Friday Faceoff: What Is Another Track NASCAR Should Bring Back?

1) What is another dormant racetrack that should be put back on the NASCAR schedule?

Michael Bellifemini: Kentucky Speedway. I’d give Kentucky a shot with how this car races on intermediates, and if NASCAR rotates road courses around, I’d like to see Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Road America get dates in the future.

James Krause: Hickory Motor Speedway hosted the ARCA Menards Series East earlier this year and put on a really good show. It’s probably not big enough to support a NASCAR Cup Series race, but it’d be a ton of fun to see the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series or NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series fighting for the bottom and sliding around on a track where the NASCAR history goes all the way back to the mid-’50s.

Christopher Hansen: Kentucky. Prior to the reconfiguration of the speedway in 2016, Kentucky was one of the more unique intermediate tracks that NASCAR raced on. Ever since the track changed, with only one true racing groove for drivers to use, the racing hasn’t been the same. With the Next Gen car performing exquisitely on 1.5-mile tracks, maybe a return to Kentucky could be on the horizon.

2) Should Shane van Gisbergen and/or Austin Hill have been disciplined by NASCAR for their actions at Chicagoland?

Jeffrey Boswell: Maybe. If that answer is vague, then it’s totally in line with NASCAR’s history and precedence with previous driver run-ins. Realistically, it’s great that NASCAR took the hands-off approach this time to discipline. NASCAR, like the fans, would rather see this feud settled on the track or in a back alley between two haulers, as opposed to handling it with pointless fines or sanctions that will only allow the feud to simmer rather than be settled.

Hansen: Yes. While Austin Hill didn’t intentionally crash Shane van Gisbergen under yellow after the crash, that should still warrant some sort of disciplinary action. Monetary fines don’t seem to keep drivers from retaliating on track, so in instances like this one, maybe a one- to two-lap hold on Hill for even attempting to retaliate against van Gisbergen would be enough to get drivers’ attention and deter attempts to exact revenge during a race.

Bellifemini: No. Van Gisbergen didn’t admit to anything and Hill just bumped into him under caution. If Ryan Preece didn’t say anything back at Texas Motor Speedway, I’m sure he wouldn’t have gotten penalized either. As long as you don’t right-hook someone these days, it’s rare to get penalized by NASCAR.

Krause: No, and not necessarily because neither of them did anything wrong. The thing that’s been lost in all of this is that this fight between van Gisbergen and Hill — one guy fighting for a Chase spot and another for a job — was for a spot well outside the top 20. You know what they say about hanging around with squirrels. Dealing with each other and being in the spots they’re at when it comes to ovals is punishment enough.

3) Who will advance to the semifinals of the In-Season Challenge?

Hansen: Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell and William Byron. In the case of Elliott and Bell and Byron, they’ve all visited victory lane at EchoPark Speedway since the track’s reconstruction prior to the 2022 season. Bowman, who finished third last summer at EchoPark, is primed to keep his Cinderella run in the In-Season Challenge going at a track where he’s had a couple of solid performances, while Todd Gilliland hasn’t earned a finish better than 15th in nine previous starts at the 1.5-mile hybrid superspeedway.

Krause: Bowman will continue the tradition of the 32nd seed making a deep run. He’ll advance along with Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin, three guys who are among the favorites to win the race outright, let alone their competition.

Boswell: Hamlin has been the hottest driver in the last two months, and while an In-Season Challenge championship is probably not on his bucket list, a Cup championship is, and staying hot and winning races that lead to the Challenge title will help get him to that elusive Cup title. Blaney will join him, as will Elliott, who won at EchoPark last year.

Bellifemini: It’s probably easier to just pick these out of a hat since it’s a superspeedway race and anything can happen, but I’ll go with Bowman, Elliott, Hamlin and Blaney.

4) Which of the four Joe Gibbs Racing O’Reilly drivers has a better chance of competing for the championship?

Krause: Brent Crews. Normally, with a rookie, my concern would be going to tracks for the first time and trying to figure them out. That has not been an issue for Crews this year. He’s got four top fives in his last five races and is already well in Chase contention. While Brandon Jones has been consistent, Crews could contend to win in more races down the stretch, and winning is still huge with the points format.

Boswell: The simple answer is Jones, who is sixth in the standings and practically a guarantee to make the Chase field of 12. His JGR teammates Taylor Gray, Crews and William Sawalich all sit dangerously close to or below the Chase cut line at 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. Come Sept. 6, Jones may be the only JGR driver eligible to compete for the championship.

Bellifemini: Right now, it’s a toss-up between Jones and Crews. Gray and Sawalich are too far down the standings and too inconsistent. Crews would be higher in points if he didn’t miss races earlier in the season for being underage. Jones just picked up that win, and with his veteran experience, he is a dark horse for a top-three points finish.

Hansen: Jones. Fresh off his win at Chicagoland last weekend, Jones finds himself a comfortable 150 points ahead of teammate Sawalich, the first driver currently outside The Chase. Jones has put together a solid season, scoring five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes through 20 races, and seems the most likely championship candidate for JGR, with the other three full-time drivers hovering dangerously close to the Chase cut line.