Carson Hocevar wasn’t even born when Chicagoland Speedway (CLS) opened and hosted its first NASCAR Cup race in 2001. And the Portage, Michigan native was only a high school junior when the 1.5-mile track in Joliet, Illinois hosted its last NASCAR race in 2019.
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A 1.5-mile twin to Kansas Speedway (which also opened in 2001), Chicagoland Speedway — located about an hour southwest of downtown Chicago — has been an all but forgotten NASCAR racetrack since then.
It has joined several other tracks that are still standing but also no longer on the Cup schedule including Rockingham Speedway (last Cup race in 2004), Kentucky Speedway (last Cup race in 2020) or Road America (last Cup race in 2022), or are completely gone like the demolished Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California (last Cup race in 2023).
The 22-year-old Hocevar recently visited CLS after an appearance at the nearby Autobahn Country Club members-only road course racetrack 5 ½ miles away. Much like the several times he’s flown over CLS while on a plane, Hocevar’s eyes opened wide when he was finally able to see the 1.5-mile track up close.
“I drove over and walked in to see what it looked like up-close,” Hocevar said. “It was cool to see it in-person. It’s kind of an eerie feeling (to see it shuttered), but I like going to check racetracks out.
“I always find videos of people exploring abandoned stuff is cool, or even movies where they explore the prequels or whatever, where everything is abandoned. I think that’s cool. To me, (old) racetracks are less sketchy and cooler looking. I just like racetracks.”
Chicagoland Speedway has had an interesting history since its last Cup race six years ago. There has only been one race — a Motocross event in 2023 — at the track since then, along with a smattering of small events like car shows and the like.
That’s it.
What Happened To Chicagoland Speedway’s Future?
NASCAR still owns CLS. The facility, as well as adjacent Route 66 Raceway dragstrip and a dirt track, had been rumored to be sold to Amazon, which was reportedly ready to build a massive Midwest distribution center on CLS’s grounds, which would have joined more than a half-dozen existing Amazon distribution centers within a 30-mile radius of CLS.
But then came the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, along with a downturn in the economy that reportedly prompted Amazon to cut back on construction projects, even though CLS abuts a massive business park of roughly a dozen large warehouses, is less than five miles away from one of the nation’s largest trucking and railroad intermodal centers, and is two miles off one of the major east-west interstates in the country (I-80).
When it first opened, Chicagoland Speedway had a seating capacity of over 90,000. But as the track struggled to fill seats over the years, especially after the recession from 2007 to 2009, it led for the capacity to be continually reduced to where it holds around 47,000 seats today, basically almost half of when the place first opened.
Over its 18-year history, CLS hosted 19 Cup races, 24 Xfinity races, 11 Truck races, 19 ARCA races, 10 IndyCar races, 9 Indy Lights races and two International Race of Champions (IROC) races.
In CLS’s place, NASCAR convinced Chicago to host the first-ever street race in the sport’s history. The first two editions of the race, held on the downtown streets of the Windy City in 2023 and 2024, were significantly hampered by bad weather and lackluster attendance.
Could Next Weekend Be the Last Chicago Street Race?
The third edition of the street race will be held next weekend — and rumors have it that it could be the final one. NASCAR and Chicago officials originally announced a 10-year contract to hold the race, but only the first three races are guaranteed; the other seven are at NASCAR’s option.
Reports have NASCAR exploring possible new street races in San Diego, Philadelphia, and several venues in Canada including Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
While CLS has mostly gathered dust since its closure, and with the Amazon deal long dead by now, could it be resurrected and return to the Cup schedule if the street race goes away?
That is anybody’s guess — but the possibility is being talked about in Chicago media and race fan circles — and may be talked about even more if weather and/or poor attendance once again impact next Sunday’s street race.
Hocevar would welcome any type of race in Chicago, be it the continuation of the street race, or a return to Chicagoland Speedway. If the latter, hopefully it wouldn’t continue to be “eerie,” as Hocevar put it.
“I have no idea of their schedule plan,” Hocevar said of NASCAR returning to CLS and/or also keeping the street race going, as well. “I would bet the odds are very, very low of them existing together in the same year. There’s so many tracks you can name that hope they’re on the schedule.
“Having a track in the same market basically within an hour of each other isn’t probably realistic. It would be cool, they’re two great racetracks, but I wouldn’t imagine that’s in the works. If it is, I’d be shocked, but if it was, it’d be a good surprise, but I don’t think so.”
