Folks, NASCAR has wrapped up its first road course race of the year and we have to say… it was successful. That’s surprising because it was the ‘Circuit of The Americas!’ However, the excitement was thanks to NASCAR cutting the track short. A 3.41-mile road course is too boring when you are used to watching fast short-track races. However, this year the track did not have its usual long straightaways, making it only a 2.4-mile track. Very similar to how Watkins Glen is! That’s always an exciting race and now even COTA is. And you won’t believe it, but even Dale Earnhardt Jr. enjoyed it!
Yes, you read that right. Everyone knows Junior is not a big road course fan…but he was left impressed with the new COTA layout. Be it the passing zones that allowed Christopher Bell to climb from P19 to the checkered flag; Or Kyle Busch leading the most laps (42) and almost breaking his 59-race winless streak. Whatever it was, Dale Jr. had fun watching it. But the question is…should COTA come back for a 6th season? Well, Dale Junior has some (international) ideas.
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Dale Earnhardt Junior and his love for this European track!
Junior is one guy who knows a lot about tracks. And not just because he’s won at a lot of them, but because of his passion for always knowing more about them. Remember his show ‘Lost Speedways?’ The historian in Junior visited old defunct tracks to show the world the stories behind these once iconic tracks. So clearly he knows his tracks. And after the COTA race, Junior has suggested a possible international venue that NASCAR should consider for its schedule. Especially since it mimics this new layout of COTA.
In his latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, he said, “When they talk about hey man we should go overseas we should go over to Europe where should we race in Europe. One of the racetracks, if you’re familiar at all within Europe, Brands Hatch (circuit) is a very historic racetrack. They have a long course that’s really cool. But they also us have an Indy course.. that’s really short.”
So apparently Dale Earnhardt Jr. loved how COTA raced because it’s become a short road course now. “COTA to me is now believe it or not a guy who’s not a big massive road course fan I am excited for them to go back. Well, I’m now it’s something that I hope returns or hope stays part of our schedule. I could have give a crap about it before this weekend. I would have not cared had COTA went away and never returned. But now its giving me what I love about short track racing in a form of a road course and I want more of that,” Junior added.
And that’s why he thinks Brands Hatch Circuit located in London could be a great addition to the Cup Series schedule. For the folks who don’t know…Brands Hatch has two circuits, one is longer, used by MotoGP, and it’s 2.43 miles. But the one Junior is recommending is their Indy Circuit, which is just 1.2 miles long. And that would technically be an even shorter road course than COTA is. Basically Junior is thinking the shorter the road course the better: “It’s a really short, bull ring of a road course and basically you know that’s kind of what I feel like we got with this new COTA of design and I’m hoping it sticks around it was pretty cool.”
Also, there is something with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brands Hatch…it’s the second time he has suggested it!
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If not for COTA, then maybe for ‘The Clash’?
‘The Clash’ returned with a bang this year. The Cup Series was returning to the iconic Bowman Gray Stadium for the first time since 1971. And it was a thriller! We are sure the packed grandstands can agree. Chase Elliott dominated from pole to checkered and we had some of that ‘Madhouse’ chaos. But what everyone in the NASCAR community feared was that the race would not be boring. That could happen if ‘The Clash’ always keeps running there. So, alternate venue options started to fly!
And NASCAR is currently in its international expansion mood, like how we have Mexico on the schedule. So Junior thought if NASCAR would be interested in taking ‘the Clash’ to some foreign land…why not Brands Hatch? On which previously he had said, “If they take the Clash overseas, I think that one track that they absolutely should look at is Brands Hatch. The Indy course at Brands Hatch, it’s like a short-track road course.” Clearly Junior is a fan of the circuit! In fact he has run the track a couple of times.
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Well, for those of you who don’t know…Dale Jr. is the executive director at iRacing and they have all these virtual tracks for the simulator. That’s where Junior ran Brands Hatch a couple of times and enjoyed it. “I think Brands Hatch, which it is a road course … It’s like a, I don’t know the distance but it’s like a mile. It’s very, it’s a couple of corners. We’ve ran it online, we’ve run it on our sim race forever.” And we feel this can be interesting in our Cup Schedule.
What do you think of Junior’s suggestion? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.