ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - NASCAR will make their return to the St. Louis-area this weekend, with the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, set to host the NASCAR Cup and Truck Series races.
There will be plenty of events at the weekend to celebrate the race week, including the Confluence Music Festival, which will feature performances by Ludacris, T-Pain, Riley Green and Adam Wainwright. Wainwright will perform at the Festival on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., hours before the Enjoy Illinois 300 gets underway at 2:30 p.m.
"What they have done over there at the racetrack is that they have created an event," said former NASCAR driver and St.Louis-native Kenny Wallace on KMOX's Total Information A.M. Thursday. "You are just not going over there just to watch a race."
Wallace says it is huge for NASCAR to come to the St. Louis-area, due to the popularity it still has with people, especially in the South.
"People always want to know how big NASCAR as and I always say 'Ok, so you love college football right and the 'Big House' (in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and they brag it seats 100,000 people, NASCAR does that every weekend, anywhere between 60,000 to 100,000 '" said Wallace. "TV is now a big thing too....and everywhere NASCAR is getting broadcasted, streamed....we're getting over 4 million viewers. Think about that. 4 million people are watching these NASCAR races."
Wallace says the weekend at the race track will be 'super exciting' not just for the NASCAR fans and the track, but for the whole St. Louis-area too.
"We are so lucky to see our city doing so good right now, with the new soccer team and (the race). This is only the third year for the biggest form of motorsport to come to St. Louis, so we are not messing this up," said Wallace. "We are doing this right and we got music festival, then the NASCAR Truck Series on Saturday then the Cup Series race on Sunday. There is so much going on."
The festivities officially begin Thursday with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee 5K that will take place at the race track from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.. Ballpark Village will host fan-fest Friday that will take begin at 11 a.m. to 4 p.m..