When Chicagoland Speedway was dropped from the 2020 calendar due to schedule changes related to COVID-19 restrictions and then left off the calendar for 2021, many NASCAR fans assumed that the track would be gone forever from the Cup Series schedule.
That belief was seemingly solidified when NASCAR added a street race in Chicago, Illinois in 2023. However, as they so often do, things changed after a few years.
The street race was scrapped after just three seasons, and NASCAR is set to return to the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Joliet, Illinois oval this weekend for the first time in seven years.
But the broadcast schedule has changed since the most recent Chicagoland race back in 2019, when the race was shown live on NBC. In fact, the Chicagoland race led off NBC's season-ending portion of the broadcast schedule in both 2018 and 2019.
Chicagoland NASCAR race not being shown on NBC
As race number 19 of 36, Sunday's 267-lap eero 400 is set to kick off the second half of the 2026 season, but under the sport's new media rights agreement, a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal which started a year ago, NBC's season-ending portion of the schedule, which now features 14 races rather than 20, isn't slated to start until August.
As a result, the Chicagoland race is set to be shown live on TNT Sports, which returned to the series as a broadcast partner in 2025 for the first time since 2014.
TNT and newcomer Amazon Prime Video were both given five races each and placed between Fox's 14-race (12 points races) season-opening slate and NBC's portion to wrap up the year.
TNT's portion began a week ago at Sonoma Raceway, following the conclusion of Prime's portion, and it is scheduled to run through the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this month. NBC is set to take over following the season's second and final off weekend in early August at Iowa Speedway.
The trio of announcers in the TNT booth is the same as the trio of announcers in the Prime Video booth, just as the case was a year ago. Adam Alexander is the lead announcer, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte both commentate alongside him as analysts.
Tune in to TNT at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 5 for the live broadcast of the eero 400 from Chicagoland Speedway. Don't miss the track's first NASCAR Cup Series race in seven years!
