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July 11, 2023

Chicago Street Race Opens Doors to Northeast, International Expansion

Credit: NASCAR via Getty Images

NASCAR recently held a race on the streets of Chicago.

The Grant Park 220, the sport’s first attempt at street racing, had its share of troubles. Heavy rainfall forced the cancelation of most of the planned off-track entertainment and there were concerns right up until the green flag was dropped that the delayed Cup Series event could get washed out too.  

But the weather held up, the race was exciting, and when all was said and done, the juice looks to have been worth the squeeze. NASCAR looked at the event as fan development exercise and 80% of those in attendance were at their first race; a high percentage considering it has raced in nearby Joliet for years.  

The Grant Park 220 also surpassed expectations for television viewership, particularly within the local market, and for social and digital engagement.

The event’s success opens the door for the sport to “explore other markets and locations, both domestically and abroad [without tracks],” Ben Kennedy (SVP, racing development & strategy, NASCAR) said.  

Cities in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Mexico are at the top of NASCAR's expansion list.

NASCAR has long recognized the need to grow fandom beyond the sport’s traditional southern hotbeds.

However, “one of the biggest challenges [it has] had when looking at new venues and new markets is you start to look at the existing tracks that are out there today,” Kennedy said.

The sport already races at the country’s best raceways.

Conversations about constructing a temporary racetrack in a major metropolitan city got serious in the fall of ’19 when NASCAR started looking critically at where it was racing and where it wanted to be scheduling events in the future.

The timing coincided with its closing on the purchase of International Speedway Corporation.

“We started to think about some of these new markets, like Los Angeles and Chicago, [and] we tried to think differently about ‘is there a new concept or new type of venue that we could create’ [that would allow us to race there],” Kennedy said.

Outside the box thinking was required to host a race in NASCAR’s number two and three designated market areas (DMAs). Neither city has a permanent track or enough vacant land to build a facility on; and the costs would almost certainly be prohibitive if one did.

NASCAR opted to run ‘

the Clash

’ inside the Los Angeles Coliseum in ’22 and ‘23. In Chicago, it took to the streets.

“We [came] in, [built] a course over two or three weeks, [had] a race, and then [tore] it all down,” Kennedy said.

NASCAR spent more than $50 million constructing the temporary facility on Lake Michigan.

“It [was] a big investment and a big risk for us,” Kennedy said.

But one the sport saw worth taking because it provided an opportunity to grow the top of the funnel.

“The payoff comes from the amount of exposure and [intangible] brand relevance that we [got]; the [number] of new fans that both came to the track and the amount of eyeballs on NBC.”

The Grant Park 220 was the broadcast network’s most watched NASCAR race since 2017. It drew 4.795 million viewers nationally.

The ratings were particularly strong in the Chicago market (see: 9.29 rating).

While some of the interest can be attributed to the novelty and/or curiosity associated with a first-time event, road course races have also grown in popularity in recent years; particularly amongst newer, casual fans.

“There’s obviously a ton of earned media and earned exposure that went on going into this event [too],” Kennedy said.

NASCAR does not typically command that kind of mass-market exposure for its races.

Chicago is now viewed by NASCAR as “proof of concept” to race on city streets in other major markets.

The motorsports organization won’t be able to amortize the costs associated with building/destroying temporary tracks on an annual basis that way it could if it were to build a permanent venue in one of those cities. However, the temp. model gives NASCAR flexibility to create new and differentiated fan experiences.

In Chicago, fans were able to purchase tickets with access to the high-end Paddock Club. The 25-foot-high, two-story structure had air-conditioned indoor space, an outdoor viewing deck where spotters were stationed and audible to visitors, upscale F&B, racing simulators, and custom merchandise.

That’s not something the sport could have done in suburban Joliet. The venue doesn’t draw the same demographics.

The temp. model also gave NASCAR an opportunity to establish a new tier of strategic partnerships. The race's founding partners, which included Blue Cross Blue Shield and McDonalds, received ample signage on walls surrounding the track, as well as opportunities to establish physical activations within the footprint that fans could interact with.

Those deals helped to offset race costs. They did not offset NASCAR's entire investment. The Grant Park 220 was not profitable in year one.

But NASCAR is not dissuaded. It plans to learn from its mistakes, get more efficient, and return to race in Chicago again in ’24 and ‘25. The goal is to reach break-even next year.

Considering Kennedy expects it will still cost NASCAR more than $40 million to put on the '24 event, reaching the black remains an uphill battle.

NASCAR believes there are opportunities to expand into other non-traditional markets. But traditionalists do not have to worry about NASCAR turning into a street racing circuit.

The sport and its media partners fully intend to “protect tentpole events that are core to who NASCAR is and what our fans love,” Kennedy said (see: Daytona 500 on President's Day Weekend and the Bristol night race on Memorial Day Weekend).  

However, the sanctioning body is expected to sprinkle in a few more of these unique races throughout the schedule in the years ahead to help the sport maintain momentum and storyline over a long, nine-month season.

NASCAR will be strategic about the timing and location of these new races.

The Northeast and Pacific Northwest make sense. New York City is now the sport’s largest DMA without a race and Portland has hosted successful Xfinity Series races.

As do locales north and south of the border.

“A lot of fans follow our Pinty’s Series in Canada and our Mexico Series [in Mexico],” Kennedy said.

Eventually NASCAR would like to bring its sport overseas.

NASCAR has not yet announced its ’24 schedule. However, the bulk of changes to the slate are expected to come in ’25 and beyond. That is because the sport’s existing broadcast contracts expire following the ’24 season.

“As we’ve built out our goals and objectives [for the next rights cycle], part of that is to drive additional exposure to fans through viewership; retain our existing fans, build new fans and add value to the overall industry,” Kennedy said.

Hosting marquee events in high profile cities and/or unique locations is one way to do that, and ensure rights fees keep climbing.