Ryan Blaney gives his vote of confidence to legendary NASCAR track for a racing return 

Ryan Blaney called for the return of the Chicagoland Speedway on the NASCAR calendar. The 31-year-old argued that the 1.5-mile tri-oval circuit is a great racetrack, which he had the honor to race at before it was dropped in 2020.

Blaney debuted as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing in 2016 before joining Team Penske two years later. He had four starts at Chicagoland Speedway and posted one top-five and two top-10s.

NASCAR Insider Jeff Gluck shared Ryan Blaney's statement on adding the Joliet, Illinois-based track to the schedule.

“This morning on the podium @blaney gives his vote for Chicagoland Speedway to return to the Cup Series schedule: ‘I'd like to see it come back, because I think it'd be a great racetrack. It always was,’” Gluck wrote on X.

The Chicagoland Speedway was initially scheduled for the 2020 NASCAR season, but the global pandemic forced the event to be canceled. Eventually, the track was removed from the calendar after about two decades of competition.

The stock car racing series returned to the state of Illinois with the Chicago street race in 2023. However, the event hasn't been extended on the calendar yet, with the third installment happening in July.

Ryan Blaney drives the #12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske - Source: Imagn

For now, Ryan Blaney and the rest of the Cup guys will race at Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on June 8. The #12 Team Penske driver will enter the 200-lapper following his first season win at Nashville Superspeedway last week.

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“Nothing wacky happened”: Ryan Blaney on first win of the 2025 season at Nashville

After a series of on-track misfortunes, Ryan Blaney finally secured his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. He felt relieved nothing “wacky” happened at Nashville Superspeedway that he feared would spoil his chances of winning.

Before the race, Blaney had five DNFs and was the only Team Penske driver without a win. He eventually crossed the line with a win margin of 2.830 seconds. He also led the most laps at 139, followed by Denny Hamlin, who took an extra point for earning the Xfinity Fastest Lap.

In a post-race interview, the 2023 Cup Series champion said (via Cup Scene on YouTube):

“Everything just kind of went smoothly, went like a normal race should go and we executed like we should and the speed in our car was good. It feels like those races for our team were hard to come by... just like nothing funky happening or like nothing playing out, you know, the normal way.” [2:10]

“But it's nice, it finally went that way tonight, the fastest car won the race, and nothing wacky happened that we, you know, couldn't win the race,” he added.

Blaney ranks seventh in the points standings ahead of teammates Joey Logano (8th) and Austin Cindric (13th). The Ford pilot has amassed one win, six top-fives, and seven top-10s. He also bagged one pole position from EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).