Will NASCAR be back in Chicago and Joliet next summer after putting the street race on hold?

Chicago could figure large in those plans.

Nothing is set, but NASCAR is eyeing a return to the Chicago Street Race after a one-year hiatus and maybe even the long-dormant southwest suburban track to its regular schedule.

“It could be both,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR's chief operating officer and great-grandson of the family-owned racing organization's founder. "It's a good enough market that we could definitely have two events there in the future."

Chicagoland Speedway, which hadn’t hosted a NASCAR event since 2019, was sold out for Sunday’s Cup Race, with 50,000 fans from 31 countries and all 50 states braving the area’s traditional July Fourth rainstorms to watch Chase Briscoe take the checkered flag.

The Joliet venue was added to the schedule this summer to take up the slack left by the Chicago Street Race, which was put on hold for 2026 after completing a three-year agreement with the city to turn Grant Park into a 12-turn, 2.2-mile pop-up urban racecourse.

NASCAR said it suspended the Chicago Street Race to seek ways to reschedule the event away from Independence Day, and to accelerate the build-out and breakdown of the temporary track, in response to concerns from the city.

The San Diego street race this summer was at Naval Base Coronado in June on a one-year arrangement. NASCAR is in discussions with Chicago to come back to the Lake Michigan shoreline next summer.

“We’re having discussions with the city,” Kennedy said Tuesday.

Sources told The Tribune last month that NASCAR and the city were eyeing Memorial Day weekend for a possible return to Grant Park, but Kennedy said no date has been set.

A spokesman for the mayor didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

NASCAR signed its previous Chicago deal under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to host the Florida-based racing organization’s first street race, a dramatic departure from the traditional oval tracks that have built a massive following throughout the south.

The idea was to grow its fanbase, especially in northern urban markets like Chicago.

Despite facing heavy rains and pushback from some residents and politicos, the nationally-televised street races, which took place from 2023 to 2025, drew substantial numbers of new fans to attend and showcased Chicago’s telegenic streetscape to millions of viewers nationwide. The For example, the 2024 Chicago Street Race produced $128 million in total economic impact and drew 53,036 unique visitors, according to a study commissioned by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm. The nationally televised Cup Series race also delivered $43.6 million in media value to Chicago, according to a companion report.

Still the event did not prove to be a windfall financially for either the city or NASCAR.

Under the terms of the original agreement NASCAR paid the Chicago Park District $500,000 in 2023 $550,000 in 2024 and $605,000 in 2025 along with a $2 fee per admission ticket and an escalating commission for food beverage and merchandise sold at the event. NASCAR also agreed to pay an additional $2 million toward city expenses beginning in 2024.

The city, which earned a modest profit on the actual race with the $2 million payment, is looking for a better financial deal, sources said.

Kennedy said the street race has operated at a loss since inception. While Chicago may be looking for a bigger slice of the revenue pie, But he said its primary value to NASCAR is promotional, as a vehicle for the sport.

“It’s lost money the last three years,” Kennedy said. “But at the same time we also think that it’s healthy for the sport, healthy for a lot of our partners that we have in the sport, and hopefully we’re bringing new fans into the fold of NASCAR as a part of that.” "I see it as an investment."

Meanwhile the Joliet racetrack has new life.

Chicagoland Speedway opened its doors in 2001 and hosted NASCAR's top racing series for 18 years. But the 1.5-mile oval was essentially mothballed when it was bought in 2019 by NASCAR in a $2 billion merger deal with International Speedway Corp.

During the pandemic era global semiconductor shortage that disrupted auto production the Joliet track was used as a parking lot for thousands of Ford SUVs built at the Chicago Assembly Plant in 2022 while they waited for computer chips.

The track was rented for a motocross event in 2023, but hadn't hosted a NASCAR race in seven years -- until last weekend. Even NASCAR might be surprised by how well the July Fourth event did.

“When we went downtown Chicago, I don’t think there was a very big drumbeat on going back to Joliet,” Kennedy said. “Most of our fans liked being at Joliet and watching the race,” he said.

Kennedy said NASCAR is talking separately to Joliet and Chicago about next year's schedule, which he hopes to wrap up in six to eight weeks.

If both tracks have races next summer, Chicago and Joliet would be the only market in the country with two different venues on the schedule, although a handful of NASCAR tracks such as Talladega, Daytona and Charlotte have more than one Cup Series race each season.

“It’s a big market for us and a place we’d love to be in the long term, whether it’s Joliet or downtown in the heart of Chicago,” Kennedy said.

Or perhaps both.