No. 00 NASCAR Ford Wins Rain-Shortened Xfinity Chicago Street Race: Video

Rain wreaked havoc on Chicago over the weekend, forcing the inaugural Xfinity Series race on the streets to be canceled just three laps short of halfway, and five laps short of the Stage 2 caution on Saturday, July 1^st, 2023. Initially, the remainder of the race was postponed until Sunday, as NASCAR rules state that at least half the distance must be run before a race can be called official, but thanks to ongoing weather and the necessity to set up for Cup Series activity, it was eventually canceled completely. Regardless, this worked in The Blue Oval’s favor, as the No. 00 NASCAR Ford Mustang of Cole Custer was leading at the time, and was thus granted the victory.

“It’s been an awesome weekend overall,” said Custer. “The whole event, the whole thing that NASCAR’s put on here – the whole city – it’s been pretty unreal… The course is such a blast to drive.”

He added, “Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day, we had a really fast car. I think everybody knew that.”

In a statement, NASCAR said, “With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the race track and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations. Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend.”

The statement continued, “In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps short of halfway was an option we chose not to employ. Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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