Josh Bilicki preparing for double-duty weekend as NASCAR hits the streets of Chicago

Josh Bilicki will be a very busy man this weekend. 

Not only will Bilicki, 30, drive the No. 91 Chevrolet for DGM Racing in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Chicago Street Course, but he'll also attempt to qualify into Sunday's Grant Park 165 with Garage 66 and the No. 66 Ford. 

Should he make Sunday's Cup race, Bilicki will total 275 miles between the weekend's races. 

While Bilicki does come from a road course background, Chicago is not your typical road course. It's a track that offers little margin for error and can bite you at any moment. 

"Most of the road courses we go to have run-off area," Bilicki told Yardbarker. "You can push the brake zones a little bit harder. If you lock up a tire or make a mistake, normally there is room for you to go off-track." 

But that's not the case in the Windy City. 

"Chicago is probably the toughest track we go to all year," Bilicki said. "It's bumpy. It's super inviting for you to drive into the corners really deep and use a lot of brake. For me as a driver, I just have to keep in my head that I can't overdrive. You want to get the maximum out of the car, but especially in practice and qualifying, you don't want to have to go to a backup car." 

Toeing the line between aggression and over-aggression will be especially key for Bilicki in Cup Series qualifying, where he and the No. 66 team will have to lay down a fast enough lap to make the show. With 41 entries showing up, one team will be going home on Saturday. It's the first time a Cup Series team will miss a race other than the Daytona 500 since 2018. 

"It definitely puts us in a tough spot," Bilicki said of the conditions of Saturday's Cup Series qualifying session. "We're the only team racing on Sunday without a leased engine, so we're already at a disadvantage. But I do feel like I've elevated our road course program. I think (team owner) Carl (Long) has put together a good road course engine for this race. 

"We have to make it through practice with no hiccups," Bilicki continued. "In qualifying, it's all-out, 110 percent. I've yet to wreck a car in qualifying by pushing too hard. I don't want to wreck the car. But it's going to be pushing as hard as I can, probably harder than I've ever pushed in Cup qualifying to beat one or two other cars.

"I think it's doable, but we're a small team. Anything can happen." 

Bilicki shouldn't have to worry about missing Saturday's Xfinity Series race. While two entries will miss the show, the No. 91 team should have enough speed and owner points to fall back on as insurance. Behind the wheel of the No. 91, Bilicki is setting his sights on a solid run. 

"We're competing with a fraction of the budget of the big teams," Bilicki said. "We don't have the resources that Joe Gibbs and Hendrick and RCR have. But I do feel like our road course program is really strong, and it has been really strong this year.

"A win for us would be a top-10. A top-15 would be a good day. I'd probably be disappointed with just a top-20. But a top-10 for us, as a team with 10 full-time employees... that would be a win for us."

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.