JOLIET, Il. — Walking around the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, it's clear to see that this racing surface is worn. It has bumps, patches, seams, and grass in several areas. The winters have made it far from smooth.
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This is something that two-time track winner Brad Keselowski actually believes could improve the racing product on Sunday afternoon when the Cup Series drivers take on Chicagoland for the first time in seven years.
"It's much rougher, the pavement is much older, and it's got a lot more banking, carry a lot more speed through here," Keselowski said on Friday afternoon. "So I think it would be a really challenging track, particularly for the Next Gen car, because the Next Gen car just really hates rough surfaces.
"The way it drives with how low it is, and how it makes contact with the limiters, it just really, really hates rough race tracks. So it should be interesting to see the car versus track combination, because the fact that the car hates the track could actually be really good for the racing, as it opens up different grooves and makes you do different things to try to accommodate that as a driver or as a team with the car setup."
A lot of seams and patches, especially a large patch in 3 and 4, but the surface looks overall relatively smooth. pic.twitter.com/84QjPbSeYM
— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) July 3, 2026
The Cup Series races on intermediate tracks have delivered excitement to NASCAR fans since the start of the Gen 7 era (2022). Tracks such as Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway have drawn rave reviews at times.
This marks a major change from the Gen 6 era, especially the races featuring the much-maligned 550-horsepower package. The Gen 7 car has the 670-horsepower package on intermediate tracks, so the drivers have more power at their disposal.
As 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney also said, the Gen 6 car also had so much more side force. They could "drive that car sideways."
The way the Gen 7 car reacts to the bumps and patches, for comparison, forces drivers to showcase their talents more as they fight to remain in control.
And Chicagoland Speedway is a track with some big bumps.
"I mean, this racetrack kind of reminds me a little bit of a Kansas with bigger bumps, but the bumps are kind of like... the bumps are there, but it's like a big jump," Daniel Suarez said.
"It's not like a consistent... like a lot of people were talking during the week about, 'Oh, it's gonna be like Charlotte, Charlotte (Turns) 3 and 4. Charlotte 3 and 4 is super bumpy the entire race track. It's not like that."
Daniel Suarez spoke after the practice session at Chicagoland. The bumps stood out to him, but he believes that this race will be great. pic.twitter.com/Ju5bHprLpX
— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) July 3, 2026
Very few active drivers have Cup Series experience at Chicagoland Speedway. Keselowski, Suarez, Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman are members of the select few.
Only three drivers had even completed laps at the track in the Gen 7 car before the start of Friday evening's practice session. This group included Hamlin, Larson, and Blaney.
Larson and Hamlin both told media members that they did not venture up near the wall during a Goodyear test session in the spring.
The bumps, the patches, and the overall rough surface could have led to some unwanted on-track incidents as they tried to help NASCAR and Goodyear find the best tire for the surface.
"I never ran up there," Larson told media members before practice. "I was scared because it's just really rough in (Turns) 3 and 4. I kind of found a comfy line on the bottom and tried not to leave it.
"At a normal track, (the patch) would be more grip. But I don't know. We'll see when we get there. I think it's so narrow that it'd be hard to really make a huge difference. But typically, fresher pavement, newer pavement, would be more grip."
This trend did not necessarily hold during Friday evening's practice session. Drivers still cautiously approached certain portions of the track, but they moved closer and closer to the wall as they burned through three sets of tires.
Tyler Reddick, in particular, ran mere inches from the wall as many expected him to do.
This is something that drivers expect to happen even more on Sunday, especially after the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers lay down some rubber with their Saturday evening race.
"I think the track's gonna get to the wall, I mean, and that's just my prediction," Blaney said after practice. "I definitely think we would have been even higher if the (O'Reilly) guys got a chance to run practice, but I think it's going to be every lane available, which is great."
