driver Will Brown in the #13 for Kaulig Racing, Xfinity Series driver Austin Hill in the #33 for RCR, Josh Bilicki in the #66 car for Garage 66, current Truck Series points leader Corey Heim in the #67 for 23XI, and finally Katherine Legge in the #78 for Live Fast Motorsports.
Next stop: @NASCARChicago! pic.twitter.com/MEEGtKlAPm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 5, 2025
The slowest qualifier of these five cars misses Sunday’s race in Chicago.
In-Season Challenge Matchups
The in-season challenge got off to a wild start at Atlanta with several of the favorites eliminated early on thanks to the carnage and chaos.
The matchups for round two are as follows:
32 Seed Ty Dillon vs. 17 Seed Brad Keselowski
8 Seed Alex Bowman vs. 9 Seed Bubba Wallace
12 Seed John Hunter Nemechek vs. 5 Seed Chase Elliott
20 Seed Erik Jones vs. 29 Seed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
31 Seed Noah Gragson vs. 15 Seed Ryan Preece
26 Seed Carson Hocevar vs. 23 Seed Tyler Reddick
22 Seed AJ Allmendinger vs. 6 Seed Ty Gibbs
14 Seed Zane Smith vs. 3 Seed Chris Buescher
The big party has arrived to the big city. #NASCARChicago pic.twitter.com/Sq3R4bEJ6I
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 4, 2025
The unique challenge of the Chicago Street Course could play a big role in who advances. While this race isn’t quite the same as a road course, some of the same skills apply.
As for who advances, I’m taking Ty Dillon, Bowman, Elliott, Jones, Preece, Reddick, Allmendinger, and Buescher.
2025 Grant Park 165 Race Predictions
The usual cast of characters that we see be competitive on road courses ought to be competitive here at the street course. The biggest difference, in my opinion, is the lack of run off area.
Often on road courses, drivers can miss a corner and get off track. That results in a loss of position but usually allows drivers to stay in the race. The street circuit is much less forgiving in this regard as missing a corner often means finding yourself in the wall.
From above, it’s art. On the streets, it’s pure adrenaline. pic.twitter.com/dqW3CRhi19
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 4, 2025
Shane Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago Street race and represents my pick for Sunday once again. Alex Bowman won this race last year and tends to run well on road courses as well. AJ Allmendinger has struggled at Chicago relative to his normal performance when left and right turns are involved but should still be a factor come Sunday.
Expect plenty of beating and banging to set up passes with mistakes taking drivers out of the race. Weather might also play a role in Sundays events, decreasing the margin for error even further.
Check out the schedule below so you don’t miss any on-track action this weekend.
Saturday 07/05
NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying – 10:30 a.m CT on the CW App
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 1:00 p.m. CT on TruTV
The Loop 110 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) – 3:30 p.m. CT on the CW
Sunday 07/06
Grant Park 165 (NASCAR Cup Series) – 1:00 p.m. CT on TNT and Max
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