Listen Now! NASCAR heads to Chicago for a street race; can auto racing be in the Olympics?

As the summer quickly passes by, the NASCAR season is moving along just as swiftly.

Only seven races remain before NASCAR hits its 10-race playoff.

So far, four drivers have won three races each, including William Byron, Kyle Larson, Christoper Bell and Denny Hamlin.

Joey Logano is the latest victor on the circuit, winning a marathon race in Nashville this past weekend.

Coming up is one of the more scenic and unique races: the Chicago Street race.

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This will be the second time this race will be held, with New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen taking the victory in 2023.

The circuit is a 2.2 mile loop through Grant Park, starting and ending on Columbus Drive in front of Buckingham Fountain and including portions of Columbus Drive, Balbo Drive, Lake Shore Drive, Roosevelt Road, Michigan Avenue, Congress Plaza Drive and Jackson Drive.

The course consists of 12 total turns and two bridge crossings over Metra Electric District tracks.

As a street course, the track is a temporary fixture along roads that are normally open to regular traffic.

To learn more about the race that rips through the streets of the Windy City, I welcome back Ryan Pritt and Ken Willis of the Daytona Beach News-Journal to “The *State* of Florida Sports Podcast,” powered by the USA Today Network.

They’ll talk about last year’s winner — it was van Gisbergen’s first and only on the Cup circuit — as well as who this course layout favors.

We’ll also talk about the NASCAR season up to this point, and who might go on to claim this year’s Cup title when the dust settles.

We also toss around some ideas on how auto racing could be added to the Olympics, and what format would work best given the diversity of racing types around the globe.

We’ll have our usual spirited bout of trivia among other topics.

If you’re a fan of racing and want to be the most informed on the sport, then this is the podcast for you.

Find out why so many fans have checked us out and why our guests and journalists give you the best sports breakdowns in the state.

And hear why feedspot.com ranked us the No. 1 sports podcast in the state of Florida.

We can be downloaded wherever you listen to podcasts, or simply type in “The *State* of Florida Sports Podcast” into your favorite search engine. We also can be found on any of the 17 USA TODAY-Network Florida websites.

If you like it, you can check out previous shows, which feature current and former professional athletes and coaches, as well as our stable of journalists who cover beats and write columns, all of whom have a tie to the Sunshine State.

Walters can be reached at twalters@gannett.com