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Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune/TNS

NASCAR won't race on the streets of Chicago next summer

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHICAGO — The streets of Grant Park will not echo with the sounds of 200-mph race cars in 2027.

Running out of time to strike a deal with the city, NASCAR pulled the plug Tuesday on the return of the Chicago Street Race for next summer but is still hoping to bring it back down the road.

Meanwhile, NASCAR confirmed it is putting Chicagoland ...Read more

James Gilbert/Getty Images North America/TNS

After years-long revitalization process, NASCAR isn't returning to NC racetrack

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR isn’t returning to Rockingham Speedway in 2027.

And the venue’s primary race organizer is, understandably, “disappointed.”

Track Enterprises, the prominent motorsports promotion company that has put on the successful NASCAR events at The Rock in 2025 and 2026, announced on Friday that in 2027 it will not host...Read more

Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune/TNS

NASCAR seeking larger grant from state to bring Chicago Street Race back in 2027

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHICAGO — While NASCAR is hoping to get the Chicago Street Race back to Grant Park next summer, it may have hit a speed bump in negotiations for a state grant to help defray costs for the event.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said Wednesday that the state has appropriated $5 million in the fiscal year 2027 budget to ...Read more

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images North America/TNS

Denny Hamlin earns pole position for eero 400 in NASCAR's return to Joliet racetrack. 'I'm a Chicago master.'

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHICAGO — Denny Hamlin is atop the NASCAR Cup Series points standings for the first time all season.

If that wasn’t enough reason for Hamlin to head into Fourth of July weekend in a celebratory mood, the series’ return to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. for the first time since 2019 is definitely a welcome one.

Hamlin won the Cup ...Read more

David Jensen/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lavar Scott, one of NASCAR's three Black drivers, is chasing greatness and not looking back: 'There was no Plan B'

Sports / Auto Racing /

LONG POND, Pa. — Lavar Scott is accustomed to reaching top speeds around a racetrack. But for a few hours last Friday night, less than 24 hours before his race at Pocono Raceway, he took a beat.

Standing in front of a room of about 40 people at Holy Ghost Distillery, roughly 10 miles west of the track, Scott, a Carneys Point, Salem County, ...Read more

Richard Childress knew Kyle Busch had big plans, just like Dale Earnhardt Sr. did

Sports / Auto Racing /

Richard Childress thought this would go differently.

The six-time NASCAR Cup Series champion owner had planned to have Kyle Busch by his side on the Saturday before the Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. It’d be celebratory. Childress was supposed to share good news: that the driver of the No. 8 car — the 41-year-old legend of the...Read more

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Thank you for loving Kyle': Samantha Busch releases statement weeks after NASCAR legend's death

Sports / Auto Racing /

Kyle Busch's family has dealt with a lot since the NASCAR legend's sudden death at age 41 last month.

On Friday, however, his wife Samantha and their two children — son Brexton, 11, and daughter Lennix, 4 — "wanted to take a moment to say thank you" for all the support they have received.

"The prayers, messages, flowers, meals, hugs, and ...Read more

F1, LVCVA commit to 10-year Las Vegas Grand Prix extension through 2037

Sports / Auto Racing /

LAS VEGAS — Formula One and the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority have committed to a 10-year extension to host the annual Las Vegas Grand Prix on the Strip through 2037.

With this year’s race, set for Nov. 19-21, that means there are 12 more Las Vegas Grand Prix events under contract; the 10-year deal will kick in after the 2027 ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

NASCAR likely making a comeback in Chicago next year, sources say

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHICAGO — After a one-year hiatus, NASCAR will return to the streets of Chicago next year, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

But this time, the race would piggyback off of the Sueños music festival around Memorial Day weekend, potentially using the festival’s setup time to get a jump start and keeping some of its grandstands and ...Read more

Logan Riely/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mike Bianchi: Kyle Busch's death exposes the ignorance of Stephen A. Smith's NASCAR rant

Sports / Auto Racing /

ORLANDO, Fla. — Last week, NASCAR lost one of its giants.

Kyle Busch, the winningest driver in the history of his sport, died after complications from bacterial pneumonia led to sepsis. He was only 41 years old.

Yet even as his body was betraying him and even as he was experiencing symptoms of bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” ...Read more

Charles Bertram/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Mark Story: Saying farewell to Kyle Busch, NASCAR's 'King of Kentucky,' gone too soon

Sports / Auto Racing /

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kyle Busch may have been a Las Vegas native, but the NASCAR star long seemed quite at home in Kentucky.

Busch’s shocking death last Thursday at age 41 from “severe pneumonia (that) progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complication” hit hard for those of us who first remember Busch with ...Read more

Sean Gardner/Getty Images North America/TNS

Kyle Busch death certificate reveals several health struggles in last days

Sports / Auto Racing /

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch had been suffering from pneumonia for “days to weeks,” triggering a “chain of events,” including sepsis, that resulted in his untimely death, according to a report.

Busch’s sepsis progressed rapidly, within 24 hours turning into disseminated intravascular coagulation, which is the formation of small blood ...Read more

TRACY KIMBALL/The Herald/TNS

Big gamble from Daniel Suarez pays off with NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 win in Charlotte

Sports / Auto Racing /

CONCORD, N.C. — Daniel Suarez made a move that would’ve made his mentor proud. And it won the race for him.

The driver of the No. 7 car won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, and he did so thanks to the kind of shrewd move that would’ve made the late Kyle Busch — and one of Suarez’s confidants ...Read more

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images North America/TNS

Kyle Busch's family makes appearance at Coke 600. A powerful moment came next.

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a stunning moment of tribute, the family of the late Kyle Busch arrived in the infield grass prior to the running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday and stood in front of the crowd as NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell boomed a few powerful words into a microphone.

Most important among those words:

“You are NASCAR family forever...Read more

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Your cars suck': NASCAR owner provides some levity amid grief over Kyle Busch

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stories about Kyle Busch were everywhere Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as the sport tried to come to terms with the NASCAR superstar’s unexpected passing.

First came the news around 11:20 a.m. Saturday from the Busch family that provided more information about Busch’s cause of death.

“The medical evaluation ...Read more

James Gilbert/Getty Images North America/TNS

Chase Elliott wants to figure out a way for Kyle Busch to win 'Most Popular Driver'

Sports / Auto Racing /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR driver Chase Elliott said on Saturday he would be open to taking a page out of his famous father’s playbook and paving the way for another racer to win the “Most Popular Driver” award posthumously.

In 2001, after Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500, Chase’s father Bill Elliott ...Read more