- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,268,620
- Reaction score
- 59
Austin Dillon encountered a tire problem and finished 24th at Chicagoland Speedway, so you might assume he didn’t enjoy NASCAR’s first Cup Series race there in seven years.
You’d be wrong.
“I thought the racing was great,” Dillon told the News-Journal. “Our tires wore out pretty bad. We had a little issue with our right rear, but I loved the fact that we could race all over the track and saw some pretty good racing.”
The Richard Childress Racing veteran thought the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Illinois, felt similar to when he last competed there in 2019.
Would he like Chicagoland to stay on the schedule going forward?
Buy our Dale Earnhardt book here
“I wouldn't mind it,” he said. “I think it’s a cool track, and it gives us multiple grooves to race on. I like that it kind of eats away at some tires. I think it’s a good racetrack, that’s for sure.
“We’ve got to make sure the fans and everybody shows up to it. But I bet the ratings from a TV aspect will be good from that race because it was a good one.”
As of Wednesday morning, TNT had not yet released the television ratings for the eero 400 won by Chase Briscoe. But NASCAR announced a sellout before the green flag, stating more than 59% of ticketholders were new to attending a NASCAR event.
Chicago remains an intriguing market for the sport. That’s partially why Chicagoland returned after the downtown street race of the last three years was not renewed for 2026.
Plus, NASCAR had added another street run on Naval Base Coronado. Corey Heim claimed his first career victory there last month, with views of another potentially lucrative area, San Diego, in the background.
That race sold out, too.
“I think it was great,” Dillon said. “The fans were awesome there. So many fans showed up for that race. I think the merch sales were very close to the Daytona 500 for that race. It was the best one of the year. That was very impressive to hear.”
So where to next?
Dillon would love to see another dirt race.
The Cup Series hosted one at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Next Gen car drove well on dirt due to its suspension and bigger tires, Dillon said.
If NASCAR was looking to revive a dormant venue, he first mentioned Kentucky Speedway, which it left after 2020.
If the organization wanted to try a new location, Dillon suggested the continuation of a recent trend, one headlined by the reemergence of North Wilkesboro Speedway and Bowman Gray Stadium. He threw out a pair of historic short tracks — South Boston Speedway in Virginia and Stafford Speedway in Connecticut.
The Cup Series has not appeared at SoBo since 1971. It has never trekked to Stafford.
“We’ve proven we can go to these short tracks that are pretty popular and run on them and make racing happen,” Dillon said. “I think we should probably choose another short track that’s a fan favorite and go try to run a race on it. It’s good to go to these short tracks and get out there for our core fanbase.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Austin Dillon has cool idea for future NASCAR tracks after Chicagoland's return
Continue reading...
You’d be wrong.
“I thought the racing was great,” Dillon told the News-Journal. “Our tires wore out pretty bad. We had a little issue with our right rear, but I loved the fact that we could race all over the track and saw some pretty good racing.”
The Richard Childress Racing veteran thought the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Illinois, felt similar to when he last competed there in 2019.
Would he like Chicagoland to stay on the schedule going forward?
Buy our Dale Earnhardt book here
“I wouldn't mind it,” he said. “I think it’s a cool track, and it gives us multiple grooves to race on. I like that it kind of eats away at some tires. I think it’s a good racetrack, that’s for sure.
“We’ve got to make sure the fans and everybody shows up to it. But I bet the ratings from a TV aspect will be good from that race because it was a good one.”
As of Wednesday morning, TNT had not yet released the television ratings for the eero 400 won by Chase Briscoe. But NASCAR announced a sellout before the green flag, stating more than 59% of ticketholders were new to attending a NASCAR event.
Chicago remains an intriguing market for the sport. That’s partially why Chicagoland returned after the downtown street race of the last three years was not renewed for 2026.
Plus, NASCAR had added another street run on Naval Base Coronado. Corey Heim claimed his first career victory there last month, with views of another potentially lucrative area, San Diego, in the background.
That race sold out, too.
“I think it was great,” Dillon said. “The fans were awesome there. So many fans showed up for that race. I think the merch sales were very close to the Daytona 500 for that race. It was the best one of the year. That was very impressive to hear.”
You must be registered for see images
So where to next?
Dillon would love to see another dirt race.
The Cup Series hosted one at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Next Gen car drove well on dirt due to its suspension and bigger tires, Dillon said.
If NASCAR was looking to revive a dormant venue, he first mentioned Kentucky Speedway, which it left after 2020.
If the organization wanted to try a new location, Dillon suggested the continuation of a recent trend, one headlined by the reemergence of North Wilkesboro Speedway and Bowman Gray Stadium. He threw out a pair of historic short tracks — South Boston Speedway in Virginia and Stafford Speedway in Connecticut.
The Cup Series has not appeared at SoBo since 1971. It has never trekked to Stafford.
“We’ve proven we can go to these short tracks that are pretty popular and run on them and make racing happen,” Dillon said. “I think we should probably choose another short track that’s a fan favorite and go try to run a race on it. It’s good to go to these short tracks and get out there for our core fanbase.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Austin Dillon has cool idea for future NASCAR tracks after Chicagoland's return
Continue reading...
