Now that Cup, Xfinity and Truck teams have completed one race each on the Daytona road course, should that become a regular event for each series?
Cup will be back on that course next year. The Busch Clash is scheduled to be on the road course at night on Feb. 9, but no other plans have been announced for that course to host other Cup, Xfinity and Trucks races.
“I think that we certainly proved that it works and we can put on an exciting show here, and will, I’m sure, go into the talks of consideration for us coming back,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, about the prospect of running more series races on the Daytona road course.
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He isn’t the only one who likes the track.
“It’s one that I would like to see if we could put it on the schedule,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing second to winner Chase Elliott. “I’d love to see it. I think it’s a good racetrack for us.”
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr., also likes the course.
“I thought the race went really well,” Truex said after his third-place finish. “The racing was good. You could make passes if you were faster than a guy, and that’s always as a competitor what you’re looking for. I think that’s what puts on a good show, so I’d be totally fine with it.”
While the weekend didn’t have the chaotic finish that the Charlotte Roval did for the inaugural Cup race there in 2018, there were a share of wild moments during the weekend. That included a late restart in the Xfinity race.
When your controller disconnects.#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/OiaoDpoMOV
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 15, 2020
"They're wrecking again. Still wrecking. Still wrecking. Caution's out."
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 15, 2020
So. Much. Wrecking. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/ze0w14w6DN
If the Daytona road course is added to the Cup schedule, what race comes off? Does that mean the second race on the Daytona oval — the regular-season finale this season — is replaced? If so, is that a move that will be good for teams? They’d only have three speedway races so those cars would be used less. One advantage is there would be one less chance to destroy a car.
For Cup, would it be good to have three races at another venue? Charlotte Motor Speedway, in a typical year, hosts two points races and the All-Star Race. Moving this year’s All-Star Race to Bristol shows that the event can change locations, as some have suggested for years. Of course, if the All-Star Race stays in Bristol, it would give that track three races.
Also worth considering is if Daytona keeps three points races with the addition of the road course event, one race would have to come off the schedule if series officials wanted to keep the schedule at 36 points races. What track, likely owned by NASCAR, would lose a date?
Those are among the many questions that NASCAR will have to address if it truly wants to add the Daytona road course to any future schedule.