Adding another road race isn't as easy as it sounds

It's not an easy thing to admit. You risk scorn and ridicule from a majority that doesn't see things the same way you do. People will question your manhood, your patriotism, even your sanity. You'll be looked at with a combination of pity and disdain. But at some point you have to come to grips with it, to stand up and say those few words that are the first step on the path to acceptance.

Hi. My name is David, and I like road racing.

And I'm not alone. There are plenty of us out here who prefer 12 or 13 turns to just four, who find a NASCAR race on a road course infinitely more enjoyable than three and a half hours of watching cars go around in a circle. And why not? Some of the best, most memorable events of the past year have been on road courses -- Montoya vs. Pruett at Mexico City (watch video), Montoya vs. Harvick at Watkins Glen (watch video), Montoya vs. everybody at Sonoma (watch video), Robby Gordon's hijinks in Montreal (watch video), Marcos Ambrose's antics last week at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (watch video). There are plenty of complaints these days about the quality of oval races. Well, wake up people. The real action is on tracks with right and left turns.

This, of course, is not a popular stance in a sport where 34 of 36 events are contested on oval tracks, and many race fans see road course races at best as a necessary evil, or at worst as some European influence that needs to be weeded out. Granted, road races are near impossible to watch in person -- spectators can only pick a spot and hope something unfolds in front of them. But on television, road races are great theater. The 15 turns at a place like Circuit Gilles Villeneuve provide more opportunities for passing as well as contact, magnifying the chances that angry drivers will wind up pointing fingers and throwing things at one another. After what we've seen the last two years, Mexico City looks like the new Bristol.

Here in the underground, where NASCAR road races are greeted with anticipation rather than dread, there's always hope that the powers that be in Daytona Beach will eventually add a few more of these events on twisty tracks to the schedule. In addition to the current road races at Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway, adding one to the Chase at some point seems like a necessity. Of course, there would be resistance, both from drivers who'd rather go in circles and fans who treat road races like a dead cockroach on the bathroom floor. But the biggest obstacle to adding another Sprint Cup road race is simply the lack of possible places to go.

Sure, there are plenty of road courses in North America, and plenty of good ones that would challenge any driver in any discipline. But very few of them are capable of hosting an event on the magnitude of a Sprint Cup race. A lot of road courses are older facilities built for sports cars, with grandstands that look like they were borrowed from a high school football stadium, and garages straight out of a Saturday night local track. They're too narrow, or they lack the seating capacity and infrastructure, or they're too outdated. Even a well-kept, more modern track like Lime Rock Park in Connecticut would need a serious overhaul to host the big show. (Continued)