Photo courtesy of Nashville Superspeedway
It’s back to relatively normal from here on out.
When the checkered flag finally flew Sunday at the Indianapolis Road Course, it marked the end of the new tracks for the 2021 season. The last 12 races will all be run at tracks that NASCAR has run for several years. But, before we move ahead, let’s look back at the five new tracks and see which have the most staying potential, and which have the least.
5. Indianapolis Road Course
What is there to even say about this race? They moved it from the oval, which was good. It just wasn’t working anymore. However, the fact that the race still pretended to be a crown jewel event was frankly a little embarrassing; and that’s not even getting into the race itself. What’s unfortunate is that the first 80 percent of this race was very good. When the caution for debris fell with eight laps to go, everyone knew things would get crazy; but nobody could’ve predicted what happened next. The poor track conditions and sloppy racing was a horrible look for the sport on the most famous racetrack in the world. The Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin fiasco only added fuel to the fire. While seeing Aj Allmendinger get the upset win was a special moment, it doesn’t outweigh the bad unfortunately. Here’s the simple truth: IndyCar doesn’t race Daytona. NASCAR shouldn’t run Indianapolis anymore. It’s time to go back to Indianapolis Raceway Park. 2008 killed the oval, and this race turned a lot of fans off from the road course.
4. Bristol Dirt
While this race was a mess, there are ways to fix them come next year. For one, this race should definitely be run under the lights. Dust and visibility were a predictable issue, and led to more carnage than necessary. However, the biggest issue with Bristol Dirt is that it is at Bristol in the Spring. For one, Bristol doesn’t have good weather in the Spring to begin with, just ask 2006, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. Even if they scheduled the race for Saturday night, like the truck race that was washed out after that muddy heat race, it’s no guarantee that they’d get to run it. That’s not to mention the fact that a dirt race at Bristol takes away from a regular Bristol race, which are routinely two of the best races all season. While I understand that Bristol has been struggling in Spring attendance, I don’t see how a mystery like this would sell more than a regular great race they put on. I think dirt can work in the Cup series; but why not go to Eldora for it?
3. Circuit of the Americas
It was really hard to get a gauge on Circuit of the Americas because it didn’t get a clean race. What most fans will remember about this race was the absolute mayhem when NASCAR tried to run rain tires on a track too fast and in rain that was too heavy. While this was more NASCAR’s fault than the track, it may leave some fans with less than stellar opinions on the track. However, even in light rain, there were good side-by-side battles throughout the field. The differing pit strategies would’ve made for an interesting finish had it not been rain-shortened, though I’m sure fans didn’t mind too much with Chase Elliott grabbing the win. The big issue with COTA is finances. The track has been hemorrhaging money before NASCAR came in, and losing an F1 race last year did the track no favors. The racing can be very good in Austin, but the ball is not in NASCAR’s court.
2. Nashville
I was happy to see Nashville return to NASCAR this year. Now it seems like the city is here to stay. The triple-header weekend left many good storylines, with solid, multi-groove racing, Ryan Preece winning his Truck Series debut, Kyle Busch’s 100th Xfinity win and Kyle Larson doing Kyle Larson things on Sunday. The track had a great turnout, albeit with a huge traffic jam on Sunday, making it hard for NASCAR to leave town. While I think the Superspeedway is a good spot for the next three years of its agreement, I think the longevity lies more toward the city of Nashville than the track itself. While the city will host the NASCAR Awards at the end of the season, the city has also been having tense town halls for months now about whether or not to bring NASCAR back to Nashville Fairgrounds. Seeing how successful the SRX race was at the Fairgrounds, and seeing the names going to bat for the track, I think the deal gets done sooner or later, and NASCAR will naturally shift from the Superspeedway to the Fairgrounds.
1. Road America
I wasn’t a huge fan of the move to put Road America on the 4th of July weekend, as I miss Daytona running that week. Holy smokes, did I change my mind. Not only was the racing very good like the Xfinity series has always been, the fan turnout was absolutely spectacular. I heard many accounts of fans at the track, and haven’t heard anything negative. With six road courses expected next year, I could see Road America being the most anticipated out of all of them. On top of that, having Road America run on America’s birthday seems serendipitous, an easy ticket seller. NASCAR hit a home run with this move.
Obviously, these races could all run completely differently next year. Just look at this year’s Daytona 500 compared to last year. However, the hardest thing for race fan’s to get past is a first impression. Will these tracks help or hurt their reputation in the coming years in the Next-Gen car will be a fascinating storyline to follow.
What did you think about the five new tracks on the 2021 schedule? Feel free to leave a comment on this story or tweet me @HBLoomis. Let’s talk racing!
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