NASCAR Returns to Illinois
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace poses for photographers on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Chicago during a promotional visit to announce a NASCAR Cup Series street race in the city, to be held July 2, 2023. AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
NASCAR is back in Illinois, after previously leaving the state in 2019. It’s last Illinois race was at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.
But this time around, the drivers of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing are competing at two new-for-them venues. One is the World Wide Technology Raceway, a 1¼-mile oval track in Metro East, across the river from St. Louis. That track held its NASCAR race this past June.
The other venue — if you can call it that — is through the streets of downtown Chicago. The Chicago street race, set to happen next July, is the first of its kind for NASCAR and is meant to represent a new chapter for the racing league, which celebrates its 75th anniversary next year.
Guests:
Chris Blair
Executive vice president and general manager, World Wide Technology Raceway
Jordan Bianchi
Motorsport staff writer, The Athletic