The 2024 season is slowly making its presence felt as NASCAR is set to bid adieu to the ongoing season after the remaining seven playoff races. With the carpets slowly being rolled to the upcoming season, NASCAR’s authority is ready to play the game of probabilities on its chessboard, determining the fate of the existing along with abandoned and desolate tracks and whether they will be able to make it to the 2024 schedule.
Moreover, NASCAR has never shied away from incorporating unconventional venues in its schedules in order to increase its reach among the racing community, along with the axing of existing venues, and that has been recurrent every year. Owing to this, the governing body seems to be ready to chop off one such iconic track from its calendar in the upcoming season.
NASCAR announces the removal of one iconic track for the 2024 season
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With the culmination of the first set of playoff races and gearing up for the second half, NASCAR on Sunday provided a small glimpse of the possible schedule of the series. The governing body had announced that LA Coliseum would be returning for its third season, however, will be preceded by NASCAR’s Mexico Series. Moreover, there have been muffled speculations that the iconic track of Chicagoland might make its grand entrance in the upcoming season.
While these mark the inclusion of modified and improved venues in the calendar, NASCAR is also set to efface the iconic track of Road America from its 2024 schedule. After the Cup Series retracted from the track to host its inaugural street course race, the Xfinity Series was a regular visitor on this track, with Sam Mayer clinging last victory in July.
It would be the first time since 2009, that Road America won’t be hosting a NASCAR race on its track. Although the exact reason behind such a decision is yet to be unearthed, it is speculated that the 2024 Olympics is one of the key reasons behind this announcement. Nevertheless, it is also conjectured that the exclusion of the track from the calendar is a short-term affair, rather than a permanent one.
According to an article released by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Olympics, which coincides with the possible time of the race at Road America, and the broadcasting partners NBC and its subsidiaries would be focused on covering those games. This perhaps led to the authorities in dropping the Xfinity races from the venue. However, the track will continue to host the IndyCar races during that time period.
“For the first time since 2009, Road America won’t host a NASCAR race next year, track shareholders were told over the weekend.” – @JournalSentinel https://t.co/0ThwVtMRQe
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) September 17, 2023
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Fans bash NASCAR authorities after removing Road America from the calendar
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Although it is speculated that it will be a temporary affair, and the Xfinity series will be returning to the iconic road course, it is the fans who are far from being convinced about the news. The announcement apparently enraged the fans as they took to Reddit to express their disappointment.
Many wrote, “Kinda feel NASCAR’s going a bit backward with their schedules this past few weeks/months.”
“This is awful news. I don’t know why people seemed to insist this track wasn’t good, imo it was the best road course on the schedule besides Watkins Glen. Even if Cup wasn’t 10/10 there, Xfinity definitely was.”
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“I do hope it’s a short-term term hiatus. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Xfinity races at RA. It’s been on the calendar for 13 years, and I felt it was a standalone staple.”
Others also joined in and commented, “Well that stinks. Best road course in North America and NASCAR won’t compete on it.”
“NASCAR penalizes Road America for having awesome crowds, good racing, and a world-class track atmosphere.”
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With that being said, it is to be seen what the authority has in store for the fans and how they deal with the recent announcements. While the official schedule is yet to be released, NASCAR seems to have taken a dynamic approach to make the sport more diverse and inclusive.