Jeff Gordon on the fence about NASCAR running infield road courses
Jeff Gordon may be in Daytona for the Rolex 24 this weekend, but he still has plenty to say when it comes to NASCAR.
Jeff Gordon, Wayne Taylor Racing
Brian Cleary
Gordon was a part of the meetings that helped develop the new race format for NASCAR'S three national divisions and is a big supporter of the change. However, when it comes to utilizing infield road courses in future Monster Energy NASCAR Cup races, Gordon is going to need some more convincing.
NASCAR recently held a private test at Charlotte Motor Speedway with A.J. Allmendinger, testing the infield layout. When Motorsport.com asked Gordon if he is in favor of NASCAR going in that direction, he was on the fence, but is willing to see how it unfolds.
"That’s a tough one for me," he said. "I think that the Charlotte road course has a lot of work to do to be able to run a race there with the Cup cars ... A lot of barriers and safety features that would need to be added. It’s pretty narrow. I don’t know. I’d like to see one run, just to see how it goes first. There’s so much interest and it could be fun to watch so I think we should go ahead and do one. I don’t know if it’s going to be a points race or All-Star Race or what it may be. Might as well do one and see how it goes."
Gordon also admitted that he would much rather see traditional road courses such as Road America and Montreal get Cup dates.
"I do kind of like traditional road courses. I think they’re meant for that. That’s why those races (at Watkins Glen and Sonoma) are as exciting as they are. I tend to like the shorter ones for NASCAR (because) it allows more laps and a little bit higher speeds for our cars. I think it’s helpful to the drivers and to the teams and the fans to format it that way.
"I don’t know … I don’t want to judge until I see a group of cars out there racing at a place like Charlotte on the infield course."
The conundrum NASCAR faces is that fans are demanding more road course races, but there's nowhere to put them. With schedule already packed with 36 points events and the venues firmly locked down courtesy of the the recently introduced five-year sanctioning agreements, branching out to new circuits would be quite a challenge.
Nonetheless, NASCAR could take the idea of converting current oval races to road courses (or rovals, as they're sometimes referred to as) and employ them as a viable alternative to suffice the demand for more right-hand turns.
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