The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series return to the Chicago street course for the third consecutive year this Fourth of July weekend, and these races mark the final year of the three-year contract signed between NASCAR and the city of Chicago in 2022.
Throw in the rumors that NASCAR is reportedly close to a deal with the city of San Diego to run a street race next year, and Chicago’s status for 2026 and beyond is up in the air.
If NASCAR could only choose one street race for the 2026 season, which city should get the nod?
Keep the Race in Chicago
We all know where we were when racecars hit the streets of Chicago for the first time. You probably remember the date, too.
Nov. 28, 1895. The date of not just the first auto race held in the city of Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Times-Herald, but the first auto race of record in the United States.
NASCAR’s history in the Windy City doesn’t go back that far, but Fireball Roberts was winning Grand National races at Soldier Field in 1956.
Among all the tracks in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, the midwest has always been the strongest challenger to the southeast for top racing region in the nation. Maybe even No. 1, depending on who you ask. The epicenter of which is Chicago.
As far as business goes, few single events have garnered as much attention from sponsors as the street course in Chicago over the last few years. Before the largest city in North America — Mexico City — was added to the schedule this year, Chicago was the largest market the NASCAR Cup Series visited. That’s a lot of eyeballs and bodies for sponsors like WeatherTech, McDonald’s, Bass Pro Shops and even Dave and Buster’s to book driver appearances and put their logos on cars that zoom through Grant Park.
I can’t judge San Diego as a city as I’ve never been there. Even if I had, I can’t judge it fairly compared to a city I grew up about an hour away from. One day, there very well might be an opportunity for San Diego to host a race and put NASCAR in another big market in Southern California.
But you don’t have to go 2,000 miles west to figure out why NASCAR isn’t ready to leave behind the Chicago street course. You only need to head about an hour southwest to Joliet, Ill., like Carson Hocevar did last week.
Chicagoland Speedway is the safety net that will scratch the itch of race fans in Northern Illinois and beyond: a fantastic 1.5-mile track perfectly suited for the current Cup car. It would be a welcome return when it’s back on the schedule.
But if you watched that video on Hocevar’s YouTube channel or saw the photos he posted on social media, that’s the question that comes to mind. When? When could they get this track, with grass growing in the cracks of the track’s asphalt, race ready? Next year? If track officials started yesterday, maybe.
The 2027 season is in the realm of possibility, but that hope comes with NASCAR making no formal statement about its intentions after the street course contract expires following this weekend.
It would feel like a waste of effort for NASCAR to go through as much as it’s gone through to put on this event with hopes of building popularity in Chicago and then leave with no concrete plan to retain the fans it made. For that reason, I don’t think the league should leave the streets of Chicago … at least not yet. – James Krause
Give San Diego the Opportunity
There is no understating how incredible the three-year partnership between NASCAR and Chicago has been.
The inaugural 2023 Cup race was the most-viewed non-Daytona 500 telecast since 2017. The races have put NASCAR in front of new fans, new audiences and new sponsors. And most importantly, the last three years have shown that NASCAR still has the brand recognition, the marketability and the power to take over the downtown of the nation’s third-largest city during one of the busiest holiday weekends.
But NASCAR is desperately searching for a presence in Southern California and the nation’s second-largest media market — a presence it lost this year. Auto Club Speedway was shuttered two years ago, and the plans for a new short track are at a standstill. The Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum lost the novelty after three years, and the exhibition returned to the southeast once again for 2025. And with Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside International Raceway and Auto Club all falling victim to rising property values in the Inland Empire, NASCAR would have to make use of a temporary venue if it wanted to return to the area.
The sanctioning body tried to negotiate a SoCal return last year by reportedly attempting to purchase a stake in the Long Beach Grand Prix, but the plan ultimately fell through.
With all other options exhausted, San Diego represents NASCAR’s best chance to reestablish a SoCal presence, and it’s a beautiful city to boot. It doesn’t have as many skyscrapers as Chicago, but it has a scenic downtown right along a picturesque waterfront, and it’s a stone’s throw away from the Cuyamaca Mountains to the east.
Plus, Chicago has a viable alternative in the form of Chicagoland. It will take some work to get it ready for races once again, but if the street race were to leave the schedule, Chicagoland should immediately be announced as a replacement. It’s a luxury that SoCal no longer has with the loss of Auto Club.
Finally, street races — at least in the world of stock car racing — are a novelty. It’s in NASCAR’s best interest to expand (or return) to new markets, but there can only be so many on the schedule at one time before they lose the magic.
Rotating cities would give more fans the opportunity to see NASCAR up close, and the races would remain a novelty and generate more demand if they were on the schedule once every two or three years instead of annually. And with NASCAR looking to return to an enormous market it recently lost, 2026 would be the perfect time for NASCAR to bring a race to San Diego. -Stephen Stumpf
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.