Jacqueline Herrera named general manager of Chicagoland Speedway
As a child, Jacque Herrera was heading to Chicagoland Speedway to watch the stars of NASCAR rip around the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Illinois.
She gets to relive those glory days in a new way now as Herrera was introduced as general manager of Chicagoland Speedway on Tuesday, just under eight months before NASCAR makes its triumphant return to Will County for the 2026 Fourth of July weekend.
The opportunity comes with great responsibility, Herrera recognized in a Tuesday teleconference with NASCAR.com, but it is also coupled with a strong sense of pride for a woman who was born and raised in Chicago.
The opportunity comes with great responsibility, Herrera recognized in a Tuesday teleconference with NASCAR.com, but it is also coupled with a strong sense of pride for a woman who was born and raised in Chicago.
“Being a lifelong NASCAR fan, attending races as a kid with my dad, I went to Joliet so many times on the weekends with my aunts and cousins, spending the weekends out there,” Herrera said. “So Joliet is very near and dear to my heart. And to see it come full circle, never in my wildest dreams did I expect the little girl from Chicago that used to attend the races to become the GM of Chicagoland Speedway.”
Those memories as a little girl come flooding back to her now. Herrera, the self-proclaimed tomboy among her two sisters, recalls her first experience at the track when Tony Stewart won on a day she and her father went to the race by themselves. Forgotten sunscreen left her burnt in the summer sun, but “that was actually probably one of my best memories with my dad.”
“It was just exciting to see, being there as a young kid, seeing all the race fans my first race and actually seeing what racing was about,” she said. “My dad had always talked about it. He had been to a few races without us and with a couple buddies, and we all became die-hard NASCAR fans growing up.”
Years later, Herrera returns to Chicagoland as NASCAR heads back to the 1.5-mile tri-oval for the first time since 2019, but with plenty of experience under her belt, to boot. Herrera spent the last three years as Director of Community Relations for the Chicago Street Race, fostering relationships within the city that connected both her and NASCAR to local leaders and organizations around the area.
Those experiences, she said, will be invaluable as she transitions that focus to the Joliet property.
“One of the most important parts of my job,” Herrera said, “is getting to know and build these relationships with the local community, with city officials and different departments and just see and listen to the people that live in this area as well. See what’s working, what’s not working. How can we better ourselves? Better what we’re doing in the community, how we can implement new initiatives, either with partnerships with Chicago Public Schools, or After School Matters or anyone that we’re working with.
“To see those kids become race fans, I think that’s probably the best part of my job – basically being out there serving the community that we race in and making sure that we are actually having an impact in the community.”
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