After two years of rain-soaked July Fourth weekend events, could the NASCAR Chicago Street Race be heading west to eternally sunny San Diego?
The Athletic reported Wednesday that NASCAR and the Southern California city’s sports tourism commission are in negotiations to hold a race on the streets of San Diego in 2026.
A NASCAR spokesperson declined to comment on the unconfirmed report, while the San Diego Sports Commission did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Chicago is set to host the third annual street race July 5-6 on a pop-up course in and around Grant Park, completing an inaugural three-year agreement with NASCAR. The deal, struck during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, includes a two-year renewal option.
“We continue to have positive conversations with the city of Chicago, and right now, we’re focused on making 2025 the best event yet,” a NASCAR spokesperson said Thursday.
A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. The city, which had an annual 180-day exit clause after the first two races, committed to this year’s event in August.
Adding a San Diego street race next year does not necessarily affect the future of the Chicago Street Race.
Most NASCAR tracks range from a quarter-mile to 2 ½-mile banked ovals, but the Florida-based sanctioning body for stock car racing holds several events at road courses, including Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in Sonoma, California, and at Watkins Glen in New York. NASCAR might similarly be building its portfolio of urban street races, with Chicago paving the way.
The Chicago Street Race has nonetheless had its challenges in the first two years, including pushback over the disruption and street closures to set up the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course through Grant Park, down DuSable Lake Shore Drive and up Michigan Avenue.
This year, NASCAR has streamlined the buildout and reduced major street closings to 18 days, starting with the shutdown Thursday of Balbo Drive from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive. All streets are scheduled to be reopened by July 14.
But the biggest issue facing the first two street races was inclement weather.
In 2023, the inaugural Fourth of July weekend event navigated record rainfall that curtailed races, canceled concerts and left fans soaked. The first Cup Series street race also garnered a huge national TV audience with Chicago as a rainy backdrop, averaging nearly 4.8 million viewers during a four-hour broadcast on NBC.
Last year’s race generated $128 million in total economic impact and drew 53,036 unique visitors, according to a study commissioned by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm.
This year, the Grant Park 165 main event on Sunday is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., 2 ½ hours earlier than last year, in hopes of finally getting the race to the finish line. The nationally televised broadcast is moving from NBC to cable channel TNT.
If the San Diego Street Race comes to fruition for 2026, whether as a competitive event or supplanting Chicago, the forecast for a dry run is likely much brighter. San Diego, which is considered to have among the best year-round climates in the nation, averages less than 10 inches of annual rainfall, according to National Weather Service data.
The Windy City is far wetter than Southern California. Chicago averages closer to 40 inches of annual precipitation, with a record 3 to 7 inches of rain hitting the city and flooding the street course during the first Cup Series race in 2023.
