After a one-year hiatus, NASCAR will return to the streets of Chicago next year, sources told the Tribune.
But this time, the race would piggyback off of the Sueños music festival around Memorial Day weekend, potentially using the festival’s setup time to get a jump start and keeping some of its grandstands and performance space in place, sources said.
Leslie Recht, the head of the Grant Park Advisory Council, said she met over the weekend with NASCAR Chicago Street Race President Julie Giese, who confirmed the organization and city officials were close to reaching an agreement. Recht said she hopes that like C3, the organizers of Lollapalooza and Sueños, NASCAR contributes to capital needs at the park.
NASCAR spokesperson Jake DiGregorio declined to comment.
“The 2027 schedule is still in development,” he said. “There’s nothing more we can say at this time.”
Chicago hosted NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series between 2023 and 2025 over the July 4th weekend, with Michigan Avenue, Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive transforming into a 12-turn, 2.2 mile course and Grant Park hosting musical performances.
But aside from the races getting besieged by bad weather, aldermen and some community groups complained about how long their access to the park was cut off before and after the race during setup and takedown. Others said under the original deal struck by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the city did not get a large enough cut of the profits from the race to cover the cost of road work, police and emergency services.
NASCAR hit “pause” on a 2026 race downtown, instead heading to San Diego for a street race and bringing Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet back on the schedule.
But the return is not a surprise: NASCAR kept its Chicago office chugging along and previously said their goal was to return in 2027. The lapse this year was designed to afford NASCAR “the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimizes operational efficiencies,” Giese said.
Though a new date is a guarantee, it’s unclear whether the city’s bottom line will increase. Under the terms of the original agreement, NASCAR paid the Chicago Park District a $500,000 permit fee in 2023, $550,000 in 2024 and $605,000 in 2025. They also promised to forward a $2 fee per admission ticket and a separate commission for food, beverage and merchandise sold at the event, but that added up to just over $220,000 in 2024.
“NASCAR has been a collaborative partner in addressing community concerns, including the drawbacks of scheduling the race on July 4th weekend,” Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, said in a written statement. “As conversations continue about the future, I’m hopeful that the City and NASCAR will work together on a deal that’s better for Chicago, both logistically and financially.”
Park District Superintendent and CEO Carlos Ramirez Rosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2024, NASCAR agreed to pay an extra $2 million to help cover city expenses, which helped the city post a slight profit against the costs to hold the race.
Some, like Ald. Brian Hopkins, have proposed the city receive a cut of advertising revenue NASCAR earns from its televised broadcast, or at least a base payment closer to the just over $10 million Lollapalooza pays annually.
But NASCAR supporters point to the purported $128 million in total economic impact of the 2025 race, its roughly 53,000 visitors and estimated $43.6 million in media value for the city as reason enough to welcome NASCAR back.
Block Club Chicago first reported the news.
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