NASCAR champion says NASCAR has 'too many road courses'

For nearly three decades, NASCAR only had two road courses on the Cup Series schedule — Sonoma Raceway in California and Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of New York. 

That was still the case just eight short years ago in 2017. But in 2018, a third road-course race came to the calendar: the Charlotte Roval race, which turned Charlotte's playoff race into a new, zany road-course event. 

But 2021 was arguably the biggest tipping point regarding NASCAR road racing. After a wacky COVID season, NASCAR unveiled a 2021 schedule that featured not two, not three, but six road-course races, including trips to Road America and Circuit of the Americas and racing on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

This season, there are still six road-course races on the Cup Series schedule, albeit not all the same ones that were featured in 2021. COTA, Watkins Glen, Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval remain, but Mexico City and the Chicago Street Race have taken over dates from Road America and the Indy road course. 

Keselowski seems to think that road courses take up too much of the schedule, highlighting the fact that NASCAR's bread and butter is on ovals. And while yes, oval racing is still and forever will be what makes NASCAR unique, it's not necessarily a bad thing to have a diverse schedule like the one NASCAR boasts. 

Superspeedway races at Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega also equal six. There are six races at tracks under one mile in length — two each at Martinsville and Bristol, and one apiece at Richmond and Iowa. There are seven races at mile-and-a-half ovals and 11 at other intermediate tracks that range from one mile in length to 2.5 miles. Road courses don't dominate the schedule — they simply take up a few more weeks of it than they used to. 

NASCAR's schedule is arguably more diverse today than it's ever been. If you want to boast that your sport features the best race car drivers in the world, a unique, diverse schedule that features every possible track type is the best way to do so.