NASCAR’s number of stops at road courses has long been a touchy subject. Some feel too many dot the schedule and others feel five or six is just the right amount.
Few racing narratives rankle social media users more than the number of ultra-curvy tracks appearing on the schedule, particularly when it gets late in the 36-race season.
But in its current state, the NASCAR schedule offers just four chances for the right-turns to outnumber their southpaw counterparts: Circuit of the Americas, Watkins Glen, the inaugural race Sunday in San Diego and next week’s in Sonoma.
Just four. That’s it.
No more road races at the Roval, Mexico City, Elkhart Lake, Indianapolis, Chicago or Daytona.
During its final season of being road-course happy, NASCAR went to six of the layouts in 2025 just like it did in 2023 with the Chicago Street Course that navigated its way through Grant Park.
Five of them held races in 2024.
However, zipping down Michigan Avenue, traveling south to Mexico City and visiting Charlotte to battle the widely unpopular Roval are memories that will probably — some would say, hopefully — not be resurrected.
Most drivers are just fine with this outlook.
Perhaps because most drivers aren’t Shane van Gisbergen.
This weekend in San Diego for the first and perhaps only time, the three consecutive letters that will be strung together the most at the Naval Base Coronado layout are S-V-G because, again, the New Zealander will be the odds-on favorite to capture his eighth career victory — all on these tracks.
As expected, van Gisbergen secured the pole for Sunday’s race by taking his No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet around the circuit in 2:14.788 seconds, his second top qualifying spot this season and sixth of his career.
That time edged Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet, which will line up beside the No. 97.
The Fords of Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland make up the rest of the five top qualifiers.
van Gisbergen is a heavy favorite at minus-160 because he’s 7-for-14 on road courses, but who’s counting?
Everyone tuning in will be curious to see whether any of the other 37 drivers or so can outrun the King of the Road.
Connor Zilisch, van Gisbergen’s 19-year-old teammate, is in midst of a brutal rookie campaign: 34th in points, five DNFs and no top 10s. His best showing is a 14th at COTA, and he ran 20th at Watkins Glen.
With road courses considered his wheelhouse — Zilisch holds the second-best odds at plus-650 — perhaps the No. 88 Chevy driver can have a favorable finish and top his teammate.
Daniel Suarez sits at plus-5500, down the list some. The Mexican driver feels he has learned from Spire Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell (plus-1400, fourth) and is up to the task of tackling the San Diego course.
“It kind of reminds me of three years ago (at) Chicago for the first time. A lot of new things, a lot of new challenges,” Suarez said at Nashville Superspeedway last month. “I believe that our road course program on the (No. 7) team is getting much better, especially because we are leaning more on (McDowell’s) 71 team.”
Suarez is rolling on momentum and up to eighth in points. He has one of Spire’s two victories this year and he won at Sonoma, next week’s event, for the first of his three career wins in 2022.
Meanwhile, McDowell owns two career wins — one on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit three years ago.
Consider that van Gisbergen is on a road course hosting its inaugural race in a field where none of the Cup drivers have any experience. That dynamic could very well produce a familiar headline — one we’ve read seven times.
Can anyone at this point step up and outmaneuver the King of the Road?
–Field Level Media
