I’ve always enjoyed watching Nascar racing on TV whenever I had the chance, and every once in awhile I’d see they had a truck series. I have an associate at work who is really much more seriously into Nascar, who told me that a big weekend was coming up at the Chicagoland Speedway, a newer racetrack that was built some years ago near Joliet, Illinois. I’ve always wanted to go see that facility as well, so I did the online research and bought a ticket to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol e15 225, scheduled for Friday night, September 18, 2015.
Chicagoland Speedway facility map
The Chicagoland Speedway website has a very nice feature that allows t=you to get an idea of the view from the seats you are considering purchasing. This is very helpful to first time visitors like me!
Seat preview website feature
Arriving at the Chicagoland Speedway
I left early from work and drove down to the track in my 1993 Chevy Indy Pace truck, parked and was walking toward the entrance when it started pouring rain. Besides getting drenched, they eventually postponed the race until Saturday morning at 9:30 am.
Walking to the main entrance of the Chicagoland Speedway on Friday night.
So, I went home and came back on Saturday morning to much better weather conditions – cloudy, overcast and cool – and no rain! The facility was drying the track with some specialized trucks that looked like they were hauling a jet engine sideways with its exhaust nozzles pointing down on the track. Man, were they loud – but I guess they get the job done!
Saturday morning – drying the track.
The weather was much better on Saturday morning!
The trucks are lined up in order of past qualifying lap times.
The #00 Haas Automation Chevy truck driven by Kyle Larson was in pole position and lead the for much of the race.
At the suggestion of my business associate, I also rented the scanner/headsets and was able to listen to the officials during the race. After it looked like Kyle Larson was going to win, I switched to listening to just him and his team talk on their radios. That was very interesting – they were totally professional and focused on winning this race!
Kyle Larson in the #00 Chevy leading a pack around Turn 4.
This short GoPro movie clip will give you an idea of the sound and atmosphere of the race. However, because of the extreme wide angle, the trucks appear to be going slower than they actually were.
In the end it was the #8 John Hunter Nemechek Chevrolet that won the race because the #00 Chevy ran out of gas on the last lap! Really bad luck and a big disappointment for the Haas Automation team.
The #8 Chevy driven by John Hunter Nemechek leading a pack out of Turn 4.
#8 taking the win!
I really enjoyed watching this race even though I got pretty cold sitting up in the grandstands with that chilly wind blowing in. I didn’t expect or dress for that! However, I will definitely do this again!