The Tracks Were There
NASCAR is in the middle of a public transition. The series is open to experimenting. It says it will be heading to new places but we have to wait.
Changes have already been made in its 2020 schedule. NASCAR will no longer go to Daytona on July 4th weekend but instead head in the end of August. The Brickyard 400 will move to Independence Day. Pocono will host a doubleheader, Bristol will be in September, Homestead will be in March and Phoenix will host the finale. And that was just the series moving the pieces it already has.
Everyone is looking to 2021 when every track's contract expires and after five years of stability the door will be opened to new venues joining the schedule. Everyone is expecting changes. Everyone is expecting a scheduling revolution. There is only one problem... the revolution has limited options.
If you have been keeping an ear on NASCAR for the last three years, the message is quite clear. Short tracks are the answer. Everyone is hard for short tracks and they want more of them. After expanding the scheduling and heading to the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile ovals that sprouting around the United States over the last 25 years, the congregation wants tighter confines. They want tracks less than a mile in length. They want speeds in the low 100-MPH range and not speeds that are kissing 200 MPH into the corner. It sounds great but it may prove to be easier said than done.
While still over a year and a half from 2021, not many outside tracks have stepped up and made a concerted effort to be a part of the discussion and heavily lobby for a race. The only location that has stood out is Nashville, the 1/2-mile track that last hosted NASCAR's Cup division in 1984. Nashville excited many but if you have been paying attention it does not appear to be going as planned.
The track has been met with some competition. While Bristol Motor Speedway has gotten involved in the renovation of the racetrack, the city has not received a sufficient proposal to update the racetrack citing a desire not to use public funding. Meanwhile, across the property a stadium is in the works for Nashville SC, the Major League Soccer club scheduled to have its inaugural season in 2020 but with the stadium not opening until the 2022 season. Not only would the stadium be directly next to the oval but the stadium project is also slated to bring other infrastructure to that area, including an apartment building, which would fall between the stadium and the racetrack and making it difficult for any type of track expansion to take place.
Nashville seems to be the white whale NASCAR is after but there are not many options outside of that. The only other tracks that host a national series but do not host the Cup series are Iowa, Gateway, Mid-Ohio, Mosport and Road America. NASCAR isn't just going to give each of those racetracks Cup dates even if it would make sense for Iowa, Gateway and Road America to get one but the issue could be that three tracks are not enough.
There aren't many North American venues that do not host a NASCAR touring division that could bring in the Cup series. The ones that are ready are road course, notable Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, even Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, which once hosted NASCAR's second division would all be suitable for a Cup date. Outside of those few places, there really isn't an oval readily available. It wasn't long ago when that wouldn't have been a problem.
During the 1990s there was a track building boom that saw the likes of Fontana, Gateway, Loudon, Homestead and Texas emerge. It continued into the 21st century and from there we got Kentucky, Kansas and Chicagoland. Those weren't the only new racetracks. NASCAR's lower divisions started going to Memphis, Pikes Peak, Nazareth and a new racetrack, a 1.333-mile oval, was built outside Nashville.
While some received Cup dates, others did not. Some were bought and the lower national series racers were taken away, dates given to other existing tracks and a few tracks were shut down.
Hindsight is a curse but 15 years after Humpy Wheeler was saying every NASCAR track needed 100,000 seats, NASCAR is looking for a Nazareth to spice up its schedule. Unfortunately for NASCAR, Mother Nature has reclaimed the once heralded less than a mile oval and it has become ruins. Pikes Peak would bring a race to a region without a major circuit series and a one-mile oval but that was scuttled to make it unsuitable for future use. Memphis has been mostly abandoned. The Nashville Superspeedway was not great but that has been left to be an automobile graveyard. Add to the list Milwaukee and Indianapolis Raceway Park and those are two other venues NASCAR has left for other ventures but both are arguably what fans are looking for.
Now, at a time when tracks that once held 100,000 people are closer to half that total, NASCAR finds itself looking for venues to fit but still want to live up to a standard. Outside of Iowa, every racetrack has a flaw. Nashville needs renovations, both in terms of grandstands and infield facilities. Gateway might be the right size but lack some of the amenities. Road America doesn't have garages. Mid-Ohio doesn't have garages and the pit lane is tight.
Unless NASCAR is willing to make concessions, the introduction of new tracks is not likely. At the turn of the 21st century, the move was to super-sized venues and series got used to such venues. Tracks with state of the art garages with fan areas intertwined became the norm and anything less than that is not acceptable. Current tracks, notably Richmond and Talladega, are spending tens of millions of dollars to update racetrack fan areas. A few tracks get a pass because of history. It doesn't matter that Martinsville, Bristol, Darlington and Dover lack some of the amenities; it is the joy of being grandfathered in after spending over a half-century on the schedule and people accepting less thrills in exchange for location but newer venues have a higher standard even if these tracks suit the current state of NASCAR.
NASCAR doesn't need news venues with 100,000 seats in 2019, 2020 or 2021. It doesn't need venues with multi-million garage areas and fan zones. Some of the ills could be address by re-calibrating where the series stands. In a sense, the Cup series needs to downsize and it needs to be more open. Gateway is a suitable venue for a race that would draw 50,000 people and openness comes from decisions to allow fans in when there otherwise would be a barrier for entry. Many series have scheduled autograph session with every driver participating. Many series allow people into the garage area and next to the cars for no extra cost or at least a reasonable cost. It might be time for NASCAR to open up in the same way.
There is a lot of time until 2021 but looking at all the pieces and the time that remains it is hard to see an abundance of new tracks coming onto the schedule, at least not at the rate people think is possible. Iowa is a possibility but whether Gateway, Road America and some other venues are considered comes down to whether NASCAR is flexible and understands where it currently sits.
While many look for variety it has to be remembered all the tracks left behind, the one-of-a-kind Nazareth Speedway, the one-mile Pikes Peak International Raceway and the 3/4-mile Memphis International Raceway, all tracks that lost out to the 1.5-mile ovals of Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, Chicagoland and Homestead to name a few.
It is ironic this search for smaller racetracks comes after NASCAR chose to visit identical racetracks nearly two decades ago. Now it is looking for options and they are not as readily available as they were when NASCAR was at the height of its power.
Champions From the Weekend
Cooper Webb clinched the Supercross championship with a third place finish at Las Vegas.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Jamie Chadwick but did you know...
The #8 Toyota of Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima won the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #31 DragonSpeed Oreca of Anthony Davidson, Roberto González and Pastor Maldonado won the LMP2 class. The #97 Aston Martin of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin won the GTE-Pro class. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell, Christian Ried and Riccardo Pera won the GTE-Am class.
Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Spanish Grand Prix, his second victory of the season. Lorenzo Baldassarri won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. Niccolò Antonelli won the Moto3 race.
The #6 Acura Team Penske Acura of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya won the IMSA race from Mid-Ohio. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports of Matt McMurry and Eric Lux won the LMP2 class. The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor won the GTLM class. The #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand won in the GTD class.
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Dover. Johnny Sauter won the Truck race.
Marco Wittmann and René Rast split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Series season opener from Hockenheim.
The #89 AKKA ASP Team Mercedes-AMG of Nico Bastien and Thomas Neubauer and the #4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel and Luca Stolz split the Blancpain World Challenge Europe races from Brands Hatch.
Eli Tomac won the Supercross finale from Las Vegas, his sixth victory of the season.
The #38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus of Yuji Tachikaka and Hiroki Ishiura won the Super GT race from Fuji. The #11 Gainer Nissan of Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda won the GT300 class.
Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin split the Supercars races from Barbagallo.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Formula One heads to Spain.
Formula E makes its biennial trip to Monaco.
NASCAR has a night race in Kansas.
European Le Mans Series will be in Monza for the second round of its season.
World Superbike will be southeast of ELMS at Imola
The Blancpain Endurance Series remains in the United Kingdom and has a three-hour race at Silverstone.
World Touring Car Cup remains in Eastern European but this week will be in Slovakia.
World Rally Championship stays in South America and heads west to Chile.
