During the 1990s stock car racing boom, the Motorsports Alliance — a partnership between International Speedway Corporation (ISC), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Menards — sought to build a new intermediate oval in the Chicago market. An initial proposal at DuPage Airport in December 1996, costing approximately $50 million, drew strong public opposition by early 1997 and was abandoned within months over concerns including environmental impact and disagreements over lease revenues. A subsequent proposal centred on Plano, Illinois, was pursued through February 1998 before being dropped in favour of a Joliet site.
On 6 January 1999, the Motorsports Alliance announced plans to annex 930 acres in Joliet, adjacent to the Route 66 Raceway. The Joliet City Council unanimously approved the $100 million, 75,000-seat project on 19 January 1999. Route 66 Raceway owner Dale Coyne and the Alliance formed a joint company, Raceway Associates, with the Alliance holding 75% and Coyne 25%. NASCAR executive Mike Helton confirmed discussions about adding a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race to the 2001 schedule by mid-1999.
Groundbreaking occurred on 28 September 1999, with NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt appearing as a dignitary. The first tests on the facility were conducted on 26 October 2000, with drivers John Andretti and Scott Sharp driving a NASCAR Cup car and an Indy car respectively. On 1 February 2001, the only construction fatality occurred when worker Ehren Brandau fell while installing windows in a skybox. The completed facility cost approximately $130 million.
The track is measured at 1.5 miles (2.4 km) by NASCAR and 1.52 miles (2.45 km) by the IndyCar Series. Unlike most intermediate oval tracks, the backstretch is a singular continuous curve rather than a straight line. Banking is 18° in the turns, 11° on the frontstretch, and 5° on the backstretch. The facility is served by Illinois Route 53 and Interstate 80 and encompasses approximately 930 acres.
Chicagoland Speedway officially opened on 12 July 2001 for practice sessions for the Tropicana 400. The track's first race was a NASCAR Busch Series event, won by Jimmie Johnson. The following day, Kevin Harvick won the Tropicana 400 Cup Series race. The first Indy Racing League race at the facility was held on 2 September 2001, won by Jaques Lazier. In 2002, the track recorded the closest finish in IndyCar history, with Sam Hornish Jr. defeating Al Unser Jr. by 0.0024 seconds.
Joie Chitwood III was the initial general manager; he was succeeded by Matthew Alexander in 2003. In 2004, SAFER barriers were installed around the entire outside perimeter at a cost of approximately $1.5 million. In February 2007, ISC bought out Raceway Associates for $102.4 million, taking full control of both Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway. Alexander was promoted to president in 2007; he announced a $17 million lighting installation enabling night racing, first used for the 2008 LifeLock.com 400. Alexander stepped down in 2009 and was succeeded by Craig Rust, who in turn stepped down in September 2010 and was replaced by Scott Paddock.
Seating capacity was reduced twice due to attendance declines: to 55,000 in 2013 and to 47,000 in 2019. NASCAR acquired the facility in 2019 when it bought out ISC.
From 2001 to 2010, the speedway hosted one annual IndyCar weekend, the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. In 2006, the race was moved to become the IndyCar season finale, a position it held for three seasons before the season finale was relocated to Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2009. The IndyCar race was dropped after the 2010 season.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series race was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, NASCAR announced that all three national series would not return to Chicagoland Speedway for the 2021 season. Scott Paddock resigned as president the following month. The track remained largely dormant in subsequent years. In 2022, the facility was used to store vehicles awaiting computer chips from Ford Motor Company during the global semiconductor shortage. In 2023, the SuperMotocross World Championship held a round at the facility in September, the first motorsport event there in over four years.
On 30 July 2025, reports indicated that the NASCAR Cup Series would return to the facility in 2026 following the removal of a race at the Chicago Street Course. NASCAR officially announced the return, scheduling Cup Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and ARCA Series races for Independence Day weekend of the 2026 NASCAR season. Jacqueline Herrera, previously the director of community relations for the Chicago Street Course, was appointed general manager in November 2025.
From 2002 to 2003, the speedway hosted the International Race of Champions (IROC). In May 2013, the facility held a branch of the Electric Daisy Carnival, drawing approximately 65,000 attendees.
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