Watkins Glen President Speaks Against Adding More ‘Road Course’ Races in NASCAR

For the last several years, NASCAR has always raced at oval tracks. However, with the progression of time, road courses have been added to the calendar. It is safe to say that the fans have been delighted at the prospect of more road courses.

NASCAR evidently obliged and added the Charlotte ROVAL and the Daytona road course. However, not everyone is thrilled about this prospect. Recently, the Watkins Glen circuit president, Michael Printup, spoke to Jalopnik in an interview about the rise of road courses.

“Right now we have an ideal mix of road course races. Watkins Glen and Sonoma have been some of the best races on the schedule,” Printup said. “The fans love it.”

It is also noteworthy that Tony Stewart pitched the idea of the Circuit of The Americas hosting a NASCAR race. His comments came after he tested a stock car ahead of the 2019 Formula One race. Unfortunately, Printup shot down that notion and insisted that the circuit was too long.

He also said that the COTA circuit is quite a very technical and challenging course. This is largely due to the fact that it has a vast number of corners, hence it is not an ideal NASCAR track.

What else did he say about road courses in NASCAR?

Fortunately, COTA possesses an alternate layout, to cater to a slower form of racing. Case in point, the 2013 V8 Supercars grid raced at an abbreviated version of the full F1 course.

Furthermore, Road America is another circuit that could be a potential candidate for a place on the calendar. In fact, the Xfinity series competed at the venue last week.

Interestingly, Printup made a surprising suggestion for a potential road course event for the NASCAR calendar. He said, “VIR would be a great addition. It has the sight lines, the elevation changes, everything a natural terrain course should have.”