A Road Course-Only Series: A Viable Option For NASCAR?

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Based on the continued success of the Nationwide Series in Mexico City and Montreal, as well as the continued success of road-course ringers in those races year after year, I think it’s time that NASCAR looks into a major road course-only stock car series. As the sanctioning body attempts to assert a global presence, with its expansion into Mexico and Canada and its ever-growing base of foreign drivers, I feel that adding a series for the road course ringers would only serve to broaden NASCAR’s fan base around the world.

Certainly, the American economy isn’t in the greatest shape right now, with many sponsors looking to cut back on investments. Neither are the sport’s top three series, with all three struggling to fill fields on many weekends. Not only that, a lot of open-wheel and sports-car specialists who have attempted to break into stock car racing haven’t succeeded - partially due to lack of sponsorship, partially due to limited adaptability to ovals.

But with the proven talents of many road course ringers in stock cars, finding sponsorship for a 15-race road course-only series would be easier than for the entire 36-race Sprint Cup schedule. The return on the investment, in the form of great racing, would almost be guaranteed. It’d certainly be an interesting series to watch.

Imagine guys like Ron Fellows, Boris Said, Jacques Villeneuve, and Max Papis battling in stock cars for a full season. Imagine a series where the “ringers” were Sprint Cup drivers like Jimmie Johnson or Ryan Newman looking to gain extra track time, as both of them are this weekend. Imagine how much it could’ve done for a guy like Dario Franchitti to spend a season in stock cars on tracks he’s familiar with.

Occasionally, guys in other NASCAR series with road course experience like Marcos Ambrose and Colin Braun might show up on the companion weekends. You could even see some guys from the Canadian Tire Series, such as 5-time champion Don Thomson Jr., last year’s champion Andrew Ranger, and current series leader Scott Steckly show up, perhaps moving up the ladder to one of NASCAR’s top three series.

While the car count would likely be in the 20s, a number considered small by NASCAR’s standards, it fits perfectly with the expectations for other road course reliant series, from the IRL to Formula One to the respective classes (LMP1, GT1, etc.) of the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am. Even the Canadian Tire Series, newly sanctioned by NASCAR, doesn’t regularly draw more than 20-odd starters. The series would fit those comparisons much better than, say, a comparison with the Nationwide Series and its 43-car fields and 35-race season.

Besides companion races with the Sprint Cup Series in Sonoma and Watkins Glen, and with the Nationwide Series in Montreal, the series could team up with the IndyCars in St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, Mid-Ohio, and Detroit. Heck, maybe they could even re-open the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when the MotoGP bikes head to America. The series could go to Mexico as well, even without the Nationwide guys alongside them, and maybe even run at Daytona as a support race to the Rolex 24-hour event. That’s twelve races right there.

Sure, I understand that this is just a pipe dream, but it doesn’t make it any less enticing in my mind. I know I’d drive up to Montreal to watch the series. I’m sure a lot of other stock car fans would also enjoy the series, even if they considered it a novelty act. Maybe it’d even go a long way towards proving to Europe that stock car racing is one of the greatest forms of the sport in the world.

Regardless of the potential effects of the series, though, it’d just be cool to watch some more stock car races in the rain. That was really fun to watch.