The second half of the NASCAR season kicks off in Chicago with a deep dish Giordano’s pizza and a six-pack of Old Style beer. Every time I have visited Chicago I have got the feeling that the city really could care less about motor sports, especially NASCAR. The track is located in the suburbs outside the city limits in Joliet. The folks in Joliet don’t care much either.

Can you blame them? The city of Chicago has never gotten into motor sports. Their interest has always been on the lovable Cubs, despite being perennial losers. Now, the Cubs are rolling through the regular season in 1st place, their cross town rivals for ink in the papers, the White Sox are also in first place, and the Chicago Rush from the Arena league is in first place. The only team not in first place in Chicago right now is the MLS’ Chicago Fire, and they still have a winning record. Who has time for NASCAR?

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However, someone is going to the races. They have sold out each of the last 7 years the track has been in existence. If talking to anyone in the city, they’ll tell you it isn’t them filling the 90,000 seats and they aren’t lying. The capacity is filled because of all the mid-west racing fans. The same folks that pack Indianapolis Motor Speedway a few times a year are the same ones traveling to Chicago. Their profile is likely to be that of a Cub or Cardinal fan, from Missouri, Southern Illinois, Iowa, or Indiana, and the only time they get to Chicago is for either a Cub-Cardinal game or the NASCAR race.

The dimensions of the track make it appear to be just another cookie cutter track. However, the history of top performers at the track haven’t been the same drivers that do well on all the other cookie cutters like a Jimmie Johnson or any one of the Roush drivers. It’s a bizarre twist of drivers that features a Childress driver like Kevin Harvick as the best average finisher in he tracks brief 7 year history. The Childress program and Kevin Harvick can’t seriously lay claim to being the best anywhere, but at Chicago, they really are the best.

Harvick won the first two races at Chicago beginning in 2001. The last two seasons he has finished 4th. The only driver to come close to Harvicks greatness over the same period has been Tony Stewart who has pulled off two wins himself, including last years event.

Stewart hasn’t won yet this season and generally over his career this is the juncture where Stewart takes off. The big difference this season for Stewart is the uncertainty about his future. Where is he going? What’s his plans? Is Joe Gibbs going to let him out of his contract? Will he drive for Chevy again?

All those are questions that he has been asked week after week. You wouldn’t think that there would be any lingering affects with those weekly questions, however, the fact remains that he hasn’t won a race while his teammates have combined to win seven races.

Other than Stewart and Harvick, the obvious choices because of this layout are Carl Edwards and Kasey kahne, and of course Kyle Busch can not be put out of any thought process because he wins on just about any type of track he wants to.

Kahne has wins at Charlotte and Pocono this season. The only link that we can decipher between Chicago and those two that Kahne won on is the success that Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart had in 2003. Newman won at both Chicago and Pocono. Stewart finished 2nd that year at Chicago and won at Charlotte and Pocono. The connection is slight, but it is somewhat relative.

TOP 5 Finish Prediction:
 
1) #9 Kasey Kahne (10/1)
2) #20 Tony Stewart (8/1)
3) #17 Matt Kenseth (12/1)
4) #99 Carl Edwards (6/1)
5) #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr (9/1)

Micah Roberts is a Race and Sports Director for Station Casinos in Las Vegas , Nevada who covers motor sports from both a bettor and bookmaker's perspective.