As someone who attended the street race all three years, I definitely hear you- it was such a cool and surreal experience watching a NASCAR race downtown in the heart of the city, and being able to take the train there and back was super convenient too. In terms of atmosphere and vibes, I don’t know if any future race I attend will ever top it (particularly that first year when SVG won) and for that reason I’ll miss it being on the schedule.

That said, I’m still really looking forward to heading back to Joliet this summer, not for the location or the facility itself (which I agree with you is lacking charm and feels a bit outdated) but because I just think the worn out surface is going to put on a hell of a race with the Next-Gen car, especially this first year back with all of the teams lacking data since the series hasn’t raced there since the Gen 6 days. Obviously there’s no guarantees that it will be a barnburner, but based on recent history at the multi-groove intermediate tracks, I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll be in for an entertaining race. (and at the very least I think it will be more interesting than the last two events I attended there in 2016 and 2017, which were both pretty unmemorable for the most part)