NASCAR skips Chicago Street Race in 2027, returns to Joliet
NXTbets Pro | Published On: August 19, 2026
Chicago Street Race
NASCAR will not race on the streets of Chicago next year after talks with state and local officials ended without a deal to keep the Chicago Street Race alive. The series had asked for a $15 million state tourism grant to help cover race costs. The Illinois General Assembly approved $5 million, the same amount NASCAR received for its previous race. That left the series without the funding it wanted to extend the downtown event. The street race ran in Grant Park for three seasons and is on hiatus this year. NASCAR still said it hopes to return to Chicago someday. For now, the move closes a short but visible chapter in the sport’s effort to build a race in the heart of the city. It also sends NASCAR back to a familiar setting in the Chicago area, where the series has a long history and a large fan base.
Chicagoland Speedway return
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet will host NASCAR’s Chicago-area weekend next year. The schedule will run three straight days, with the ARCA Menards Series on Friday, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday. NASCAR described Chicagoland as a key market for the sport and said the track has more than one million NASCAR fans. That gives the speedway a built-in audience and a strong case for a return to its oval-racing roots. The move also restores a traditional race-weekend format after the street course gave the sport a different look in recent seasons. The Cup Series will headline the weekend, but the support series will give the event a full national lineup. NASCAR has used that kind of format at some of its biggest weekends because it gives fans three days of racing at one site. In Joliet, it also puts the spotlight back on a venue that already has history with the series and enough scale to handle a major event.
Chicago Office and Community
NASCAR pointed to the most recent Chicagoland Speedway event as a sellout. The series said it drew fans from all 50 states and 31 countries. It also said nearly 60% of ticketholders were attending their first NASCAR event. Those numbers helped bolster the track’s case as NASCAR shifts its focus back to Joliet. The series also said it will keep its Chicago office open and continue charitable programs with the Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools and After School Matters. That keeps NASCAR connected to the city even without the street race. The organization said it still wants a future return to Chicago, and the office and community work give it a way to stay involved while the race moves back to the suburbs. For NASCAR, the change is a reset rather than a retreat. The series loses the downtown stage for now, but it keeps its foothold in the market and its ties to Chicago-area fans, schools and youth programs.
