Many people have that opinion, and many believe oval track driving is simple. Fans of road racing such as F1 or GT racing or even Indycar often denigrate Nascar as simple roundy-round. If you need proof, they say, just look at a track diagram, it is self evident which is simple and which is complex...
The truth is quite different. Actual experienced roadracers (not talking about the posers here) will tell you the most difficult corners, and the ones where the most time can be gained, tend to be the high speed corners with braking *and* high corner speed. It may look impressive to brake from top speed to 40 mph for a hairpin, but it is much more difficult and skill-intensive to brake for a 140 mph sweeper. It is the latter type corner where the Nascar driver lives, and he must contend with heavy traffic and multiple grooves and a degree of aggression the roadracer rarely sees. The complexity of turning both left and right is child's play in comparison. This is why actual racers almost always have great respect for the daunting task of driving high speed ovals. (Just ask Romain Grosjean.)
Also, most roadracing cars have much greater downforce to ease the task, and relatively advanced suspension systems, and lighter weight, and more tire. Don't forget automated, computer controlled shifting. It is no coincidence that the list of accomplished roadracers who have been highly successful in Nascar is a very short list.
I came from the roadracing side of the sport, but I stand in awe of the driving skills at the front of the Nascar pack, where 0.1 sec is often the difference between 1st and 10th.
