Why Is NASCAR Slowly Moving Away From Its History as It Closes In on New Era of Road Courses?

From Bobby Allison winning 6 trophies at California’s Riverside track to Jeff Gordon dominating Sonoma with five wins, NASCAR drivers have excelled at road tracks for ages. Although the primary basis of NASCAR racing has been on ovals, we have seen the unique challenge of road course racing amplifying fan entertainment. So the sport’s executives scattered these races in the Cup schedule, like when Sonoma and Watkins Glen entered the scene in the 1980s.

Standing in 2024, however, the scenario has gone up a notch. The Chicago Street Race debuted in 2023 and as we saw, the weather-beaten, rain-drenched event was a thumping success. Shane van Gisbergen dominated that race, while this year, Alex Bowman won it. For 2025, the spotlight will be on more such exhilarating road course races with new venues on the schedule.

NASCAR’s gripped in a road course charm

NASCAR’s second sanctioned race during the inaugural 1949 season was on a road course–a 4.150-mile circuit right on Daytona Beach. Yet the series has been a stock car show for most of its existence. With restrictor-plate racing being a different animal all to itself and intermediate tracks gaining an edge after the Next-Gen debut, fans have been acclimated to oval racing. However, that trend seems slanting towards a change. The 2023 schedule featured 6 road course races including the oval hybrid in Charlotte. This season, we saw an elimination of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course race – but that only meant newer names on the schedule.

For 2025, we will have five road courses gracing the Cup Series season, excluding the Charlotte Roval. These include Circuit of The Americas, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, and Chicago Street Race – the ones we are already familiar with. However, another sparkling addition to this list makes NASCAR’s piqued interest in reduced oval racing even more clear. A Cup Series race will be flagged off at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on June 15th. It will follow the F1 track layout for the Mexican Grand Prix. “This is a historic moment for our sport, and specifically for the NASCAR Cup Series, in being able to expand our footprint to Mexico,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s Executive Vice President, in August.

This marks a major milestone for NASCAR, considering its rapid shift away from a predominantly oval racing sport. Compared to the almost 6 races we have for 2025, 8 years ago, in 2016, NASCAR featured only two road course races – in Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Yet even then, NASCAR executives took note of the rising demand for road courses. “We’re absolutely aware of that,” said then NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O’Donnell in 2016. “Having those two road courses where they are is really important in the schedule–to see people have a chance to potentially make the Chase and go out there and run off a win.” Now road course aces like Shane van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Kimi Räikkönen, and Jenson Button have all proved how entertaining these events can be.

With further road course possibilities looming on the horizon, one driver can become a real threat.

Indomitable boss in the Cup Series

Few NASCAR fans knew the name of Shane van Gisbergen before July 2nd, 2023. But then the three-time Bathurst Supercars champion came, saw, and conquered. SVG’s debut Cup Series win at the Chicago Street Race swept his rivals off their feet. And the Kiwi driver continued to marvel this year during his full-time Xfinity debut. He picked up three wins across Portland, Sonoma, and Chicago – all road courses. He has raced in four road courses in the Cup series and has a healthy average finish of 9.8. Now with Mexico on the grid for next year, his Cup Series rivals need to be wary of his full-time entry into NASCAR’s highest level. And as it turns out, SVG may have more room for success in the upcoming seasons.

While Mexico has been added to the 2025 schedule, NASCAR might expand its road course footprint in the following years. A few options include a return to Road America, where the Cup Series ran in 2021-22. However, fans raised questions about the Next-Gen car’s drab performance there. Another brighter option is a Pittsburgh Street Race, considering the passionate racing circle present there and also IndyCar’s push for events in the city. Then a third option is the potential addition of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. From 2007 to 2012, the Xfinity Series raced at this track, hyping up fans. The track also produced several surprise winners, including Boris Said and Ron Fellows.

So Shane van Gisbergen’s journey in NASCAR is bound to be an exciting one. As the sport opens its gates to more road courses, let us see what wonders this does for its popularity.