Sunday's Cup Series race marks the final event of a three-year deal between NASCAR and the city of Chicago. The top drivers would certainly support returning for a fourth street race, but they would also like to see some variety in the schedule.
These drivers believe that mixing in some new locations could only benefit the sport.
"I look forward to wherever it goes next," Chase Elliott said on Saturday. "I hope that somewhere down the line, we can take it to a different city, you know, just to switch it up, just like the championship race rotating.
"I think a city street course moving around would be really healthy and good. If this is last year, you know, I don't think there's any bridges burned. I just think maybe we move it around and, who knows, maybe come back another time."
Cup Series drivers have seen NASCAR head to new destinations and enjoy some immediate success. The first two trips to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were viewed as a success. The third trip had significant schedule issues due to heavy rainfall in Southern California.
This season, NASCAR took the exhibition Clash to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This event took place in front of packed grandstands. The series then headed to Mexico City for the first time in June while trying to build the international audience.
"I'm always a big fan of going to new facilities because it's worked every single time," Joey Logano said. "I've got to go back to just thinking about early in my career when we never did anything like this. It was the same schedule every year for decades. Nothing changed. A big change would be like moving a date a couple weeks from where it was. It wasn't changing anything.
"Now we're going to new venues. You think of Road America, we're not too far from there, and that was a huge success. The L.A. Coliseum, the first couple of years was a huge success. I think if you do it too long it gets stale. I think there are tracks that are part of our roots that we must go to, but I think there's a handful of tracks that should be on a three-year term kind of thing that you can just move around and go to new places."
Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography
Michael McDowell joined Logano in voicing support for new experiences. He praised the recent schedule variety and the fact that NASCAR is bringing the sport to fans instead of making them travel to tracks. He added that NASCAR will only continue to expand and grow as it does new things more frequently.
Alex Bowman simply noted that there are a lot of great places where NASCAR could put the street race. He's enjoyed the different style of racing and how it requires some technical moves.
"I've really enjoyed it, I think there's a lot of great places you could put it," Bowman said. "I think you could rotate it around. You could do a lot of different things. So, I think continuing with the street course on the schedule is pretty important."
If Chicago remains on the schedule, what does it mean for some of the other rumored destinations? Will NASCAR avoid going to San Diego or any of the other cities frequently mentioned in the garage?
What about Chicagoland Speedway? Multiple drivers have called for the intermediate track to return to the schedule, including Bowman and Ryan Blaney. Will NASCAR avoid reviving this facility if it keeps racing on the city streets?
Denny Hamlin certainly hopes this isn't the case.
"I think you try everything you can to get this thing back here in Chicago, because I believe it is an important place for us," Hamlin said. "I still would like to see... Chicagoland (Speedway) is not a substitute for this race. I'd like to see us run both."