History of Chicagoland Speedway

Chicagoland Speedway is a speedway in Joliet, Illinois, USA, southwest of Chicago. The speedway is actually located several miles south of Joliet proper, just off Illinois Route 53 between Joliet and Wilmington, Illinois. It currently has a capacity of 75,000 people. Since its inaugural season in 2001, the Chicagoland Speedway has became an unexpected and significant draw for major NASCAR and IRL events, often selling out major races months in advance.

Although listed simply as a D-shaped oval, Chicagoland is unique in that it is one continuous curve, as the backstretch has a noticeable bend to it.

Chicagoland hosts the NASCAR/Nextel Cup Series race, USG Sheetrock 400, and the NASCAR/Busch Series Race, USG Durock 300, just once a year. Chicagoland is known to be one of NASCAR's infamous "cookie cutter" 1.5 mile speedways. This is a reference to the fact that it resembles many other 1.5 mile downforce racetracks that resemble a D-shape in the NASCAR racing series.

From 1999 through 2000, the Chicagoland Speedway was built adjacent to the older Route 66 Raceway.

In 2001, Chicagoland hosted their inaugural events, with NASCAR's Busch and Sprint Cup (formerly known as Winston Cup, then NEXTEL Cup), ARCA RE/MAX Series, and IRL IndyCar Series races making up the initial schedule. These series continue to run at Chicagoland Speedway annualy through 2007.

On September 25, 2007, speedway officials announced the installation of lights for the 2008 season. With this new addition to the 1.5-mile, D-shaped oval, Chicagoland Speedway will become only the tenth Sprint Cup facility (five each with Speedway Motorsports and ISC tracks) able to hold night racing. The NASCAR race weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in 2008 will feature two night races - the Busch Series race on Friday, July 11, followed by the Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday, July 12.