In a sense, what’s old is new once again for NASCAR with this week’s confirmation that all three series — Cup, Xfinity (soon to be O’Reilly Auto Parts) and Trucks — will return to Chicagoland Speedway (CLS) next year for the first time since 2019.
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Whether NASCAR is making its return to CLS just a one-year pit stop only to return to the downtown streets of Chicago in 2027 (which at this point is a 50-50 possibility, at best) remains to be seen. But if NASCAR fans turn out in droves at CLS next July 4th weekend, it may convince sanctioning body officials that there’s a greater return on investment at CLS than the very costly infrastructure needed for the Chicago Street Race.
Plus, by returning to CLS, NASCAR doesn’t have to deal with (at least for one year) the headstrong and oftentimes bonehead administration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. NASCAR could have returned to downtown Chicago next year but Johnson insisted the sanctioning body move its race date from the July 4 weekend to either early-to-mid June or mid-to-late July, neither of which NASCAR was thrilled about.
“It’s (Chicagoland Speedway is) relatively race-ready,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president and grandson of Bill France Jr. “We’ll probably have to replace some of the SAFER foam, put a fresh coat of paint on it, clean up some of the grandstands, renovate some of the suite areas, there’s some parking areas that need to be repaved.
“We’re going to have a long list of improvements that we’ll need to make for the facility and we’ll make that well in advance of the time when we come there in July.”
Ben Kennedy shared that NASCAR will be making capital improvements to the facilities at Homestead-Miami Speedway ahead of the 2026 Championship Race, including seating, the midway, suites/hospitality, etc.
Kennedy shared this while answering questions I had about Chicagoland… pic.twitter.com/NwIebY2aVp
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) August 20, 2025
Returning to Chicagoland cheaper than the street race?
Kennedy hinted that the large amount of capital that was needed to put on a street race in downtown Chicago may have been a bit excessive, and that it’s good to have CLS as a ready-made backup venue.
“We learned through the street race in downtown Chicago how expensive it is to erect a temporary course in a setting like that,” Kennedy said. “So it’s really important for us to continue to invest in all of our tracks and facilities to make sure that when our fans come in every single weekend that it feels like a first-class experience.”
Kennedy promised that returning to Chicagoland Speedway, 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago in the suburb of Joliet, Ill., will be a very good thing for the sport, Chicago as a whole and Joliet in particular.
“It is going to be something special, something a lot of fans have been asking for the past five or six years,” Kennedy said of the return to CLS. “We want to find a way, even though we’re not going to be in downtown Chicago, to bring a lot of those fans and new consumers who’ve never had the chance to experience NASCAR before and bring them to Joliet next year in 2026.
“And hopefully it’s a path for us to be back in downtown Chicago at some point in the future too. We’ve said we’d potentially like to be back there in 2027. That remains to be seen… We’re excited about coming back to Chicagoland and also keeping the door open to return to the streets of Chicago.”
Chicagoland Speedway just one of many changes
But in a bigger picture, returning to Chicagoland Speedway, moving the season-ending weekend from Phoenix Raceway to Homestead-Miami Speedway next year (and NASCAR has promised it will continue to rotate the season-ending weekend to various sites year after year), as you can see, yes, old is new again in stock car racing.
“(We want to make sure) when we take the industry and all of our fans down to Homestead, that it feels like a first-class championship venue,” Kennedy said. “We’ll be making improvements to the seating there, the optics of the facility, the midway area, a lot of our suites and hospitality areas and a long list of capital improvements we’d like to make to Homestead.”
Now all NASCAR has to do is bring back Kentucky Speedway, outside Cincinnati, and rumors have already begun that this will happen in 2027, and NASCAR will make a lot more of its core and longtime fans very happy.
