Is Sonoma NASCAR’s New Bristol?
Jeff Owens
Jeff Owens has been covering NASCAR since 1991 and began covering the circuit full time in 1993. He has been with Street & Smith's Sports Group since 1998.
Are NASCAR’s road courses the new short tracks?
For years, NASCAR’s short ovals have been widely regarded as some of NASCAR’s most popular tracks, producing some of the best racing on the circuit.
After what we saw Sunday at Infineon Raceway, I’m wondering if the road courses might be on the verge of becoming the new short tracks. You know, kind of like 40 is the new 30?
With all the bumping and banging and spinning and fender-banging we saw in Sonoma, Calif., the action there certainly resembled a short track.
It even reminded me of Bristol and Martinsville the way Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose were trying to track down Kasey Kahne at the end while everyone behind them was busy wrecking and running into each other.
The only thing that could have enhanced the excitement would have been if Stewart or Ambrose had gotten close enough to Kahne to use their bumper or force their way into the lead.
Thinking back on it, it seems that the last few road-course races, all with NASCAR’s new model Sprint Cup car, have produced similar action, which suddenly makes the Aug. 9 race at Watkins Glen highly anticipated.
That also begs the question: If this new car, paired with the new double-file restarts, produces such compelling action in road races,
shouldn’t NASCAR consider adding another road course to the schedule?
How about Montreal?’
How about turning Pocono into a road course?
How about going to Daytona a third time and running the road course there?
And doesn’t Indy have a road course?
Road courses used to be a thorn in everyone’s side. They were boring to watch, drivers hated them, and practically everyone dreaded seeing them come up on the schedule.
But somehow NASCAR keeps producing compelling road races (maybe it is the road rage), so maybe we all need to adjust our thinking.
Maybe the road courses are the new short tracks.
Maybe Sonoma is the new Bristol.
