NASCAR TRACKS & LAYOUTS
VARIETY OF TRACKS ADDS SPICE B
eing a successful NASCAR Cup Se-
ries driver not only requires talent, it also demands adaptability behind the wheel across all lengths and layouts ROAD COURSE of race tracks. Circuit of The Americas A driver may be great when it comes to turning left on an oval, but if he or she can’t also turn right with equal aplomb on a road course, or doesn’t know how to master the draft on a superspeedway, that driver may be destined for a career of mediocrity. Virtually every Cup Series racer has struggled on certain layouts during his/ her career. Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick both labored on short tracks early on. Martin Truex Jr. won only three races in his first 10 full-time Cup Series seasons, before exploding for 28 more wins and a championship in the subsequent eight seasons. They didn’t suddenly become greater drivers overnight. Rather, as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect – or in this case, ultimately made drivers better on tracks the more frequently they raced on them. Kyle Busch, now the winningest active Cup Series driver (59 wins) since seventime Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson retired following the 2020 season with 83 wins, agrees. “The biggest key is studying all the race tracks, learning as much as you can about each one,” Busch once said. short track that will only be a quarter-mile long. That’s why he competed in so many Xfinity and Truck Series Let’s break them down: events earlier in his career, many in preparation for a Cup Series Short track (under 1 mile in length): Martinsville (.526 miles), race that same weekend, to try and get an edge on his competiBristol (.533 miles concrete surface), Bristol (.533 miles tempotors. The results speak for themselves: Busch also has 102 Xfinity rary dirt surface), Richmond (.750 miles) and the preseason Series wins and 61 Truck Series victories. exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (.250 miles Yet, even some of the greatest still never quite got the handle on temporary oval). certain tracks. Intermediate track (1 to 2 miles in length): Phoenix (1 mile), DoJohnson, who thrived on intermediate tracks between 1 to 2 ver (1 mile), New Hampshire (1.058 miles), Gateway (1.250 miles), miles – earning 49 of his 83 Cup Series wins, including 26 on 1.5Nashville (1.333 miles), Darlington (1.366 miles), Charlotte (1.50 mile tracks alone – had one Achilles’ heel throughout his career. miles), Homestead-Miami (1.50 miles), Kansas (1.50 miles), Las In 40 career starts on road courses, he managed just one win Vegas (1.50 miles), Texas (1.50 miles), Atlanta (1.54 miles) and twin (Sonoma, 2010). two-mile tracks at Michigan and Fontana. NASCAR Cup Series racing today has evolved significantly from Superspeedway (ovals or tri-ovals more than 2 miles in length): even just 10 years ago, with the greatest variety of race tracks the Pocono (2.5 miles), Daytona (2.5 miles) and Talladega (2.66 miles). sport has ever seen. This season, Cup Series cars will race on 29 Road courses (varied lengths): Charlotte ROVAL (2.320 miles), different tracks or track layouts, including a points-paying event Indianapolis (2.439 miles), Sonoma (2.520 miles), Austin (3.427 on a temporary dirt track, plus an exhibition race on a temporary miles), Road America (4.048 miles) and Watkins Glen (2.450 miles).
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POLE POSITION 2022
