JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — It has been seven years since NASCAR last raced at Chicagoland Speedway. Seven years of Midwest heat, rain and snow covering the aging asphalt at the 1.5-mile track. That last weekend also was before NASCAR moved into its Next Gen cars.The Cup Series returns to Chicagoland on Sunday, and what was old is new again.“It is definitely like learning a new racetrack,” Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe said.NASCAR ran 19 Cup races on the D-shaped oval in Joliet — about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago — from 2001 to 2019. It tried to build interest in the event in a crowded market, even making Chicagoland the opening race of the 2011 playoffs. But the race struggled with attendance before NASCAR pulled out.NASCAR raced on a street course in downtown Chicago on the first weekend in July each of the previous three years. The future of that concept is in question; it could return in 2027 on a different weekend.
In the meantime, Chicagoland Speedway is back.“I would say from a character standpoint, this is the closest thing we have to Homestead or maybe Darlington,” Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon said. “But mile-and-a-half wise, this thing has a lot of character, so I love it and I think it’s going to put on a great show for TV.”
