MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 29, 2026) – Since its debut in 2001, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, has hosted 94 races across seven series on its 1.5-mile oval. None, however, have been in the last seven years.
When the checkered flag waved on June 30, 2019, to mark the end of the Camping World 400 NASCAR Cup Series race, it also marked the end of racing on Chicagoland’s D-shaped layout. Save for serving as a storage area for pickup trucks awaiting microchips during the global shortage brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and hosting a one-off SuperMotocross event in 2023, Chicagoland has been dormant. Scooby-Doo vibes replaced the “Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racing!” mantra made famous by NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and FOX broadcaster Darrell Waltrip.
This seven-year itch is finally getting scratched with NASCAR returning to Chicagoland for a Fourth of July event weekend featuring the ARCA Menards Series, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the premier NASCAR Cup Series.
This gap in Chicagoland’s résumé means there’s a significant divide between drivers who have experience at Chicagoland and those whose experience is scant. In fact, of the 38 drivers who competed in the last Cup Series race at Chicagoland, only 18 are returning for Sunday night’s eero 400.
The most tenured in this group is Denny Hamlin. The NASCAR veteran has made 14 Cup Series starts at Chicagoland. The closest drivers behind him are Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, with 11 Cup Series starts apiece.
Many other drivers’ time at Chicagoland is far more limited.
“I have one race to my name at Chicagoland, so I can at least say that I’ve been there,” said Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Super.com Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. “It was a 2014 Nationwide Series race, known now as the O’Reilly Series. Obviously, it’s not going to correlate much to our current Cup car, but it was enough to know that Chicagoland is still a difficult and bumpy mile-and-a-half oval.”
Technology, specifically time in the simulator, helps bridge the gap between memories from years ago and the Chicagoland of today.
“The sim tells us where the bumps are and how you need to attack the track. Every little input and angle of your steering, your arc on corner entry, how aggressively you’re tipping in and picking up your throttle, all those things matter,” Ware said.
“You might know the layout, but when it comes to understanding the nuances of the track – how much yaw you can have in the car, figuring out how free you can have the car, and then the overall balance of the car – that’s where the sim comes in.
“Sim time on ovals is more about making sure you’re precise and as perfect as you can be with consistent repetition, because that’s the only way you can make speed.”
NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin competed in the Cup Series’ debut race at Chicagoland in 2001. He made 13 total starts at the track, winning in his ninth start on July 11, 2009 – a dominating performance in which Martin’s precision allowed him to lead 195 of the race’s 267 laps.
“Chicagoland is a really fun racetrack,” said Martin ahead of his final start at the track in 2013. “When you come across the start/finish line and you’re up to speed and you head out toward the wall on your entry into turn one, you almost bounce off that wall turning into the corner, and you’re able to usually stay in the throttle and you go off down into what feels like a hole.
“The car goes down into turn one before it picks up the banking, and it’s kind of a cool feeling. And then depending on where you run on the racetrack, coming up out of turn two the track tightens up on you pretty quick. So, you really have to have your exit lined up properly to be able to stay on the throttle all the way from the middle-off that corner.
“And then turn three, it feels really, really flat like the banking doesn’t come into the car, so the car’s usually really loose trying to get down into that corner. It’s a real challenge to get the kind of arc into that corner that you would like to have.
“Usually, going down the backstretch you’re starting to dread the entry into turn three because it’s so challenging. It’s got some bumps down there in (turns) three and four. That gives it some character and it’s sort of a multi-groove turn.
“Then coming up out of (turn) four, it opens back up because of the D-shape of the front straightaway. You’re able to be on the throttle early and for a long time coming up out of turn four.”
Martin’s detailed recall of a lap around Chicagoland is coveted intel, as memory is what drivers and teams have to go on ahead of NASCAR’s return to the track this weekend.
“Chicagoland is kind of like turns three and four at Charlotte, but on both ends,” Ware said. “Turns one and two are a little bit worse than three and four, from what I remember the last time we were there. But overall, Chicagoland is a very bumpy, very aggressive mile-and-a-half, and I think it’s kind of morphed into its own thing over time.”
Ware and his Cup Series counterparts will see how much the track has morphed on Friday when they get a 50-minute open practice beginning at 5 p.m. CDT/6 p.m. EDT. Qualifying follows at 2 p.m. CDT/3 p.m. EDT on Saturday. TruTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live coverage of both. The eero 400 goes live at 5 p.m. CDT/6 p.m. EDT on Sunday with flag-to-flag coverage delivered by TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
About Rick Ware Racing:
Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver’s seat and into full-time team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with his wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track, FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and zMAX CARS Tour.