NASCAR’s Chicago round left plenty of impression on EuroNASCAR’s Japanese star Kenko Miura, who said that the event is incomparable to anything he experienced before.
The 2024 edition of NASCAR’s Chicago Street Course event, held on 6-7 July, saw Kenko Miura making his first appearance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Driving the No. 53 Toyota Supra for Joey Gase Motorsports, Miura was one of the 43 entrants that were entered for The Loop 110.
While Miura failed to qualify for the 50-lap race that was ultimately won by Shane van Gisbergen, the Japanese driver was mesmerized by the efforts that NASCAR had taken to make the Chicago Street Course race a reality.
“I’ve never experienced an event like this,” said Miura on the Chicago weekend. “The scale of the event, which involved shutting down the big city of Chicago for several weeks before the street race, gave me a strong sense of the excitement of motorsports and NASCAR.”
“It was a weekend where the city of Chicago was intoxicated with NASCAR, from the daytime races to the live music events at night, and it was truly a festival.”
Miura is a long-time EuroNASCAR veteran, having taken part in 66 starts across both divisions with a best race finish of third in 2018. He currently competes part-time with his own team Team Japan Needs24, racing in both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2.
Miura’s participation in EuroNASCAR required him to fly from Japan for each race weekend, showcasing his seriousness at becoming a regular in the series.
The 44-year old driver from Tokyo, who works as a media representative for Toyota Motor Company outside of the races, is happy that the American NASCAR paddock also took his presence seriously.
“I felt firsthand that many people were really serious about my challenge and were looking for ways to work with me, including in the future,” said Miura on the warm welcome from the American NASCAR paddock.
“The challenge of being here has strengthened my desire to come back here. The EuroNASCAR team is already looking into various aspects of future NASCAR initiatives in the US and is planning to accelerate its efforts with a view to participating in the Cup Series as well as the Xfinity Series.”
Miura’s participation at Chicago is supported by EuroNASCAR themselves. While the event didn’t pan out as hoped, EuroNASCAR’s boss Jerome Galpin remains grateful at the opportunity that Miura has received in the streets of Chicago.
“Kenko is a driver who always has a challenging spirit,” said Galpin on the Chicago weekend. “He was the first Japanese driver to compete in the Euro Series and he is proud of his results. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the result he wanted this time, but he was still brave enough to race on public roads.”
“He also showed that he was a high-profile representative of EuroNASCAR and furthermore, I think he showed us what it takes to make it to the US NASCAR Series.”
“I was very impressed with the Chicago street race and it made me think that I would like to consider street racing in Europe in the future. We are proud to have been able to work with Kenko in Europe and in the US and we had a very inspiring weekend. We hope to be back here with Kenko again.”
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