(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
After months of rumors and speculation, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule has officially been brought to light. To the sanctioning body’s credit, it lived up to expectation.
New venues. More road courses. Dirt. A few lost markets.
Longtime fans of NASCAR have grown used to familiarity with the tour’s annual visits. That vanished slightly in the COVID-19 era, but the changes will come tenfold next year.
It’s a lot to take in and understand, so I’ve tried to do the hard work for you.
Here’s a look at each of the changes and a few questions they may bring.
NASCAR on dirt
At the turn of the century, the fan-favorite Bristol Motor Speedway was presented to followers of the World of Outlaws and dirt late models in a unique experiment. Tons of dirt were brought in to cover the track’s traditional surface, allowing the cars to fly around the half-mile oval in a unique visual for fans of dirt racing and NASCAR alike.
Two decades later, the track’s going to give dirt another go. But this time it’s bringing NASCAR to the party.
The spring trip to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 28 will see the Last Great Colosseum host the first Cup race on dirt in upwards of five decades. Few details about the race were given, but the stars of NASCAR’s top tour will compete on dirt when they return to the high-banked oval next spring.
“We have hosted dirt races here before – it is kind of a natural progression into a modern NASCAR of trying things,” BMS president Jerry Caldwell said on Wednesday. “This comes from feedback from fans. They’ve asked for this (dirt racing) for years.”
This will mark arguably NASCAR’s biggest risk with the schedule shakeup. The Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series has competed annually on dirt at Eldora Speedway since 2013, but that race has been held with different cars on a natural dirt track.
Bristol’s last dirt experiment came to an early end. Track preparation proved difficult in the varying weather conditions and speeds were intense for the sprint cars. The renewed push for Bristol dirt racing will bring the added variables of NASCAR’s heavy stock cars and the lack of dirt experience for many drivers in the field, all at a fan-favorite venue known for thrilling racing.
It could be an all-time great event. It could be an embarrassing farce.
Either way, it should be a must-see spectacle – at least once.
Questions
- Will the dirt layout on Bristol’s high-banked oval be conducive to NASCAR Cup cars?
- How will fans react to the race? Spring race attendance has been a struggle. Will they attend this altered event?
- Can the Cup field adapt smoothly to the unique conditions without looking amateurish?
- If the race succeeds, will the Next Gen cars in 2022 be capable of the same racing?
- If NASCAR wants to try dirt, will the sport ever consider sending Cup to a natural dirt track?
On the road (courses) again
For a long time road courses felt like a foreign part of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. They were the events that legends of the sport like Dale Earnhardt had to endure, not the tracks where they made their name.
But while they still may be divisive to some, for many in the modern era road courses have become a highlight on the annual schedule.
NASCAR is buying into that mindset in 2021, filling six of the 36 points paying races with circuits that will include right turns along with the traditional lefts.
Formula 1 mainstay Circuit of the Americas is leading the charge, taking one of Lone Star State neighbor Texas Motor Speedway’s points races to host NASCAR for the first time. Speedway Motorsports will lease the tack for the event, keeping from losing the television money and ticket revenue it would have lost otherwise.
COTA is a premier venue with modern amenities, located in a growing market by Austin, Texas. There’s opportunity to promote the event to the younger populace in the area and build the event into something of a destination race
Wisconsin beauty Road America is also joining the series tour, preparing to host NASCAR’s premier division on the 4.048-mile road course for the first time. Its addition comes after a decade of NASCAR Xfinity Series races, many of them strong with unique winners such as Jeremy Clements and Nelson Piquet Jr.
The track serves to benefit from the loss of a date for nearby Chicagoland Speedway (we’ll get to that), making it the facility of note for fans in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.
The biggest change for traditional fans will come a few states south at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nearly 27 years after the inaugural Brickyard 400, NASCAR’s top tour will instead be competing on the road course – a move many drivers indicated they didn’t want during July’s race.
NASCAR trialed the idea in July with the Xfinity Series, running a doubleheader on the road course with the NTT IndyCar Series on Saturday. The race was one of the best of the year for the tour. It may take something similar from the Cup field for the sanctioning body to justify removing a crown jewel in the oval’s Brickyard 400, even if fans had soured on the event over the past 15 years.
Returning to the schedule are Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval – the last serving as the only playoff event of the group.
With a sixth of the schedule consisting of road courses and playoff points and berths at stake, NASCAR’s top drivers and teams will have to take the slate seriously and devote significant resources to performing well in them. The stint is also both long enough to entice potential part-time competitors while staying short enough to make securing funding feasible.
That will make road courses a central talking point among members of NASCAR’s top tour in 2021.
Questions:
- Will the races at Circuit of the Americas and Road America deliver?
- Will the change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway be well received? Can the event retain some semblance of crown jewel status if it had any left beforehand?
- Will any road course aces consider running one or all of the six-race slate?
- Will NASCAR consider implementing local yellows with added road courses?
- Stages can hamper strategy on road courses. Would the sanctioning body consider altering their format for these races?
Less of the Midwest
Are you an oval-only racing fan in the area around the states of Indiana, Michigan and Illinois?
If so, I’ve got bad news for you – your nearby NASCAR options are suddenly supremely limited.
Before the arrival of COVID-19, NASCAR fans in the area had options to attend oval events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.
Of those, only one will remain in 2021. And it’s losing a race, too.
Gone are Chicagoland and Kentucky, sacrifices amid a push for fewer races on 1.5-mile ovals. Michigan will remain on the schedule, but is losing one of its two races in favor of a second race at Darlington Raceway.
Indianapolis will remain on the schedule, but is shifting things over to the road course. The only new addition to the territory is another road course in Road America up the road in Wisconsin.
Opinions on the changes are bound to be varied.
Chicagoland had become something of a darling on the intermediate schedule, with classic races in both 2018 (slidejob!) and 2019 (Alex Bowman’s breakthrough). But the track was in a difficult location – in Joliet, far removed from Chicago proper – and the event had lost some of its luster after being shifted from its spot as the playoff opener in 2018.
Kentucky has played host to breakthroughs and memorable races in NASCAR’s second and third tours, but it’s probably the easiest track for most fans to let go of. From the traffic-plagued 2011 debut onward, the Cup Series never quite found its rhythm in the Bluegrass State. There were no standout races, though late restarts yielded two classic finishes in its final two events with Kurt Busch ending out brother Kyle in 2019 and Cole Custer going four-wide for a surprise breakthrough in July.
Questions
- Will Michigan International Speedway be able to sustain operations with one less race?
- What will come of Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway?
- Will Road America be able to capitalize on the market space freed up with the loss of Chicagoland Speedway?
- Can Indianapolis Motor Speedway make local fans care about the road course in a way they once did about the Brickyard?
All-Star Race in the Lone Star State
The 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race will take place in No Limits, Texas.
That’s not to say it won’t have limitations.
Make no mistake: Texas Motor Speedway isn’t the most popular track on the NASCAR circuit. A handful of subpar races after a recent repaving and restructuring have made the Dallas-Fort Worth facility’s two dates some of the least-beloved on the tour.
That likely played a hand in NASCAR’s push to take a race down the road to Austin and Circuit of the Americas, leaving Texas with the All-Star Race in place of one of its traditional 500-mile races.
It’s understandable to be disappointed that the All-Star Race is leaving Bristol after just one year, though it wasn’t exactly a barnburner, either. But this could be a positive move.
Texas hosting the All-Star Race is much different from the traditional 500-mile events that sometimes become snoozers at the track. This will be a shorter race that can be marketed and made into something resembling a spectacle with enough effort. With Eddie Gossage and his staff leading the way, anything’s one the table.
A short, wacky All-Star Race can minimize all of Texas’ flaws. And even if it ultimately proves terrible, it’s only a short exhibition race. That makes it a low risk proposition for all involved.
Questions
- What format or style can Texas implement to make its All-Star Race unique and memorable?
- Will a shorter race work better for Texas the the usual 500-mile tests of endurance?
- Will any of the things seen in the 2020 All-Star Race – underglow, shifted numbers, etc. – make a return?
Nashville NASCAR
Dover International Speedway is a unique track – a tight, narrow concrete mile with blistering lap times and few places to go when things go awry. That action and the profitability of the accompanying casino have made the Delaware facility a two-stop mainstay on the NASCAR schedule for years.
But in recent seasons Dover has struggled. The on-track product has diminished while attendance has waned, leaving the track struggling to fill the stands its two race weekends and making it a forgettable part of the schedule.
In need of something to freshen up the 2021 tour, one of Dover’s two dates is being shifted to a track not seen for a decade in Tennessee’s Nashville Superspeedway.
The move brings NASCAR to the Nashville market – an area so sought after that the NTT IndyCar Series is also entering it next year with a race on a street circuit. But it does so amid a small layer of controversy.
Make no mistake, NASCAR fans wanted to see the racing series return to Nashville. But they wanted the return to come at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, a popular short track beloved by many members of the industry.
That race seemed possible for a time, with Speedway Motorsports eager to assist its creation. But local governance expressed more interest in the Major League Soccer stadium being build alongside the track and discussions of a Fairgrounds trip grew quieter over the course of 2020.
So NASCAR will instead go to Nashville Superspeedway, a track that resembles an intermediate more than a short track.
Reactions to the news were mixed and will likely remain so until the race is held. NASCAR will utilize the higher-horsepower, lower-downforce rules package for the Cup race, which gives it promise for success. But the quality of the race will determine whether the freshness of a new market lasts or fades in time.
Questions
- Will local race fans fill the stands at Nashville Superspeedway?
- Does this track’s addition end all talks of a Cup race at the Fairgrounds?
- Will Dover benefit from having just one race in Delaware to market and host?
- Can both NASCAR and IndyCar succeed with their new races without flooding the Nashville market?
Doubling Up
While others are seeing races disappear from the Cup Series calendar, two series mainstays will welcome an additional date on the 2021 schedule.
The first is a track that’s hosted three races in the coronavirus-altered 2020 schedule: Darlington Raceway. In a move that will see it become a holiday feature, Darlington is returning to Mother’s Day weekend with a spring race while retaining the Southern 500 on the typical Labor Day slot.
In Darlington teams will find a track located close to home, while fans will be given more racing at a beloved venue that’s delivered many entertaining races over recent years. Whether the track will be able to market a non-throwback weekend and bring in spectators remains to be seen, but there are worse places that could hold two events.
A little further down the road in Georgia, Atlanta Motor Speedway will also welcome NASCAR for a second race weekend in 2021.
While not a track that had viewers beckoning for another race, Atlanta is a unique 1.5-mile oval with a heavily-worn racing surface that emphasizes tire management in a way rarely seen in modern NASCAR.
But this move may not have too much to do with the racing itself. There have been proposals for the creation of a bold entertainment project that would include a casino resort on the outskirts of the track. Atlanta is also going to be due for a repave at some point, where it’s likely that Speedway Motorsports could aim for a restructuring.
Questions
- Can Darlington successfully market and sell local fans on a second race weekend?
- Will Atlanta’s future plans and projects be bolstered by the addition of a second race weekend?
Other Notes
While not as grand or notable as the changes mentions above, there were a host of smaller details to note from NASCAR’s schedule reveal. Let’s roll through them.
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First of all, midweek races are done… At least for now.
NASCAR trialed midweek races by necessity over the summer of 2020, desperately needing to complete races en masse to catch up to the planned 36-race schedule after spending two months off due to COVID-19.
The races themselves were fine, but the rating’s weren’t good. Each week brought a disappointing number compared to Saturday and Sunday shows, even with the series competing in a time with minimal sports competition. Throw in the added rush and headache for teams scrambling to run multiple races in a week, and it’s easy to see why NASCAR chose to leave midweek races on the table.
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There were a litany of major schedule shakeups, but none of them landed in the playoffs.
The 10 tracks that are hosting playoff rounds this year will do the same in 2021, falling in the same rounds. Only one change will fall in the final 10 races, with Texas and Kansas Speedway swapping spots in the Round of 8. Texas will kick off the round, with Kansas taking the middle race.
Given the wild amounts of change to the 2021 schedule, seeing almost nothing altered for the playoffs was an interesting twist. That portion of the season should feel oddly familiar next year.
But it’s worth nothing that the playoffs were just shaken up prior to this year – hello, Phoenix finale – and tracks were likely less willing to be flexible with playoff dates.
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Two notable omissions came from tracks in the middle of the country that were eager for a Cup date – World Wide Technology Raceway and Iowa Speedway.
WWT Raceway has made a case for deserving NASCAR’s top flight in recent years, bouncing back from relative dormancy in the early stages of the decade to fill the stands with thousands for an annual trip from the NTT IndyCar Series.
While the schedules for NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series have yet to be revealed, recent history would show that WWT is likely to keep at least a Truck Series date. The track’s quest for a Cup date will have to wait until at least 2022.
Iowa’s future seems less optimistic. After years of failing to secure a race from NASCAR’s top tour, the Iowan facility has seen dwindling attendance for both NASCAR and IndyCar over the years.
There have been rumors of sales talks surrounding the track, with Roger Penske among the names listed as a potential buyer. But nothing’s come of the scuttlebutt to date and IndyCar notably left Iowa off of its 2021 schedule, which was released on Thursday.
There’s still potential for an Xfinity or Truck Series date at the moment. But if Iowa’s absent from their schedules as well, the facility’s days might be numbered.
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The 2021 schedule is bold and unique, but it may just be the beginning. NASCAR’s top brass have already indicated that more changes could be coming in 2022 and beyond.
That’s notable given the sheer amount of additions for next year, as well as the changes that weren’t made.
Could future years see playoff alterations? Street courses? What about short tracks? Fans have clamored for short tracks right alongside road courses, but no tracks under a mile in length were added to the 2021 schedule.
The success – or lack thereof – of each facility’s race weekend will be something worth following, with the tension for tracks to succeed being as great or perhaps even greater than ever.
