Chances of NASCAR returning to Chicagoland Speedway in 2026 'increasing'

Chicagoland is situated in Joliet, Illinois, a 55-minute drive from Grant Park in Chicago, where NASCAR has hosted the Chicago Street Race in each of the past three years. 

However, the future of the Chicago Street Race is up in the air, and with NASCAR looking at a street race in San Diego, NASCAR returning to Chicagoland could be the way the sanctioning body keeps the Chicago market interested in the sport. 

Chicagoland Speedway held its first race in July 2001 and its last in 2019. The track was on the original NASCAR schedule in 2020, but the race was pushed off the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR did not put Chicagoland on the schedule in 2021, and no NASCAR national series race has been held at the facility since 2019. 

NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar recently took a self-guided tour of the speedway, in which he documented the dormant track. Hocevar and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were two industry members who championed the news of Chicagoland's possible return shortly after Stern posted the story on social media. 

Alex Bowman earned his first career Cup Series win in the track's final race on June 30, 2019.