NASCAR Returning To Chicagoland Speedway In Joliet For 2026

JOLIET, IL — NASCAR will return to Joliet’s Chicagoland Speedway in 2026, NASCAR.com announced Wednesday.

The NASCAR Cup Series will race the 1.5-mile track July 5, and the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will run July 4, the website reported.

The events will mark NASCAR’s first at the track since 2019, after NASCAR pulled its Joliet event in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For many years, the track, which first opened over two decades ago, hosted two NASCAR races, providing a major revenue boost to the region.

In July, multiple reports surfaced indicating that NASCAR was considering a return to the speedway.

“Our fans have been asking for a race in Joliet (Illinois) for the past several years,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president, chief venue and racing innovation officer, told NASCAR.com. “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.”

Some updates will be needed to the facility, but it is largely ready for racing, according to NASCAR.com.

Instead of the speedway, NASCAR raced in downtown Chicago in 2023-25.

“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 told NASCAR.com.