05-07-2025
Denny Hamlin Wants NASCAR to Stay in Downtown Chicago, Also Advocates for an Oval Street Course
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With the future of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race still uncertain, Denny Hamlin is among the drivers advocating for it to stay, if Chicago will have them.
Part of Hamlin's affinity for the track comes from being co-founder of 23XI Racing, which, while based in North Carolina like the majority of NASCAR Cup competitors, carries its heart in Chicago. Partially thanks to Co-Founder Michael Jordan's six championships with the Chicago Bulls, and thanks to the team's league of sponsors, centered around the city, including Jordan Brands, McDonald's, and Robinhood, among others.
This isn't the only reason Hamlin wants the race to stay; the NASCAR veteran says that when he's in the city for the race weekend, non-race fans approach him, intrigued by NASCAR.
"I can just tell you that non-racing fans at the hotel that I'm staying at are talking about the race," Hamlin told media, including Road & Track, ahead of practice and qualifying for the Grant Park 165.
You're certainly exposing some new fans to this. I think it's very important. I think you try everything you can to get this thing back here in Chicago; it's an important place for us.
Hamlin would like to see Chicagoland come back, just not to the detriment of the Chicago Street Race or a similar event.
"Chicagoland is not a substitute for this race," Hamlin said. "I would like to see us at both."
Instead of naming other cities where NASCAR could attempt a street course, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver threw a curveball, suggesting NASCAR's next grand experiment to be a street oval.
"Where [NASCAR] goes next, I'm not really sure," Hamlin said. "Wild thought is, how about a street oval? All you need is just flat pavement to make a race track."
When asked what a street oval would look like, Hamlin pointed out that if the Chicago Street Course were cut in half (and a few corners deleted), you would practically have a squared-off oval, similar to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, albeit a lot slower and a lot smaller.
"Look at the layout of this track," Hamlin pointed to a nearby graphic. "If you just cut half of it off, you would almost have an Indy-type oval there. It wouldn't be an oval, but it would be four corners, right? I don't know if the race becomes that much more compelling, but it would certainly would become less spread out. I'm just saying, surely you can find streets somewhere where you can kinda connect four corners.
I get there are so many different things, but it's just thought-provoking from my standpoint, you know, 'we haven't tried that, so what about that?"
While Hamlin may be alone, working through the potential downsides of his street-oval pitch, NASCAR works to finalize the 2026 schedule.
The 2025 NASCAR schedule was released on August 29th, 2024, meaning we're still nearly two months out from seeing what's in store for 2026. The Chicago Street Race was only secured through 2025, and with the weather taking a toll on-track attendance, it may be a challenging sell from the city's side for the race to return.
Last week's race winner, Chase Elliott, understands the frustration and drain that the race puts on the city, but hopes that it enjoys its time as host if it is truly over, just as much as the drivers enjoyed racing it.
"If I lived here and I wasn't a NASCAR fan, I could totally see the frustration of roads being blocked, traffic, and all that sort of thing," Elliott told media members at the track. "I get it. It's been fun for us, I hope there's been more positive than there's been negative for the people of Chicago. Whether this is the last year or not, I appreciate them having us, even the ones that didn't want us.
I look forward to wherever it goes next. I hope that somewhere down the line, we can take it to a different city just to switch it up, just like the championship race rotating out. I think a city street course moving around would be really healthy and good. If this is the last year, I don't think there's any bridges burned."
From NASCAR's side, some fans and drivers are clamoring for a return to Chicagoland, 52 miles south of Grant Park. Carson Hoecevar went as far as visiting the abandoned track and releasing a YouTube video of the trip last week.
"For sure, I would like to race there," Hoecevar told members of the media, including R&T. "It would fit that old Atlanta grip level. It already had a lot less grip, and it's been six years or whatever."
Returning to Chicagoland will require a lot of work, given that the track will be vacant, except for a SuperMotocross round in 2023. However, it would keep a race in the market if the Chicago Street Race is off the table.
For Elliott, the Second City is his second choice, as the 2020 Cup Series Champion wants NASCAR to race at the Nashville Fairgrounds as his desired way to bring short-track oval racing to a city.
NASCAR last raced at the Fairgrounds in 1984, and earlier this year, its board approved Bristol Motor Speedway's proposal to renovate and lease the track, bringing NASCAR back. There's still a long road ahead for the project.
"The biggest reason I'm such a big advocate for Nashville is because, to me, oval track racing is our bread and butter," Elliott said during media availability. "We have that there. This is a great second choice to get to a city, but there's nothing that's going to top getting people a true short-track, 'what-is-nascar?' [experience].
Take an Uber from Broadway to the race track and go watch. To me, that is the biggest home run waiting to happen that we've had in a long time."
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