Chicagoland Speedway

A testament to the growing popularity of NEXTEL Cup racing and its rapid expansion into the Midwest, Chicagoland Speedway opened to great fanfare in 2001. One of the newest venues for NASCAR, this track can accommodate up to 75,000 spectators at a race.

Accessible from downtown Chicago via interstate highway, Chicagoland is situated between Laraway Road and Schweitzer Road in Joliet, Illinois. Race fans who want to avoid a lengthy car commute can take the Metra Rock Island District train line to Joliet Station, where a bus will take them by restricted access highway to the speedway.

The track itself is a 1.5-mile tri-oval with 18-degree banking in the four turns. The tri-oval is banked at 11 degrees and the backstretch at 5 degrees.

Chicagoland's most prominent feature is the 2,400-foot frontstretch that allows the NEXTEL Cup cars to carry tremendous speed into the entrance to Turn 1. When Todd Bodine set the track qualifying record before the inaugural 400-mile Winston Cup event in 1993, he completed a lap in 29.393 seconds, at 183.717 mph.

Chicagoland is owned by Raceway Associates, LLC, a partnership that includes International Speedway Corporation and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George. In addition to a 400-mile Nextel Cup race in July, the speedway hosts NASCAR's Busch Series as well as the IRL. Kevin Harvick won the first Cup race held at the new track on July 14, 2001.

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