From road courses to a dirt race to an exhibition event held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it’s no secret that NASCAR has been working to spice up its schedule in recent years.
With 36 races for points on the nine-month schedule, variety is necessary, and many drivers and fans embrace changes and experiments — even if they don’t work out perfectly the first time. So as NASCAR continues exploring new markets and coming up with entertaining ways to shake up the schedule, maybe a street course is next.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Thursday a street course is an event he’d like to see on the schedule, and he hopes the 2023 lineup will be released in August, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported.
At a press event in San Francisco, NASCAR President Steve Phelps said the plan is to remain bold with the schedule. He hopes the 2023 schedule will be released in August. Will it have a street course? And if so, would that replace an existing road course? His response: pic.twitter.com/SooczZs5K3
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 9, 2022
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Ahead of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, Phelps said about adding a street course to the schedule:
“You know that’s something that we’re exploring. It’s hard to say at this point. I personally think having a street course on the schedule would be a good thing. Where it is, what it is remains to be seen. But I think it’d be a part of our future, I really do.
“And I know there are some traditionalists that probably don’t like that. But with 36 points-paying races and two exhibitions, I think there’s room on the schedule for a street course.”
Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick expressed a similar sentiment earlier this season, saying he’d like a street course on the schedule. He applauded NASCAR for its recent “exciting” changes to the schedule.
“If there’s a right street circuit that we could race on, I just think something different brings in a new level of fans,” Hendrick said in March. “And it’s exciting. It’s something different to talk about. I think keep changing it up, and it just seems to bring in a lot of new people that we haven’t seen.”
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule has six road courses on it. The first was at Circuit of The Americas in March (won by Ross Chastain), and the second it Sunday at Sonoma. Then the series heads to Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course in July, followed by Watkins Glen International in August and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s roval (half oval, half road course) in the playoffs in October.
So would the addition of a street course eliminate one of NASCAR’s already existing road course races? Phelps weighed in on that too with uncertainty. He told FOX Sports:
“I don’t know. I think we’re getting to a point where we may have some saturation on the road course side of things. I think we’ll continue to listen to the fans and see what the fans are interested in seeing.
“They told us they wanted more road courses and short tracks. The short track thing has been difficult. We were able to do the road course piece really well obviously with the roval and the Indy road course. I think it’s a good mix for us right now, but not sure [about] ’23 to be honest with you.”
NASCAR fans will get their street course answer this summer if the schedule is released on Phelps’ projected timeline.
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