CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
By CURT HERRON cherron@shawmedia.com
• Sunday, September 20, 2015
JOLIET – When your venue is fortunate enough to host one of the biggest sporting events in the country each season, you take absolutely nothing for granted. That’s definitely the approach that Chicagoland Speedway President Scott Paddock has as NASCAR makes its annual visit to Joliet to kick off its Chase for the Sprint Cup at 2 p.m. Sunday at the myAFibRisk.com 400. “When you can welcome the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to your market, that’s an honor,” Paddock said. “But when you’re tapped to host the kickoff race to the Chase, or as I like to say, the start of the playoffs for one of the most-watched and followed sports in America, it’s a huge honor.” Needless to say, no other event comes close to providing Joliet and the Will County area with the type of national exposure it receives from this competition. “Think about the economic impact that this event has on Joliet, Will County and Chicagoland,” Paddock said. “The network partners, industry officials and sponsors are staying in our hotels and eating at our restaurants. It’s incredible. “The Ryder Cup came here a couple of years ago, and it was an amazing deal and it’s a wonderful event, but it only comes here once or twice in our lifetime. This event comes here every single year. It’s important that I remind myself often not to take that for granted.” While many in the Chicago market were slow to embrace the national appeal of NASCAR, that organization changed the dynamics by beginning its playoff series here. “It’s the second mostwatched and followed sport in America behind the NFL in terms of TV ratings,” Paddock said. “We will have fans from all 50 states coming to Joliet this weekend. It will be broadcast nationally and also inter-
SPORTS | The Herald-News
Paddock proud to host Chase opener
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AP photo
Kevin Harvick drives his car Saturday during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. Harvick starts on the pole for Sunday’s myAFibRisk.com 400 and has two Sprint Cup series wins on the track.
“Part of the reason that NASCAR made the strategic decision to move the start of the Chase here five years ago was that they wanted to give it the big stage, the big platform that it deserved. And Chicago is a city that tends to take big events and make them even bigger. The drivers and their families love coming to this market and getting to enjoy all of the tourist attractions and the great dining establishments, all of those things.” Scott Paddock Chicagoland Speedway president
nationally around the globe. “So it’s a huge honor for Joliet and Will County to have a facility like this that attracts world-class events right in our backyard.” While the Chicago area may never join the likes of
Martinsville, Darlington, Richmond, Bristol, Daytona, Talladega or Charlotte among the beloved venues in the sport, the fact it was chosen to kick off the playoff series distinguishes it from many others.
“For the first 26 weeks of NASCAR’s regular season, all anyone is talking about is who is going to make that championship field of 16 at Chicagoland Speedway,” Paddock said. “It’s really elevated the profile of our event and made it much more national and international in scope. And our region has from that in a big way. “Part of the reason that NASCAR made the strategic decision to move the start of the Chase here five years ago was that they wanted to give it the big stage, the big platform that it deserved. And Chicago is a city that tends to take big events and make them even bigger. The drivers and their families love coming to this market and getting to enjoy all of the tourist attractions and the great dining establishments, all of those things.”
Paddock realizes that there are no guarantees, so the staff at the facility works hard each year in order to assure that their big moment goes off smoothly. Storms wiped out Friday night’s schedule. But better weather Saturday led to the Truck and Xfinity races going off without trouble and set the stage for Sunday’s main event. “Honestly, we feel a little bit of pressure to hold up our end of the bargain,” Paddock said. “The industry is counting on Chicagoland Speedway to kick off the Chase and that championship run over the next 10 weeks in a big way. “We haven’t failed them yet, and we’re not going to fail them this weekend. We’ve got an unbelievable weekend in store, and Sunday is going to be very special.”