NASCAR star Ryan Blaney would be 'really disappointed' not to return to Chicagoland

NASCAR returned to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2019 last weekend, and Ryan Blaney wants to see it on the schedule again next season.

Both the Cup and O'Reilly Series races at the 1.5-mile Illinois track were great to watch last time out, and, despite some adverse weather over the weekend, Sunday's Cup Series race was a sell-out.

As per Chicagoland Speedway, there were fans in attendance from 31 countries and all 50 states in the United States, with 59% of ticketholders being new to attending a NASCAR event.

Given the above, NASCAR now faces a major scheduling dilemma. There have already been reports about the Chicago Street Race returning in 2027, so all the talk now is whether that event can co-exist on the schedule with Chicagoland, or it has to be one or the other.

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Ryan Blaney wants NASCAR back at Chicagoland

Blaney, though, isn't buying any talk that the sport will not return to Chicagoland, and says that he would be really disappointed if that were to be the case.

“I keep hearing we're one and done in Chicagoland,” Blaney said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week. I'm like, well, why the heck would we...I don't believe that.

“Because why would we bring the facility back? Why would we put all the money into kind of revitalising this place just to one-and-done it, you know?

“So I hope we continue to go back to Chicagoland because the crowd there was fantastic. That race just puts on such a good show, like, the track itself is really, really unique and fun and old and worn out, exactly what drivers want.

“I thought you saw a great race Saturday night and Sunday, so it would be really, really disappointing to me if we didn’t go back to Chicagoland.”