How TNT Sports will cover its first NASCAR Chicago Street Race

NASCAR is back in Chicago this weekend, and it brought a new broadcaster.

TNT takes over coverage of the Cup Series Chicago Street Race from NBC, which aired it the last two years. Before debuting last week in Atlanta, TNT hadn’t carried a NASCAR race since 2014. Now it has the herculean task of covering a 12-turn street race through a metropolitan area.

“This is more than a race,” TNT analyst Steve Letarte said. “It’s truly a spectacle.”

Letarte was an analyst for the race on NBC, which broadcast “radio style,” meaning commentators were positioned around the track. Letarte was part of the main booth, and that’s where he’ll be Sunday for TNT’s traditional broadcast with analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. and play-by-play voice Adam Alexander.

“We’ll be in basically a production booth,” Letarte said. “There’s not really a location there that gives you a lot of overview, but that’s not anything new. Most road courses we call from a booth anyway.

“I think it’ll look different than NBC, as it should. I think NBC did a really nice job, but I think TNT proved at Atlanta that they also do a very nice job.”

The trio called Prime Video’s five-race package, which preceded TNT’s as part of NASCAR’s new media deal. NBC takes the baton in August.

Also new is the Cup Series’ in-season challenge, a head-to-head tournament that’s made up of TNT’s races. The Chicago race marks the Sweet 16, with drivers competing for a $1 million prize.

What isn’t changing is the course, which is a challenge for the production crew to cover.

“Our director, Steve Fiorello, is phenomenal in the prep work for each track: camera positions, blind spots,” said John O’Connor, TNT vice president and executive producer. “Talking to Dale about what can we expect, he said you’re going to have a lot of blind turns. The drivers come down, everything feels like they’re in a tunnel.

“The challenges are, can we make the viewers feel what the drivers are feeling? Can we get close enough in these areas and these corners, these blind turns with these cameras to make it feel like what the drivers are seeing and feeling.”

To do that, Fiorello will have almost 50 cameras at his disposal, including 20 manned and unmanned cameras around the track. Cranes of 55 and 60 feet will have a camera on the course. Six cars will have cameras inside, and four handheld cameras will roam the track and pits, following reporters Alan Cavanna, Danielle Trotta and Marty Snider. A helicopter, drone and the Goodyear Blimp will provide aerial coverage.

After two water-logged races, Chicago is due for a nice day. But rain is in the forecast Sunday.

“We talked about it,” O’Connor said. “We’re ready in terms of doing the broadcast because they’ll race in that rain. There’s an added excitement to it. You don’t see NASCAR cars driving in the rain very often. It’s a unique look.

“The cameras are fine, the technology is fine. There’s nothing that our tech teams can’t pull off and are prepared for in those areas. It’s just the racing and how we adapt to that.”

Like NBC did, TNT will lean into the race’s setting, showcasing the city and skyline. The pre- and post-race crew of host Shannon Spake and analysts Parker Kligerman and Jamie McMurray will appear on TNT’s set adjacent to Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.

“As far as street courses go, the setting is as amazing as we all expected it to be, if not better,” Letarte said. “My family comes to this race. They don’t really come to any other races, but they’re coming here because it’s set in a city, you walk to the racetrack, it has concerts.

“The whole weekend is a true spectacle of sports and entertainment, and it’s our job at TNT -- and I’m sure we will -- to bring that event into the living room and make everybody know that they’re watching not only a race but a big event.”

Remote patrol

CW affiliate WGN 9 will carry the NASCAR Xfinity Series Chicago Street Race at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Adam Alexander, Parker Kligerman and Jamie McMurray will call it. Pre-race coverage begins at 2:30. WGN also will air qualifying at 10:30 a.m.

• TNT Sports will air an alternate telecast of the Cup Series race on truTV that focuses on the in-season challenge. Larry McReynolds and Jeff Burton will co-host from the network’s Atlanta studio.