NASCAR has done a lot of experiments in the last decade to engage with a wider audience. From changes in the points system to the introduction of street races NASCAR has been exploring various options to stay in competition. However, street races have been something that attracted a lot of eyeballs.
In 2023 NASCAR signed a deal with Chicago City to hold a race on the 2.2-mile-long streets of Grant Park, Chicago. NASCAR had signed a three-year deal with authorities to hold the race. The inaugural race was won by Trackhouse Racing’s driver Shane van Gisbergen in his Cup Series debut, while the rain-hit 2024 race was won by Alex Bowman.
As NASCAR will complete its first cycle of a three-year deal in 2025 fans are eager to know more about the future of street racing. Now, NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell has broken his silence by revealing key details about their plans. He spoke about the brand’s plans to continue with the street race in Chicago and explore other options.
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Will the Chicago Street Race continue after the 2025 season?
As the 2025 season approaches O’Donnell revealed that NASCAR is focused on its third run in Chicago. However, he refrained from making any comments about a contract extension with the city of Chicago for upcoming seasons.
In a conversation with Sports Business Journal, O’Donnell said, “For us, we’re just looking at 2025. It’ll be the third year of a three-year run and each year we’ve wanted to build upon the momentum that we have. We’ve learned things each and every year — it’s our first street race, a lot of learnings came from that. A lot of weather challenges as well.”
It’s worth noting that this year’s race at The Grant Park circuit has been very hectic for the sanctioning body. The race was delayed due to rain and other weather-related issues. This caused a lot of operational difficulties for both teams and broadcasters. However, O’Donnell acknowledged the challenge and revealed that it has been a lesson.
“We’ve made some tweaks to the event format and continuing to evolve that as well, so we’ll get through the event, see where things are, but concentrating on 2025 and making that event as successful as it can be,” he said, remaining right lipped on the possibility of a contract extension. This might not fill fans of the track with much hope as NASCAR also has plans to expand its host cities while this race’s future hangs in the balance.
Apart from Chicago, San Diego is another city that can host street races in the future for NASCAR. However, O’Donnell didn’t confirm this either as he said, “We are certainly interested in California and the Southern California market, and that will continue to be a focus for us, but nothing to confirm at this point.” As of now, NASCAR has only one race in California in the 2025 schedule and that is in Sonoma Raceway in July.
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Notably, there have been reports that NASCAR failed to make profits from Chicago Street races in the last two years. NASCAR president Steve Phelps revealed that the brand was not able to recover its $50 million investment from the track. “We’re willing to invest in Chicago financially. It’s a difficult race for us. It cost $50 million to put that race on and we, unfortunately, didn’t sell $50 million worth of tickets and sponsorship. Was it a smart decision for us? I believe it was”, he said earlier this month.
What are the future plans for NASCAR?
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Amid these uncertainties, NASCAR aspires to tap the international market in upcoming years. NASCAR is set to race in Mexico City in 2025 with the aspiration to tap the international market. It will be the first points-worthy NASCAR Cup Series race outside the USA in 67 years of the sport. Apart from that, there have been talks in the industry about a race in Saudi Arabia.
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While speaking about bringing a race to the Speed Park circuit, Saudi Arabia’s NASCAR COO said that his team is not specifically looking at Saudi. However, he revealed that Mexico could be NASCAR’s launching pad for the international market. He said, “I wouldn’t put it specifically on Saudi… I think as you look at NASCAR from an international standpoint, it’ll be more around that Mexico model where we want to look to grow the overall sport and build it within the culture wherever we go.”
With a lot of talks around NASCAR’s future races, the sanctioning body will be keen to attract more viewers. Despite uncertainties over Chicago Street race cities like San Diego remain an option for the brand. However, the 2025 Chicago Street Race will play a key role in determining the future of street races in NASCAR.