NASCAR Wins Chicago & Loses Montreal in Massive Schedule Gamble for 2024: Unveiling the Dark Side

Entering the tight city lanes of Downtown Chicago for the organization’s inaugural street race, expectations were sky-high from avid NASCAR fans. Despite the racing Gods’ fury, which poured as rain, Grant Park 220 went on to be a massive hit among the community. Seeing the Stock cars zipping through the narrow lanes, fans were ecstatic, hoping to catch more NASCAR action in a metropolis, like Chicago.

While some traditionalists were completely against the idea of seeing a bulky stock car in a narrow city lane, the organization really pulled off a stellar race. Many from the community anticipated a wreck fest with cars colliding against one another to give one chaotic mess, something that would embarrass the entire NASCAR community. Fortunately, besides Mother Nature’s fury that lashed out in the Windy City, the race was competitive and exciting with a climactic finish. Soon after the grand success of its first-ever street course, the precedence was on NASCAR as fans speculated and yearned for a similar event – one that would captivate the entire racing community beyond borders shattering any barriers.

Soon came rumors and updates surrounding a possible Montreal race in Canada at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. NASCAR nation was pumped and amped up to see the organization cover newer pastures, going international like it intended to. However, as we reach the closing laps of the current schedule, things aren’t going the way the community hoped they would.

Instead, NASCAR’s 2024 schedule indicates that they’ve perhaps dropped the ambitious Montreal plans, opting to go for a local venue.

NASCAR and its ambitious expansion plans to go international

2023 was in fact, a path-breaking year for the organization. In its 75th year of entertaining the fans with its aggressive style of racing, NASCAR went all in on its expansion plans. For the first time ever it gave the community a street course and debuted in the iconic 24 hours of Le Mans in an effort to go vocal.

Safe to say, NASCAR did what it intended to. The sight of a Racey Blue HMS-powered Chevy in the French straights got the international racing fans’ attention. In fact, the Garage 56 car not only did more than just that. It held its ground against the superior GTE spec race cars, and also gave the competition a run for its money. The sight of the Chevy outpacing and pulling up a slingshot on the endurance spec Ferraris and Aston Matins gave NASCAR the momentum it needed to capture the community’s minds.

More than just a publicity stunt aimed at getting American promotion across borders, the organization’s Le Mans debut showed the world that its racing pedigree is not just confined to the ovals but beyond that as the French countryside reverberated with the growl of the 5.8 liter V8. Above all, irrespective of taste and like, the crowd really took a liking to the Cup car that finished 39th in the 62-car field.

Not only did the organization achieve its goal – to finish the race, the HMS-powered Chevy did 285 laps which equates to approximately 2,413.095 miles, showing the Next-Gen car’s versatility and capabilities. With the great Jimmie Johnson, Formula 1 champion, Jenson Button and multi-time Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller piloting the car, ardent fans also chimed into the action, bringing more eyeballs into the 24-hour race like never before.

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As the organization celebrated its 75th anniversary featuring a Cup car in Le Mans, 2023 also saw its inaugural street race in Chicago. Don’t think so? Well, look at the number then. According to NBC, the rain-drenched Chicago race is the most-watched NASCAR race in 6 years. NBC Sports’ NASCAR Cup Series city street race coverage of the first-ever averaged a total of  Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 4.795 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.

Despite the rain gods pouring it down on the event with a cyclonic depression partially touching the city, the success of the event seemed imminent as it broke all records projected to be the most-watched sporting event of the weekend. While everyone expected a messy race with the oval racers bumping each other to oblivion, the race proved all of them wrong.

Besides some not-so-major slips, the race was certainly a treat for fans with a lot of excitement and thrill on offer. It even had a climactic finish with Supercars champion, Shane Van Gisbergen winning the race in spectacular fashion, trumping the Cup Series drivers in Chicago. Above all, the presence of a star-studded lineup in the race gave the event much-needed attention as viewers tuned in across the globe from Australia and parts of New Zealand.

NASCAR loses its Montreal gamble as they include Iowa in the schedule

The organization’s expansion plans to gain traction on an international level are not secret. Unlike its competitors, like Formula 1 and IndyCar, which are far more popular among the international audience, NASCAR has to introduce its product at the right opening to capture the fanbase.

To add to its international plans to race, Canada and Mexico, the country’s closest neighbors were chosen given the popularity and requests of fans. Consequently, NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell told the Sports Business Journal in February that the organization was looking at possible Cup Series races in both Mexico and Canada among other countries internationally, as it looks to grow its global presence.

However, as we near the grand finale of the 2023 schedule with the playoff extravaganza reaching the second eliminator in Charlotte, the organization has revealed its 2024 schedule, stunning the fans. According to various sources close to the organization, NASCAR and Canadian organizers were unable to strike a deal, prompting NASCAR to go for the viable option for its 2024 season.

Thus we have the Cup Series coming to the fan-favorite Iowa Speedway for the very first time. While the track hosted Xfinity and Truck Series races previously, the 2024 Summer will have the Cup Series bandwagon make a stop at the 0.8-mile intermediate track in Newton. The sanctioning body’s decision was well received by fans as they were yearning for an exciting short-track package in the untapped hotbed of racing.

The organization’s Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy confirmed the news as he relayed the obvious. “Iowa Speedway was something that we’ve talked about for quite a while you know this is something that we’ve been hearing from our fans for a long time and Iowa in particular that we want to see a Cup race,” said Ben Kennedy fulfilling the fan request.

He then reiterated the organization’s stance on international expansion, saying, “As we think about international venues in general, we still are bullish about finding our way either north of the border whether that be in Montreal or Toronto or another market or south of the border, down into Mexico.”

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With NASCAR finalizing its 2024 schedule, including Chicago, and finding an alternative for Montreal in Iowa, fans will have to wait another year to see their favorite promotion on foreign soil.