The track not operating has to do with the owners (NASCAR), if it is not a Cup race they do not care, Look at the tracks they bought and closed, Nazareth, Pikes Peak, Iowa, ect. The dirt track at Route 66 did not close from what I have heard, it was leased to a second party, NASCAR wanted to close it but had to honor the lease. as for as Illinois, WWT (Gateway) is also in Illinois and it did not close down. Another thing that I heard about was they wanted to sell a large portion of land that the oval sits on and the city of Joliet really did not want a bunch of new warehouses their.
What NASCAR needs to do is sell Route 66 property to someone that will look after it properly.