NASCAR’s top racing returns to St. Louis on the heels of last year’s sellout

NASCAR’s top racing series is set to return to the St. Louis region this weekend for the second Enjoy Illinois 300 race, after last year’s inaugural event.

The NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway offers the region the chance to solidify the Metro East track as a perennial destination for top racing, especially after last year’s race sold out, said the track’s owner, Curtis Francois.

“It definitely goes down as one of the largest motor sports events in the history of St. Louis,” he said. “We expect, with everything that is going on in NASCAR, it to be equally exciting in 2023.”

Last year’s success set high expectations on Francois and his team this year, he added, since many fans were already making plans to return even before the race began last year.

“We have a lot to do this year,” he said. “Have to make sure when people come back they see we didn’t just rest on our laurels. We are pushing forward.”

It means doubling down on the elements that worked well, while retooling some of the pressure points from last year, Francois said. One area of improvement is the traffic and pedestrian flows around the track’s facility to help people get in and out more easily, he said.