Tuesday, NASCAR announced their schedule for 2021. Catchfence.com was the first to report the new schedule and it is new. In fact in my life, I’ve never seen as much change as this year upcoming.
Personally, I welcome the change.
It has been long overdue for NASCAR to revamp the same, gloomy schedule. In fact, it has gotten to a point where it was monotonous seeing the same races and the same boring results.
This change upcoming will be good for the sport in the long run.
I’m a traditional fan. I don’t want the crown jewels touched, I think they need to be the same length and the same dates. Leave Daytona, leave Darlington on Labor Day, leave Charlotte on Memorial Day and leave the Brickyard alone (we will get to this in a bit).
Don’t mess with the races that made our sport what it is today. For the most part, sort of, the Series crown jewel races will still be the same.
Daytona will open the year as it should with the Daytona 500. Charlotte looks to be the start of summer with its traditional Coke 600. Darlington will close it out with the Southern 500. All on the same traditional dates.
However, I am happy to see new tracks added and some tracks taken off. Starting with the good, I enjoy seeing an early season road course with a new track at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. This will be an event to watch and probably a hot ticket to get. Normally, it’s midsummer before we see the first road course. I love this change already.
Moving Homestead to week two of the season is another fantastic move. How many times have we seen rain outs or cold, gloomy days in Atlanta at the second race of the year. Keep it in warmer weather and stay on the east coast early.
We will also see a stretch of three straight short tracks with Bristol, an off-weekend, Martinsville and Richmond. This will be interesting to see who the short track ringer is and it’s early in the season. Also two short tracks to open the playoffs, another awesome scheduling addition.
Unlike popular belief, I like the addition of the Nashville Superspeedway. Yes, I would love to see the Fairgrounds as much as the next guy but getting the race to Nashville is big. The awards banquet is there, this will only draw the NASCAR attention to the ‘Country Music Capital of the World.’
My final good thing I see about this schedule is the addition of Road America. A midwest fan’s dream would be to have racing around and seeing it at one of the best road course in the country is even better. Then when you add it to a July 4th weekend, I really like this. If we can’t have the 4th of July weekend at Daytona, then let’s do it somewhere awesome. I love the adding this track and this date.
Are Some Changes Right?
Being in the midwest, I find it disappointing the Chicagoland will not be on the schedule. The track had produced some fantastic races while running in the summer. Were they the most exciting races all the time? No, but they were certainly better than two races at Atlanta.
Speaking of, adding another race to Atlanta is uncalled for. I understand the track has a worn surface but if you look at the last few races there what was thrilling about them? What was exciting about them? I guess I don’t see it.
Adding a second Darlington race makes sense with all the great races we saw there this year proves they should have races.
Plus Steve O’Donnell announced that it was going to have the low downforce package at both Darlington races. That makes sense. Atlanta does not and especially when they take away a race from Chicagoland where the racing has been decent.
And both races will be run with the low df package. https://t.co/bmueava45R
— Steve O'Donnell (@odsteve) September 30, 2020
Not giving a track like Gateway or Iowa also grinds my gears a bit. I love the Iowa Speedway and it has produced some great races for years. Unfortunately, the fans have dwindled but I feel adding a Cup date and it would fill back up.
Sadly, we may not ever see another race there. Gateway is in the same boat. They have their loyal fans but their loyal fans don’t fill the seats. Will these places that have great racing see a Cup date? I’d love to see it but I doubt it.
Finally, the biggest thing that I don’t agree with. Why are we touching a crown jewel?! The Brickyard 400 is not the most exciting race – I completely understand that – but why would you turn it into a road course and not run the traditional oval.
I may take some heat for it but don’t mess with this race. Add a road course race? Sure, go right ahead, but don’t take away a crown jewel event just because you have the chance for a road course.
Are some of the changes right? Most of them are, but some are not. Some of the changes may be out of the control of the tracks or NASCAR like Chicagoland. Others, however, aren’t and we saw some things go the opposite way than expected. Take it for what you will but that’s my thought.
Prove me wrong NASCAR.
