NASCAR Cup Chicago Street Course

Start of Sunday's Chicago Cup race delayed by record rainfall

Torrential rain and flooding in downtown Chicago have delayed the start of Sunday’s first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race.

With continued heavy rain and localized flooding throughout the day on Sunday, NASCAR has placed the scheduled 5 p.m. ET start of the inaugural Chicago Street Race on hold.

The event is the first street race in the 75-year history of the Cup Series, scheduled to be run on a 2.2-mile, 12-turn course that traverses the Grant Park area of downtown Chicago near the banks of Lake Michigan.

Standing water – sometimes several inches deep – was seen in several areas of the course, including on pit road.

NASCAR has wet weather tires, but they are generally not used to race in standing water and poor visibility on the track.

Shortly before the official start time of the race, pole-winner Denny Hamlin posted a message on his Twitter account pleading with NASCAR not to run the event under the current conditions.

Once the race begins, Tyler Reddick will start second followed by Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, Joey Logano and A.J. Allmendinger.

Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were all involved in wrecks during practice or qualifying on Saturday and will start the race from the rear of the field.