NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway means big business for Joliet

NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will return to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet next summer.

The races scheduled for July 4 and 5 will be the first for NASCAR at the track in seven years.

“I think everyone has been very hopeful that this day would come,” said Jen Howard, president of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The return of NASCAR not only brings the excitement of a major sporting event back to town, but also the business that goes with it.

Restaurant owners may already be dusting off the “Welcome, race fans” signs that once were commonplace around town on NASCAR weekends.

“We’re excited, and we’re getting ready for everything – Race Fan Rally and all the things that fired up the town in the past," Mayor Terry D’Arcy said.

Hotel owners are getting ready for what not only would be the biggest weekend of business for the year but additional bookings in the weeks ahead for pre-race preparations.

“It can be very important for this area, maybe as early as late spring,” said Sarah Vogel, director of portfolio sales for Posh Hospitality, which has five hotels in Joliet.

Race weekend itself fills hotels within a 30-mile radius of the track, Vogel said.

“Our fans have been asking for a race in Joliet for the past several years,” NASCAR Executive Vice President Ben Kennedy said in a news release announcing the return to the Chicagoland Speedway.

NASCAR’s expected return to Joliet has been reported for weeks, but NASCAR made it official Wednesday with the release of its 2026 schedule.

The July 5 race at the 1.5-mile oval at the Chicagoland Speedway will be part of the NASCAR Cup Series.

“If you look at the racing product on our mile-and-a-half tracks, they’ve been some of the most competitive and compelling events that we’ve had in our season, and we’re confident that Joliet is going to deliver exactly that,” Kennedy said.

On July 4, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race will be held and “will join the Cup Series for a points-paying race,” according to the release.

The last NASCAR race at the track was in June 2019.

As welcome as the news Wednesday may have been, it did not come with any guarantees that NASCAR would be back again in 2027.

NASCAR has been in the Chicago market the past three years with downtown Chicago street races and wants to return at some point.

“I keep saying it’s one year in a row,” D’Arcy said, adding that the city will do what it can to add another year to the NASCAR schedule in Joliet.

The mayor noted that NASCAR will make a significant investment in the Chicagoland Speedway for its return in 2026.

“They’re going to make, from what I hear, is a $4 million investment to bring it back up to speed,” D’Arcy said.

Updates at the Chicagoland Speedway are needed, but “the track sits mostly ready for a roaring return,” according to NASCAR.

“The good news is it’s relatively Cup-ready, so we won’t need to make significant improvements or changes to the facility, but the fans can expect it to feel like a Cup-ready facility when they come there in July of next year,” Kennedy said.

Whatever upgrades are needed creates more business opportunities for local contractors, Howard said.

“Just like everyone else, we’re very excited at the chamber because we know it brings a lot of business to the area,” Howard said.

NASCAR also noted that race weekend will be during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. July 4 falls on the Saturday before the race, and fans typically come out for a weekend that includes other races while the Chicagoland Speedway provides space for camping.

July 4, 2026, comes on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. as a nation, which also was noted by Kennedy who said, “If you think about the camping ground, being about Americana, being in the Midwest and the heartland of our country, you couldn’t ask for a better location or date for it.”

NASCAR previously announced that it would not be back in Chicago in 2026 for a street race.

But the news release issued Wednesday said NASCAR would like to stage another race in downtown Chicago. A race in downtown Chicago likely means no race at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.

“Even though we don’t have an event in downtown Chicago, we felt like it was still important to keep that market engaged while we’re racing in Chicagoland, but we also would like to leave the door open to return to Chicago in the future as well,” Kennedy said in the release. “We’ve been pretty explicit earlier this year that even if we don’t return in 2026, we’d love to have the opportunity to come back there in the future.”