EVENT: Grant Park 165
DATE: July 6, 2025
RACE: NASCAR Cup Series 19 of 36
TRACK: Chicago Street Course | 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course
CLUB MINUTES:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE KING: On Wednesday, July 2, Richard Petty, “The King” will celebrate his 88th birthday.
FIRECRACKER 200th WIN: On July 4, 1984, Richard Petty achieved his 200th and final Cup Series victory at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, a race President Ronald Reagan attended. Petty edged out Cale Yarborough by a narrow margin as the caution flag came out, securing his milestone win for the ages.
TNT IN SEASON BRACKET: Round One of TNT’s in-season tournament bracket has come and gone with both LEGACY MC drivers advancing to the next round after surviving the mayhem that was Atlanta. Erik Jones, the 20th seed, bested Ross Chastain last weekend. He’ll face the No. 47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. whom Jones passed for a top-five finish at the start-finish line coming to the checkered flag in Saturday’s race at Atlanta. Nemechek, the 12th seed, beat his opponent Josh Berry in the first round on Saturday as well. He’ll go head-to-head against the No. 9 of Chase Elliott this Sunday.
RACING IN THE WINDY CITY: The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the iconic city of Chicago for its third annual Chicago Street Race. The series debuted its first ever street course in 2023 in a rainy battle that ended up with Shane Van Gisbergen as the ultimate winner. They returned the following year to experience more rain, some epic racing, and a finish that left Alex Bowman victorious. The 2.2-mile, 12-turn road course along Lake Michigan now enters its third year with teams full of notebooks and strategies to try after two years of experience.
PLAYOFF PICTURE WITH EIGHT TO GO: The NASCAR Playoffs kick off on Aug. 31 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. With only eight races until the regular season finale Aug. 23 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek are battling for spots in the 12-driver post-season field. Jones is currently 18th in the playoff points standings, 59 points below the cutline. Nemechek is 92 points below the cutline in. Both still have a chance to race their way in via points if they can collect a series of good finishes and ample stage points, but a win in any of the next eight races would eliminate playing the points game.
NEVER SETTLE: Join ESPN’s Marty Smith and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s co-owner Johnson for their weekly podcast, “Never Settle”. The podcast airs live on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 at 2 p.m. ET every Wednesday and can be downloaded wherever fans source their podcasts. This week’s guest is PGA Tour Golfer Keith Mitchell.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
JHN AT CHICAGO STREET: John Hunter Nemechek has three starts at the Chicago Street course- one in Cup and two in the Xfinity Series. His 2023 outing in the Xfinity Series saw Nemechek with a third place start and a runner-up finish on the brand-new course. Last season he did double duty in both Xfinity in Cup finishing 25th and 35th respectively.
ROAD COURSES THIS YEAR: Mexico City was the first road course of the season for the No. 42 team and Nemechek stepped up to the plate for it. After qualifying deep in the field in 31st, Nemechek, Mack and the pit crew outsmarted the field with strategy and had a strong long run Toyota Camry to place sixth for a career-best Cup Series finish for the young driver.
CHALLENGING CHASE: In this week’s In Season Challenge for TNT, Nemechek is paired with last week’s Atlanta race winner, Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports. Nemechek passed through to the second round after finishing better than Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry in round one.
CHICAGO FIRE FC: On Wednesday afternoon, Nemechek will visit the facilities of Major League Soccer team Chicago Fire FC where the driver will participate in practice drills and social media collaboration with some of the players. Fans can follow along on social media to see the crossover play out.
TMACK CHICAGO STATS: Crew chief Travis Mack has experience with two road course racers, Daniel Suarez and Shane Van Gisbergen. Van Gisbergen, who had won the inaugural event in 2023, led nine laps before becoming involved in a crash and Suarez finished 27th.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK QUOTE:
“I’m looking forward to going back to Chicago. It’s a really cool course running through downtown, and last year we had one of our strongest road course cars there. It might be our last shot here, so we’re ready to make it count.”
TRAVIS MACK QUOTE:
“Last year John Hunter had a good race at Chicago, and we are going to capitalize on our performance at Mexico City, so I feel really positive about the direction we are pointed in. We had a ton of speed last week at Atlanta, just got caught up in some of the action. John Hunter is very confident about Chicago as he has run well there in the past.”
ERIK JONES
NO. 43 ADVENTHEALTH TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
FIFTH AT ATLANTA: Erik Jones earned his second fifth-place finish of the 2025 season last Saturday night in Atlanta. After facing several situations during the race that saw him involved in wrecks and starting at the back of the field multiple times, Jones was able to rebound from every incident to make a dash to the front in the final laps of the race. In the final five laps, he jumped from battling for 11th to securing his fifth-place finish.
JONES CHICAGO STATS: Sunday’s Grant Park 165 will mark Jones’ third NASCAR Cup Series start in the Chicago Street Race. In the inaugural race at the track in July 2023, the driver of the No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE started 21st and finished the rainy event in 16th. He followed that up with a 25th-place qualifying effort last season before finishing 29th. He has completed all the possible laps at Chicago though in its two events. Now after showing some speed on road courses this season, he hopes to continue to see that on the unique road course in the Windy City.
BESHORE AT CHICAGO: Crew chief Ben Beshore has two NASCAR races on top of the box on the Chicago Street Course. The first came in the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race in July 2023 with John Hunter Nemechek. He started third for the rain-shortened event and ended up second. The duo ended up returning together the next year in the NASCAR Cup Series where they qualified 12th but finished 35th.
FOURTH OF JULY WITH ADVENTHEALTH: Prior to Sunday’s Grant Park 165, Jones will join AdventHealth to participate in the Hinsdale Fourth of July Parade. Jones will be riding on the float representing AdventHealth during the parade.
200 STARTS WITH TOYOTA: Sunday’s race at Chicago will mark Jones’ 200th NASCAR Cup Series start with Toyota. Jones started his career with Toyota back in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series where he won the 2015 Championship for the manufacturer. He moved up to the Xfinity Series in 2016 still under the Toyota banner at Joe Gibbs Racing before moving up to the Cup Series in 2017 with Furniture Row Racing. He spent the first four years of his Cup Series career in a Toyota. Prior to the 2024 season, LEGACY MC announced that it would be joining the Toyota lineup and reunited Jones with a manufacturer he’s seen so much success with over his career.
ERIK JONES QUOTE:
“Chicago is fun with it being a street course. It’s obviously been unique over the last handful of years from NASCAR, and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a different style of racing than anything I’ve done, but it’s been a lot of fun and unique with the rain the last few years. Hopefully, we can have a dry race to see how things play out. I’m proud of this No. 43 team. We’re running really well right now – gaining a ton of points and climbing through the standings. We’re on the verge of pointing our way into the playoffs. Hoping to keep that rolling here to keep gaining some good points and lock ourselves in.”
BEN BESHORE QUOTE:
“Chicago is a track that we approach similar to the rest of the road courses, but it just takes a little bit different of a setup package. Turn 4 there is really bumpy kind of going across traffic there. That’s the main challenge though – a bumpy braking zone and the track’s extremely tight in terms of runoff, so the risk of mistakes is high. You can put yourself in a backup car pretty quick at Chicago. We have to be prepared from a team standpoint that way. Street racing from a strategy standpoint is really that it’s hard to pass because it’s so narrow. You want to keep your guy out of trouble so minimizing time on pit road is big. Honestly, you’ll probably see guys try to pit as few times as possible for fresh tires. More often than not track position will outweigh fresh tires at Chicago.”
CLUB APPEARANCES:
Fans can see Jones on Friday, July 4 for the Hinsdale Fourth of July parade where he’ll be riding the AdventHealth float. The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. local time.
In addition, Jones will be at the Toyota Gazoo Racing display in the Chicago Street Race fan zone on Sunday at 10:20am local time.
TUNE IN:
Fans can tune in to watch the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 6 at 2 p.m. EDT on TNT, MAX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: (LEGACY MC) is a premier auto racing organization co-owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmie Johnson and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. Drawing from a rich tradition of success, LEGACY MC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and setting new standards of excellence. The CLUB competes under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE piloted by Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE driven by John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson also races on a limited basis in the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE. With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Richard Petty, “The King”, serving as CLUB Ambassador, LEGACY MC blends timeless racing traditions with a new forward-thinking vision. As an inclusive community for motorsport enthusiasts, LEGACY MC honors both its storied past and the promising future of its members, always striving for victory and championship glory at the pinnacle of NASCAR competition.
