JOLIET, IL – A return to Chicagoland Speedway after six years on the Fourth of July weekend highlights a few of the quandaries NASCAR has with its schedule and in addition the alternatives.
Is it extra essential to attempt to reinvigorate an viewers at a conventional oval or attain new followers by way of a downtown road race?
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Did the pendulum swing too far towards highway races in favor of conventional ovals?
Is Chicago, america’ third-largest metro space, even the appropriate place to race on Independence Day for a sport with rural roots and Southern traditions?
“Now we have an amazing facility right here,” mentioned Cup Sequence driver Bubba Wallace, whose group homeowners embody Chicago sports activities icon Michael Jordan.
“I do not know the explanation why we stopped coming right here, I do not know what the attendance was again in 2019. … I believe it is an amazing market, whether or not it is right here or the road course.”
Chicagoland opened to raves in 2001, however curiosity did wane and twice seats had been eliminated throughout a stretch when many tracks underwent related downsizing, decreasing grandstand capability from about 75,000 to about 47,000.
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The Cup Sequence eero 400 was headed for one thing near a sellout July 5 on the 1.5-mile oval that hosted 19 Cup races earlier than going dormant amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within the interim, NASCAR took the Cup Sequence to Street America, the Wisconsin highway course the place its second division had raced, for 2 years after which onto the streets within the Windy Metropolis for 3.
Whereas NASCAR misplaced $55 million on the road race, the occasion had an financial influence in Chicago within the a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands. Officers have touted the occasion as useful in negotiations with sponsors and media companions and as a means to usher in new followers. Roughly 80% of those that purchased tickets for the primary Chicago road race had been first-time attendees, and the viewers for the second race about 70% new.
JOLIET, ILLINOIS – JULY 04: A household poses for pictures with “Welcome Again To Chicagoland” signage on the halfway after qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Sequence eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 04, 2026 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photograph by James Gilbert/Getty Photos)
It additionally helped present that NASCAR might race nearly anyplace. All three nationwide divisions – Cup, the O’Reilly Auto Components Sequence and Craftsman Truck Sequence – raced on a brief circuit on Naval Base Coronado within the San Diego space two weeks in the past.
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“I am good with any form of new concepts,” driver Austin Dillon mentioned. “I really like going to locations for the primary time. It creates alternative for all of the drivers. Attempting to determine one thing the quickest is cool.
“You see what we had been in a position to do in San Diego at Coronado and simply the fanfare there. I imply, they offered out of merch, I consider. Among the finest general merch gross sales ever was in San Diego, in comparison with Daytona this 12 months, in order that exhibits you that any sort of recent concept, any time you place one thing new in followers’ faces, it is a good factor.”
Avenue circuits should not with out challenges. The Coronado races had been at instances chaotic, with crimson flags in every, and followers reported lengthy waits and concessions shortages.
Some drivers have feasted on the highway road races – most notably New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who gained in his debut within the inaugural downtown Chicago race in 2023 and has gained seven extra in Cup and 6 within the O’Reilly sequence.
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Others, such has Erik Jones, whose three Cup wins have come at iconic NASCAR ovals Daytona Worldwide Speedway and Darlington Raceway, could be joyful if NASCAR reverted to its two conventional highway programs, Sonoma Raceway in California and Watkins Glen in New York.
However Jones understands the explanations to go elsewhere, and van Gisbergen could be completely joyful if each Chicagoland and the Chicago road course had been on the 2027 schedule.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JULY 05: Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, drives throughout follow for the NASCAR Cup Sequence Grant Park 165 at Chicago Avenue Course on July 05, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photograph by James Gilbert/Getty Photos)
“I am going to race anyplace they inform us to,” van Gisbergen mentioned. “I am biased; clearly I would like extra highway programs, however that is how it’s.”
NASCAR introduced its 2026 schedule on the finish of August 2025. Assuming the same timeline inquiries to be answered over the subsequent month and a half would appear to incorporate whether or not Coronado returns, whether or not the Chicago road race, Chicagoland or each are again, and the place they fall on the calendar.
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“I hate to desert any racetrack,” Dillon mentioned. “Each certainly one of them has character and this one undoubtedly has quite a lot of character. … I believe the one different issue is exhibiting up. We have to make it possible for all people exhibits up and enjoys it.”
For many of its historical past, NASCAR raced at Daytona Worldwide Speedway on the morning of the Fourth of July or the Saturday closest to it.
That modified in 2020, when the sequence raced in entrance of empty grandstands on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the course of the pandemic. Street America held the weekend in 2021 and ’22 earlier than the races moved down the highway to Chicago and now Chicagoland.
It isn’t a lot the place NASCAR races on the weekend of the Fourth that issues to Wallace as how the occasion is offered, executed and acquired, wherever it’s.
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“We simply proceed to work on our product and preserve exhibiting up and offering and producing actually good racing,” Wallace mentioned. “Maintain giving the followers what they wish to see and have them itching for extra after the checkered flag falls.
“That is the last word objective I consider, to get extra folks concerned and get that dialog rolling about NASCAR and proceed to develop the hype up.”
