More Rovals is the solution?

StandOnIt

StandOnIt

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Road course racing is perfect.

It’s as simple as tuning into the last few years of races and watching the action, the fender-banging, the last lap passes, the fuel games and the pit strategy. Road course racing is giving us everything you could want as a NASCAR fan, rivalries included. Just look back at Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers, Martin Truex Jr. and Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth. The list of driver flare-ups over contact goes on and on.

This is exactly what so many fans have been complaining about, boring races with no passing, no action, and no drama. Now, after another great weekend of road course racing, it appears obvious that we have a pretty simple solution to those issues, now don’t we?

http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=125087
 
I'm not the biggest road course fan when it comes to NASCAR but the races the last couple of years have been pretty entertaining. I think the stages made Sonoma alot more enjoyable to me with the early stages bringing lots of great racing and plenty of lead changes. The last stage was long and green which made for a more traditional road course race but still had the strategy and worry of a caution to keep me interested. I think they could add a couple more to the schedule but I really want to see how this roval at Charlotte works out. Road America and Mid Ohio could be added to the schedule I think as the younger drivers already have the experience at those tracks. That would give them 6 road courses and the Charlotte roval when it comes.
 
Yep when you look at the recent more entertaining races, Watkins Glenn and Sonoma ranks right up there. Last year Sonoma with Tony and Denny racing the last laps, Dinger winning at Watkins Glenn dueling with Ambrose, on and on. Without too much expense time and trouble, many of ISC's and Speedways tracks can hold a road course race. The Roval at Charlotte's length is comparable with and in some cases longer than some dedicated road courses. It's short track racing going right and left. The Roval has the possibility of exciting racing, like the article says, tire, pit and fuel strategy's, plenty of rubbin, and very little aero B.S.
 
Hard to picture 35, 40 cars, going to be tight racing and some guys are going to get moved when it is go time I'm thinking.

Here is Dinger's lap single car, but you can tell it is going to be close racing at slower short track speeds in the infield. Looks like he is in first and second gear a lot

 
StandOnIt said:
Hard to picture 35, 40 cars, going to be tight racing and some guys are going to get moved when it is go time I'm thinking.

Here is Dinger's lap single car, but you can tell it is going to be close racing at slower short track speeds in the infield. Looks like he is in first and second gear a lot

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It's gonna be like Bowman-Gray with right-handers and near head-on collisions.
 
upload_2017-6-28_11-14-3.jpeg
 
DUN24 said:
The Charlotte infield race will either be a total cluster****, or an awesome show.
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Reminds me of this.


Failed experiment scrapped immediately after. LOL
 
FLRacingFan said:
What is this lol, Grand-Am 2.0? There are like four other places where this would be feasible and three of them aren't happening.
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Let's see; Indy, Daytona, Kansas, and ?

If it will put butts in the seats, I'm not ruling out any of them. Kansas strikes me as the least entertaining of that crowd.
 
Reck said:
Reminds me of this.

Failed experiment scrapped immediately after. LOL
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If you're referring to the standing start experiment, they'd tried it for two years, with similar results most of the time. This just happens to have been the last one.
 
DUN24 said:
Rovals aren't the answer. Road courses definitely are though.


The Charlotte infield race will either be a total cluster****, or an awesome show.
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Im still under the belief that while exciting news, the infield section offers minimal passing zones & will result in follow the leader. I hope its used as a joker lap.
 
I think it was Kenny Wallace who pitched the idea of running half the race on the oval and half on the road course. I guess he didn't think about how that requires completely different setups...

Also, you can no longer split a race in half because #stages
 
When I first started watching NASCAR I thought they had no business running road courses. Just a few drivers were any good at it and the rest were moving chicanes. The road course specialists came in and taught the drivers how it's done. These days the NASCAR drivers are competitive.

As far as rovals go, I've watched the 24 hours at Daytona and the infield section is pretty much follow the leader so my expectations are low. Passing is pretty much done going into and out of the infield section.
 
I'd suggest as few corners in the infield as practical. Make the track as wide as possible to allow drivers to work different lines.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Somehow I don't think the answer is quite that simple. If it were, record numbers for the season would have tuned in last week. That didn't happen.
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I remember a time when I dreaded the road course races but now I really look forward to them but you are right as they are not the most viewed of races.
 
best part of SOI's article:

What is truly amazing is that when you watch the races from Sonoma or Watkins Glen, you see what the sport used to be – men and women, braver than most, wrestling an unruly 3400 pounds race car, side-by-side and bumper to bumper, for position. We see the bumping and banging that the old fans miss. We see the action at the front of the pack and the passing we used to enjoy. Tires fall off, tempers flare, and strategies come into play that we could never have predicted. It’s truly a great show for everyone involved and a microcosm of the sport we all remember and miss.
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I LOVE LOVE road courses.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Let's see; Indy, Daytona, Kansas, and ?

If it will put butts in the seats, I'm not ruling out any of them. Kansas strikes me as the least entertaining of that crowd.
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Homestead. Maybe Fontana and Iowa but it's been a long time since anyone serious ran those and I doubt they've been kept up to standards that well. No one wants to see a road course race at Fontana or Iowa anyways. Everything else - New Hampshire, Pocono, etc...club and track day circuits.

Homestead has one date so that's not happening. NASCAR ain't dropping a restrictor plate race. Neither NASCAR nor IMS want to drop the IMS oval. Kansas has two dates and is about the only real possibility.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Im still under the belief that while exciting news, the infield section offers minimal passing zones & will result in follow the leader. I hope its used as a joker lap.
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People are going to be getting punted in those tight turns all day.


The DIS road course seems like the better option.... It can't be worse than the standard BofA 500, though. Lol
 
Zerkfitting said:
As far as rovals go, I've watched the 24 hours at Daytona and the infield section is pretty much follow the leader so my expectations are low. Passing is pretty much done going into and out of the infield section.
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I beg to differ.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I remember a time when I dreaded the road course races but now I really look forward to them but you are right as they are not the most viewed of races.
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Road courses are awesome with the Cup ranks. Rovals, who knows? Time will tell though. My comment dealt with what I thought was the intent of this thread, Rovals being the answer to NASCAR's woes. Oh, if it could only be so simple.

We already have multiple threads on the race that will be held at Charlotte utilizing the road course. I thought this thread was something different but it's just more of the same complaining about something that none of us have ever had the chance to experience. I can't wait to see that race play out. I'll be happy to simply not see what seems to make up more than half the schedule.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Road courses are awesome with the Cup ranks. Rovals, who knows? Time will tell though. My comment dealt with what I thought was the intent of this thread, Rovals being the answer to NASCAR's woes. Oh, if it could only be so simple.

We already have multiple threads on the race that will be held at Charlotte utilizing the road course. I thought this thread was something different but it's just more of the same complaining about something that none of us have ever had the chance to experience. I can't wait to see that race play out. I'll be happy to simply not see what seems to make up more than half the schedule.
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upload_2017-6-28_14-21-4.jpeg
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Road courses are awesome with the Cup ranks. Rovals, who knows? Time will tell though. My comment dealt with what I thought was the intent of this thread, Rovals being the answer to NASCAR's woes. Oh, if it could only be so simple.

We already have multiple threads on the race that will be held at Charlotte utilizing the road course. I thought this thread was something different but it's just more of the same complaining about something that none of us have ever had the chance to experience. I can't wait to see that race play out. I'll be happy to simply not see what seems to make up more than half the schedule.
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I am looking forward to seeing what the roval is like as I can't be negative or positive about it until I see at least a couple of races on the configuration. Hopefully all the bugs will get worked out prior to the race but it may take some adjustments to get it right.....or it may completely stink. I will know more in about 16 months after the second race is completed.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Homestead. Maybe Fontana and Iowa but it's been a long time since anyone serious ran those and I doubt they've been kept up to standards that well. No one wants to see a road course race at Fontana or Iowa anyways. Everything else - New Hampshire, Pocono, etc...club and track day circuits.

Homestead has one date so that's not happening. NASCAR ain't dropping a restrictor plate race. Neither NASCAR nor IMS want to drop the IMS oval. Kansas has two dates and is about the only real possibility.
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While I'd forgotten Pocono and NH, I never knew Homestead had a course.

Yeah, I don't see NASCAR ever ending the season on anything except an oval. Pocono is big enough they could possibly make some modifications and turn it into something entertaining at the Cup level. NASCAR and IMS may change their tunes if the ticket sales keep dropping off; personally I'd rather see them try the infield than stick plates on to artificially bunch up the field.
 
Zerkfitting said:
When I first started watching NASCAR I thought they had no business running road courses. Just a few drivers were any good at it and the rest were moving chicanes. The road course specialists came in and taught the drivers how it's done. These days the NASCAR drivers are competitive.

As far as rovals go, I've watched the 24 hours at Daytona and the infield section is pretty much follow the leader so my expectations are low. Passing is pretty much done going into and out of the infield section.
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all kinds of passes made in the braking zone going into turn 1 (off the oval) and thru turn 2. Almost all passes are made in the infield unless the car is in another faster class when they are on the oval part.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Homestead. Maybe Fontana and Iowa but it's been a long time since anyone serious ran those and I doubt they've been kept up to standards that well. No one wants to see a road course race at Fontana or Iowa anyways. Everything else - New Hampshire, Pocono, etc...club and track day circuits.

Homestead has one date so that's not happening. NASCAR ain't dropping a restrictor plate race. Neither NASCAR nor IMS want to drop the IMS oval. Kansas has two dates and is about the only real possibility.
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nothing is stopping them from having two dates at the Glenn, or more Xfinity stand a lone road races or even the trucks.
 
In his interview Dinger said he doesn't think there will be much passing at Charlotte. It seems a lot of people on this board doesn't like the changes made by Nascar yet they like the idea of changing from oval to road courses. That is not traditional nascar. Just thinking out loud.
 
CalTenn said:
In his interview Dinger said he doesn't think there will be much passing at Charlotte. It seems a lot of people on this board doesn't like the changes made by Nascar yet they like the idea of changing from oval to road courses. That is not traditional nascar. Just thinking out loud.
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Traditional Nascar..everybody has a different idea of what that is, but as far as road courses, Riverside was around since the early days.
I don't know what interview you heard, the ones I have heard Almendinger has nothing but positive things to say about it. others also. The only dissenters I have heard have been Hamlin and kinda Jr. Hamlin is lousy on road courses and Jr said it would be a fun one to watch..which when he said it he might have been hinting his retirement FWIW.


Menard normally quiet has something to say

"Two road courses are not enough," Menard said. "Our cars are not built for road racing, which makes it exciting to both the driver and to put the product out for the fans. I’ve said all along that there are these tracks that we go to two times, like Kansas and Charlotte, that have road courses available. I’ve driven on the Daytona road course. It’s a good mixture of high speed and really slow speed corners, so there’s a lot of give and take setup-wise with what you develop for.

"I’ve actually won on road courses in the Grand Am Series at Fontana and Phoenix. The Phoenix one is particularly exciting because it’s so small. It’s like a short-track road course. Putting one in the Chase is what our sport needs, for sure, just to shake things up. We have speedways, we have intermediates and short tracks. Throw a road course in there."
http://autoweek.com/article/nascar/mixed-opinions-pour-nascar-road-course-and-roval-expansion
 
FLRacingFan said:
There are like four other places where this would be feasible and three of them aren't happening.
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I'm not so sure. Remember over the winter when an NBC exec was quoted as saying something like "We like X, Y, and Z", and Y was road course racing? Given the inflexibility we see with schedule changes, if NBC has it in their heads that they want more road course races, I could see it being attempted at Kansas, Indy (everyone wants to 'fix' the Brickyard) , and possibly even Daytona. I agree that many tracks are infeasible.
 
During a rain delay AJ said he would love it but he he didn't know if it would produce very good racing, he believed the infield didn't have any passing zones, I can't believe I'm the only one that heard it.
 
The Homestead Roval course in NASCAR Thunder 2004 was pretty awesome. and in real life it looks racey. I'd be all for giving it a go on the Daytona Roval for the July race, NASCAR has crapped on its other traditions so whats another one to me at this point. (Id actually die for a F1 Grand Prix on the Daytona Roval)
 
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