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 Thursday's schedule announcement reflects how the sanctioning body
is now coordinating with the sport's stakeholders, including fans,
to help it grow. After signing tracks to long term contracts -- a
precedent -- NASCAR can now give promoters, fans and sponsors some
time for advance planning.
But what about doing something that is also missing and much needed
in the sport? If NASCAR wants to portray the champion of its premier
series as the best driver in America, it should include a road race
in the Chase.
In the past 30 years, there have been only five champions who have
not scored a victory on a road circuit at some time in their career.
So it would not necessarily penalize drivers who don't have an
affinity for road racing to add one to the Chase. Even if it did
favor some drivers over others, NASCAR's champion should demonstrate
the ability to race on all types of tracks and a road circuit is the
only type currently missing.
It didn't use to be this way. Starting in the 1950s, NASCAR's
season-long points championship went through road circuits on a
regular basis. The Chase and its postseason format changed that.
 There are several options for moving a road race into the 12-race
playoffs. This includes adding a 37th race to the schedule or
introducing a road circuit to the schedule while dropping an oval
(the Bristol Motor Speedway's spring date comes to mind). Just as
the Talladega Superspeedway was switched on next year's fall
schedule to avoid having a restrictor plate track as a Chase
elimination race, why not switch one of the current road circuit
dates to later in the season?
Date equity is important to fans and a long-proven formula in all
forms of motor racing. The Sonoma Raceway or Watkins Glen
International, each with suitable seating capacities for the
playoffs, will not necessarily have to move far from their current
dates.
Because of its seating capacity and invariably interesting races,
the Sonoma Raceway in California is the best candidate to move into
the Chase. The best case scenario would be to leave its early summer
race in place and add a date during the Chase. Bruton Smith, who
operates both Bristol and Sonoma, could make that happen by dropping
the spring date in Bristol, which continues to be an embarrassingly
poor draw, and replacing it with a second Sonoma race in the fall.
The Watkins Glen track became world famous for hosting a round of
the Formula 1 championship in the fall when the autumn colors of
upstate New York were blazing. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch
to move the current date from August into the first round of the
Chase. If the announcement of a new date came 16 months in advance,
it's likely the Glen would benefit from this change.
In either case, the Dover International Speedway could be bumped
back to the pre-Chase schedule. The one-mile Dover track is
currently one of many intermediate ovals in the Chase and there
would still be a mile oval in the Chase in New Hampshire and at
Phoenix.
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One often wonders if the two road circuits on the current schedule
arrived only because NASCAR and its title sponsors wanted to get
closer to major metropolitan areas that had no nearby oval
available, i.e. San Francisco and New York City. Even if that was
the original intent, the racing has become really good at Sonoma
after it was modified to have fewer corners and on the high-speed
short course of Watkins Glen.
The Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series each have road circuits
on the schedule, possibly for the same reason as the Cup schedule.
The Xfinity Series races at Road America and Mid-Ohio are relatively
close to Chicago and Columbus, respectively, home to some of
America's biggest corporations. The circuit known as Mosport on the
truck series schedule is close to Toronto and currently the only
race for a traveling series held in Canada.
But as in the Cup series, the road races in the understudy venues
have proven to be worthy and exciting. They also mean that any
future competitors in NASCAR's Cup series have been schooled in
driving a stock-based racer on a road circuit.
NASCAR officials have said next year's title sponsorship candidates
currently number 10. If one of them is headquartered close to a road
circuit, that may enhance the chances of getting one into the Chase.
NASCAR officials have already said the door remains open to putting
in a road circuit.
Ultimately, it should be about proving which driver is the best. The
2015 champion, Kyle Busch, won five races during his admirable
comeback from injuries. If you ask fans, media and competitors which
victory last year by Busch most impressed them, it would likely be
his stirring drive at Sonoma.
A competitor doesn't necessarily have to prove to be a champion by
winning on a road circuit. But the road to the title should have
some right turns as well as left.
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