Tonight in Unpacks: NASCAR’s road race in Chicago is losing one of its founding sponsors as McDonald’s ends its support of the event after two years, SBJ’s Adam Stern reports.

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McDonald’s is ending its sponsorship of the Chicago NASCAR road race a year earlyGetty Images

McDonald’s is ending its founding sponsorship of the NASCAR Chicago road race two years into a three-year deal, terminating a local tie the July 5-6 event had with one of the city’s largest companies, SBJ’s Adam Stern reports.

In March 2023, the Chicago-based QSR giant became the first company to announce it would sponsor the inaugural summer race. However, sources said McDonald’s will no longer be a sponsor of the event this year, and its logo will no longer appear on NASCAR Chicago’s partner page on its website. NASCAR sought about $2 million annually over three years for founding partner positions, including advertising time on NBC Sports, SBJ previously reported, but the terms on which it ultimately settled with McDonald’s were unclear.

The road race’s remaining founding partners are ABB, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois and Xfinity, which are still listed on the racetrack’s website along with 17 other official partners.