1. Was the NASCAR Cup Series’ Return to North Wilkesboro a Good Race?
The official return of the Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway after 30 years away was a total throwback.
There has been a lot of mixed reaction online. This was either the best short track race of the spec car era or it was a total snoozefest that felt like four hours instead of a little under three.
It really seems to depend on how long you’ve been a NASCAR fan.
Gatekeeping and claiming one style of fan is superior to the other isn’t something I want to do. But when you show a fan who’s watched the 1993 season a race that could have been from 1993, chances are they’ll like it.
There are questions as far as the long-term viability of NWS. It was never an action track, and it relied on long green flag runs, as we saw an abundance of in this race. The facilities are really toeing the line between being a throwback and being outdated; somebody I know who attended the race complained about the lack of a scoring tower or video screen. The bathrooms are a mess.
It all feels like something that is going to wear out its welcome eventually. There’s a reason the track died in the first place. But there’s still a couple more years before the novelty of Cup racing here again wears off.
What exactly track owner Speedway Motorsports Incorporated does next, as far as making those improvements or not pouring money into a facility they don’t have long-term confidence in, will be something to note. It’s clear, though, that the track should be back next season.
2. How Will the First Half of the 2027 Schedule Look?
The 2027 Daytona 500 will take place on February 21. It’ll be a week later than this year to avoid conflicting with the Super Bowl.
FOX has the rights to a total of 14 Cup races. Assuming the Clash will be on a weeknight at Daytona International Speedway next year, as has been rumored, that means FOX will have 13 races in the 14 weeks between the 500 and the presumed date of the Coca-Cola 600.
FOX will get a week off, assuming Amazon Prime Video retains the 600 as its first race. This off week will almost certainly be Easter weekend again.
The Athletic reported a couple of months ago that the Chicago Street Course will likely come back, with the race being aimed for the weekend after the Coke 600 instead of July 4 weekend. It would also make a lot of sense for Michigan International Speedway to follow that date.
TNT will take the schedule over on that July 4 weekend. There are a few different options NASCAR has for it. Chicagoland Speedway isn’t an option if the series is going to the street course just a month prior. The fanbase wants Daytona back that weekend, but I’d be surprised if they get it because the local area doesn’t want it then.
What NASCAR does with its road course schedule will also be interesting. Sonoma Speedway and Circuit of the Americas will both likely be back. Chicago being back would put us at four for the year for Cup.
Does NASCAR go back to Coronado Naval Base in San Diego next year? A different military base? A different street course like they’ve flirted with in Denver or Montreal? Or do they stick with four road courses on the schedule again? There should be some news soon on this if there is a fifth race incoming.
3. How Will the Second Half of the 2027 Schedule Look?
If the Brickyard 400 stays as the TNT/In-Season Challenge finale, it comes on August 2. If NASCAR keeps its off-weekend between the TNT and Versant blocks, the Chase will begin at the Southern 500. If they don’t, the Southern 500 becomes the cut-off race.
The make-up of the Chase is going to be very interesting, in that NASCAR did not schedule the current schedule around the 10-race Chase. It has been confirmed that Watkins Glen International will hold one of the 10 races like it did in 2024.
NASCAR revealed on its Hauler Talk podcast at the start of the season that Homestead Miami Speedway will likely return as the 2027 finale, with a rotation of season finale sites in the following years.
4. What’s Another Good ‘Retro’ Style Track NASCAR Could Go To?
If I could fantasy book for a second and pretend to be Ben Kennedy, there’s one track I think could be a massive boon for NASCAR.
Every year, one of the biggest events in May is qualifying weekend for the Indianapolis 500. NASCAR hasn’t really had a consistent race in that weekend slot since moving the All-Star Race out of Charlotte Motor Speedway a while ago.
Cup going to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for a Sunday night race that weekend would be absolutely awesome.
There would need to be major renovations to the facilities there at IRP. But that should be fairly easy to justify to the NHRA, which owns the facility, if NASCAR hands IRP a multi-year contract. It would be a hot ticket in a town that just turned out over 100,000 just for qualifying earlier in that day.
Indianapolis itself could also support the race. That TV market is consistently the strongest for NASCAR outside of the Southeast, and it’s not going to steal ticket sales away from the Brickyard 400.
FOX would love this because it would allow it to cross-promote like crazy and would also entice it to put more effort into its later Cup races, which it doesn’t tend to have any in.
5. It’s All to Race For in the In-Season Challenge Finals
The final race of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge is already upon us.
It’ll be favorite Ryan Blaney against underdog Todd Gilliland. Both are second-generation drivers, with their fathers both being solid drivers who never won in the Cup.
A win for Gilliland would mean $1 million that Front Row Motorsports could use to invest in overall team improvements. That’s not chump change for that team. Whereas a win for Blaney would be huge in that it would come in his sponsor’s race being held at his team owner’s track.
A mustache trimmer might not be a bad investment for him, either.
Michael has watched NASCAR for over 25 years and has covered it on-and-off for 14.
In addition to Frontstretch he also writes sporadically for his own websites GrandPrixFocus.com and StockCarFocus.com.
I can’t see NASCAR at IRP the same weekend as Indy qualifying. The traffic, crowds, and hotel prices would be horrible. I would like to see them both do the Indy road course the same weekend, though. And IRP is more of a Trucks/O’reilly track, as well.
I can’t believe they’re doing the Chicago street course again after going back to Chicagoland Speedway. I thought the infrastructure alone would be cost-prohibitive.
But the biggest hassle with the tracks is NASCAR/ISC doesn’t want to give up their slice of the pie to let other tracks have dates.
And I agree Blaney’s mustache is too big.
The San Diego race was a pleasant surprise, but imposing on the armed forces to put on a show is foolish, reckless, and not good use of my tax dollar. Once for the 250th made complete sense. Beyond that ‘no’. The Chicago race is a financial disaster. Its cool to have the backdrop, but with AI you could have a drone shot of them racing on the moon. The track made San Diego a great race…not having an aircraft carrier in the background. North Wilkesboro on the other hand, was great for me because it was an incredible, pure race. Not some silly short track crashfest. A wide track: front ends that didn’t allow use of the “chrome horn” to pass. A display of driving talent. Use that Clash week to get in the international race everyone is convinced Nascar needs. There is built in travel time (and BS at the border time) for either Mexico or Brazil. Who would complain about a 37th point race that didn’t add to the schedule? And I’m sorry, but the tradition of talking about how “Our Sport Has Its Super Bowl First” sounded bush league the first time I heard it.
Nascar is on a bit of a roll. Lets hope they don’t kill the momentum by going to places ‘because they can.’ And only go international to create a buzz for existing Nascar overseas series.