Dennis Hauger picked up two more accomplishments during his stellar rookie season, topping the track record and winning the pole Saturday for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.

Hauger, from Norway, earned his sixth pole in eight starts this season in the INDYCAR development series with a top lap of 1 minute, 9.7431 seconds in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global. That smashed the INDY NXT track record of 1:10.2879 set by Caio Collet last season during qualifying.

SEE: Qualifying Results

“Super happy about the pole,” Hauger said. “Didn’t really expect it being in Group 1. It felt like the track evolution was quite big in our session. I hoped for (pole), and it came through. Time to get ready for tomorrow.”

The 35-lap race starts at 10:30 a.m. Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). Hauger leads fellow Andretti Global rookie Lochie Hughes by 28 points in the championship standings after winning four of the first seven races this season.

Collet, who led practice this morning, didn’t repeat as pole winner but will join Hauger in the front row Sunday after qualifying second at 1:09.8612 in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car.

Hughes will start directly behind his pole-winning teammate Hauger, qualifying third at 1:09.9894 in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car. Josh Pierson continued his recent improvement in form by qualifying fourth at 1:10.0315 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports machine.

Salvador de Alba was the third Andretti Global driver in the top five with his best lap of 1:10.3916 in the No. 27 Grupo Indi entry. Callum Hedge will join de Alba in the third row of the starting grid after qualifying sixth at 1:10.2488 in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports car.

Hauger was the first driver in the opening group to break the 1:10 mark, dropping to 1:09.945 with six minutes remaining. He then laid down his best lap with two minutes left, and Hughes couldn’t top it.

“The track was getting better and better, so in the beginning, it was a bit weird,” Hauger said. “It felt like the tires and track really didn’t come together. The track was definitely better at the end. It was a good run. I maximized what I had with that lap.”

Collet wasted little time finding speed in the second group, dropping to 1:10.1 with nearly seven minutes remaining. He produced his best lap with six minutes left but couldn’t top it as the 13-turn, 2.258-mile track continued to bake under bright sunshine, which lifted track temperatures from 85 degrees this morning to over 120 degrees during qualifying.

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CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago’s third annual NASCAR Street Race will get underway on Saturday.

Excited fans are eagerly waiting to see some of the best professional drivers racing through the streets.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

“Just hearing the noise and the loudness, I’m like, this is awesome,” one fan said.

Cars from different racing teams are already loaded into the “garage alley,” which is set up along DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

This year promises to be an unforgettable race.

NASCAR Xfinity Series – The Loop 110 will take off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., followed by the Cup Series on Sunday at 1 p.m., with Chicago Bulls legend Derrick Rose as the grand marshal.

The 2.2-mile, 12-turn track will take drivers through Grant Park and along DuSable Lake Shore Drive, setting a scenic stage.

SEE ALSO | Street closures for Chicago NASCAR race underway, construction schedule shortened: officials

NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe shared what makes the scenic Chicago track uniquely challenging.

“Just extremely treacherous. There’s just no margin for error when you come here,” Briscoe said. “And just, it changes literally every single year.”

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, told ABC7 what drivers have to look out for on this track.

“Bumps, you know, somebody might’ve had an oil spill that we don’t know about,” Larson said. “The track is always a little bit different. I enjoy it. It’s fun. It’s a super challenging racecourse.”

And fans had the chance to get behind the wheel of one of the powerful cars, taking on the course themselves through a simulator in the Toyota Racing Experience.

NASCAR fan Brian Stanley Sr. is from south suburban Flossmoor.

He says he and his family have come out to the race for the last three years.

“We wait every year for this, we make the calendar. This year, we have seats on pit row,” Stanley said. “It’s here in Chicago. It’s here in Chicago and we get a chance to see it. We get a chance to relive it… When it comes here to Chicago, it’s such a wonderful thing because you feel really close to it.”

READ MORE | Widow of contractor electrocuted during 2023 NASCAR Chicago race setup files wrongful death lawsuit

Stanley says there is nothing like hearing the roar of the engines reverberate throughout the city.

“It is really cool to see them on a road course race, really,” Stanley said. “It just sounds so loud and it is so fast.”

Some of the youngest fans spend the start of their Saturday in the NASCAR Kids Zone, racing remote-controlled cars and building NASCAR vehicles out of LEGOS.

“It’s incredible. It’s loud. We could not have imagined how cool this would be. It’s awesome,” said Bryan Schulmeister.

There are plenty of free activities continuing all weekend at Butler Field.

On Sunday, Blue Star Families will unfurl the giant American flag ahead of the Cup Series race.

Alex Bowman Faces Playoff Pressure Ahead of Chicago Race Showdown

As the NASCAR Cup Series gears up for its 19th race of the season in Chicago, Alex Bowman from Hendrick Motorsports finds himself on the edge of playoff qualification, feeling the heat as the competition intensifies.

Currently sitting 39 points above the playoff elimination line, Bowman is treading a fine line, just two spots ahead of the cutoff with Bubba Wallace hot on his heels. Despite his 15th position on the playoff grid with 444 points, Bowman is yet to secure a win in the 2025 season, adding to the mounting pressure.

Acknowledging the challenging position he is in, Bowman expressed, “I don’t think we’re in an awesome spot in points obviously. A lot of opportunities for winners below the cut line coming up. So, certainly, you know that pressure is there but we’ve kind of done it to ourselves in a sense.”

Struggling in the past months with multiple finishes outside the top 25, including recent setbacks like engine failure and crashes, Bowman is well aware of the need to step up his game to secure his spot in the playoffs.

Despite the hurdles, Bowman remains optimistic, stating, “So we just need to keep running how we should and the rest will take care of itself.”

With the Grant Park 165 race on the horizon, scheduled to kick off at 2:25 pm ET on Sunday, Bowman is gearing up to prove his mettle on the track. Qualifying rounds will commence on Saturday at 1 pm ET, setting the stage for an adrenaline-pumping showdown.

Known for his prowess on road courses, Bowman has showcased his skills with six top-10 finishes in the last ten races. His impressive fourth-place finish at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez further solidified his reputation as a force to be reckoned with on such tracks.

Reflecting on his performance on road courses, Bowman shared, “I feel like I’ve struggled at Watkins Glen for a long time, but been pretty successful at the rest of the road courses. So yeah, it’s just kind of hit miss.”

Recently bouncing back from a string of disappointing results, including a third-place finish at EchoPark Speedway, Bowman is determined to maintain his momentum and clinch a spot in the playoffs.

With nine top-10 finishes, four top-5s, and two pole positions under his belt in the current season, Bowman is poised for a thrilling showdown in Chicago, where the stakes are higher than ever.

The concept of street racing in NASCAR is still fairly new. But after almost three years of racing in Chicago, Denny Hamlin has a proposal. The 23XI Racing owner and JGR driver thinks that there is a way to bring oval racing to street racing.

We’re going to call it street racing with oval characteristics. You can’t really bank the corners of a city street. But that would be really cool to try. But there are flat ovals all over the country.

While speaking to the media today in Chicago, Denny Hamlin had an…interesting idea. An oval-ish race on city streets.

Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reports that Hamlin proposed a “street oval” for a future race. “All we need is acceleration, heavy braking points, and turns – and we’ll find a way to make a show out of that.”

A wild idea, but maybe not that wild? If you could manage to make a half-mile, rectangular oval, I think you could see good racing on city streets. The turns and braking points would have to be very specific to create passing opportunities.

It is almost like a Cronenbergian mix of the LA Coliseum race and the Chicago Street Race. While NASCAR is pushing the limits on what can be done in the sport, why not try to marry the traditional with the new-school?

Denny Hamlin won the pole for Chicago in 2023

Remember in 2023 when Denny Hamlin strangely won three road course pole awards in the Cup Series? Sonoma, Chicago Street, and Watkins Glen all went to Hamlin. Not known for his road course prowess, the JGR driver only produced one top-10 from those three poles.

This weekend, the pressure is kind of off Hamlin. No one expects him to win this race. So, what if he goes out there and contends? Whatever decent result and points he can get out of this weekend will be a bit of a bonus.

Denny Hamlin has three wins this season and has shown a ton of speed at most tracks. Chicago and Sonoma back to back aren’t the best two weekends for Hamlin and his team. That doesn’t mean they have to lie over and accept a bad finish. There are ways to maximize these weekends for a team like the 11.

Between racing, 23XI ownership, the lawsuit, and coming up with new street race ideas, Hamlin has a lot going on. Oh yeah, and a newborn at home. Where does he have time to think of things like…rectangular ovals?

The first time Shane van Gisbergen raced in Chicago, he was largely unknown in NASCAR. The second time, he was one of the favorites on the downtown street course.

The third time is a different situation for van Gisbergen once again. This time, he has a second Cup Series victory in his back pocket — providing some flexibility for the 36-year-old New Zealand native as he prepares for the playoffs.

“We’re in a nice position now having won a race,” van Gisbergen said Friday. “And it may change our strategy. If we’re in a position to get a playoff point, we’ll probably try and get that, but that’ll put us deep in the field for the next stage.

“So, yeah, there’s a bit of a toss-up there what we’re going to do, but it’s a nice position to be in.”

Sure is.

Just two years ago, van Gisbergen — a three-time champion in Australia’s Supercars — put on a dazzling show in a rainy first edition of NASCAR’s downtown Chicago experiment. Making the most of his extensive street racing experience, he became the first driver to win his Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963.

He won Chicago’s Xfinity Series race last year and the first stage in the Cup race before he was knocked out by a crash.

“You know, I have great memories here,” van Gisbergen said. “This place has changed my life, so I’m going to have special memories of this place forever.”

Van Gisbergen’s success in Chicago led to a full-time Cup ride with Trackhouse Racing. But the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet is learning his way around NASCAR, and he got off to a slow start this season.

While oval tracks remain a challenge, he certainly hasn’t forgotten his roots on street and road courses. He posted his second Cup win last month at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Van Gisbergen is scheduled to compete in both Chicago races this weekend. Next up for NASCAR is another road course at Sonoma Raceway, providing an opportunity to move up from No. 32 in the Cup standings and build some momentum.

“Road courses are just a bonus for us,” he said. “We know we’re going to be good and we can just focus on trying to get results there.”

NASCAR Chicago Street Race puts city — in a seemingly endless loop through the Loop — back on national stage

Even after two years, the downtown Chicago street course remains a tricky proposition. The 12-turn, 2.2-mile track is narrow and bumpy in spots — to go along with manhole covers and transitions from concrete to asphalt and back — and there is little room for error in some areas. Rain affected the action in each of the first two weekends, and there could be more showers Sunday.

Patience is sometimes the best approach, but that goes only so far in NASCAR.

“It’s easy to say that until Shane is out there a second faster than you and you have to go put yourself in some uncomfortable situations,” said Joey Logano, the reigning Cup Series champion.

When it comes to van Gisbergen on road courses, Logano said the rest of the Cup Series is “in a way, playing catch-up.” Van Gisbergen said he feels the same way about ovals.

“These guys have been doing left-handers since they were 10 years old,” van Gisbergen said. “You know, they’re two completely different sports, and although there has been road racing in NASCAR forever, it’s not that much.

“So, yeah, just the experience levels are different in what we do. And I feel like, yes, they’ve definitely gotten a lot better since the first one on this track, for sure.”