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The NASCAR schedule has changed a lot in the last several years, particularly in the markets and types of tracks the circuit competes at. Since NASCAR’s beginning, short tracks have been a staple on the NASCAR circuit, and it remained that way until NASCAR started to boom in popularity. With the newly-found NASCARmania in the mid-to-late ’90s and early 2000s, NASCAR started to take a step back for the first time from its more southern roots and started to press out into new, unchartered markets for the most part. And with all of this change came the introduction of the long intermediate tracks. For the sake of this track, we’ll define a long intermediate track as a track 2 or more miles in length that doesn’t classify as a superspeedway.
However, recently, with changes in leadership and direction, the long intermediate track has fallen out of favor when it comes to NASCAR as an industry and a company. Though NASCAR’s boom in popularity is over, NASCAR is still interested in expanding outside its traditional roots in the southeastern United States. However, as NASCAR continues to evolve, the long intermediate track launched to prominence during NASCAR’s ’90s and 2000s boom, seemingly standing on its last legs. What happened to these tracks? Why has NASCAR decided to shift away from them? Let’s talk about all of that and more. As NASCAR returns to Michigan International Speedway, it’s time to beg the question: is the era of the long intermediate tracks coming to an end? Let’s talk about it!
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With the American open-wheel split hindering CART’s and the IRL’s numbers in the early-to-mid 1990s, NASCAR was in a prime position to take over as the premier racing league in the United States. With that realization and the opportunity they had, NASCAR decided that they were going to expand into markets they hadn’t before, even expanding into what was traditionally IndyCar territory. The types of tracks that were a part of this expansion were mostly cookie-cutter tracks like Texas Motor Speedway, which was essentially a multi-groove clone of Charlotte. However, other tracks added during this time were some longer intermediates that typically were built for IndyCar.
The first of these longer intermediates to be put in the NASCAR schedule is Michigan International Speedway. The 2-mile D-shaped oval hosted its first NASCAR race in 1969. From then all the way until 2021, the track hosted 2 NASCAR Cup Series races a year (one typically in June and one in August). But with the Gen6’s struggles on intermediate tracks in general, the June was dropped starting in 2021.
The next track NASCAR went to, which we consider a long intermediate, was Pocono Raceway. The track was outside the sport’s southeastern home, and they held their first race there in 1974. Since then, the circuit raced at the track yearly, and from 1982 to 2021, the track hosted two races a year. It has been criticized by fans in the past, though some marvel at it due to its unique triangular shape.
Often considered a sister track to Michigan International Speedway but ultimately a failed experiment was the now closed Texas World Speedway. The track was a 2-mile carbon copy of MIS and was on the NASCAR schedule from 1969 to 1981. Both NASCAR and IndyCar dropped the track from their respective schedules. The track was ultimately closed down and demolished in 2017.
In 1994, NASCAR experienced a boom in popularity. And, with the growing open-wheel divide, they decided to take their popularity to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race was a huge hit with Jeff Gordon winning and then Dale Earnhardt the following year. The Brickyard 400 was a staple on the NASCAR schedule from 1994 until 2020 when NASCAR utilized the infield road course. The race returned in 2024 to mixed reviews.
Another “copy” of Michigan International Speedway is the Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway and often referred to simply as Fontana). Michigan was the blueprint for this track when Roger Penske decided to set up shop in the southern California market. The track was intended to attract the open-wheel crowd, which it did for a while. The track opened in 1997, and NASCAR held its first race there in June of that year, riding its new wave of momentum from the boom. From 2004-2010, the track hosted 2 NASCAR Races a year. From 2011 to 2023, it held just one event, usually early in the season as part of the West Coast swing. Following the 2023 race, which saw Kyle Busch win his first race with RCR, the track closed down. Its future is currently uncertain.
What’s odd about all of these tracks is that they were almost exclusively built with IndyCar in mind. But IndyCar has long avoided these tracks, fearing their high break-neck speeds. Meanwhile, NASCAR became the main event at most of these tracks following open-wheel’s departure. Now, though, even NASCAR seems to be drifting away from these long intermediates.
From the years 2004-2010, NASCAR would race on these types of tracks up to 7-times a year: Fontana (twice), Michigan (twice), Pocono (twice), and Indianapolis (once). Between 2021 and 2023, these races were reduced to only 3, with Fontana, Michigan, and Pocono all losing their second dates and Indy being run on the road course configuration. With Fontana’s closure and the Indy oval’s return, NASCAR raced again on 3 longer intermediate tracks in 2024.
The primary reason for many of the tracks listed above losing a race can be chalked up to a poor racing product for intermediates overall throughout the Gen6 era. For all the gripes regarding the NextGen car, the Gen6 car also had many issues. When it came to intermediate tracks in general, the racing product sort of sucked. Between 2013 and 2021, it was almost impossible to pass on these sorts of tracks due to the poor aero design of the car. Lesser horsepower and dirty air were also factors. Typically, wherever a driver started in this area was where they finished unless they could play some wild strategy. There were few comers and goers during these kinds of races, leading largely to boring or anti-climactic finishes.
The larger intermediates were not immune to this issue. There were many bad races at tracks like Pocono and Indianapolis, and fans’ concerns grew louder. They also started to show dissatisfaction with the racing product, which resulted in declining TV viewership for these races and lower audience numbers. Where the Gen6 car really canceled was on short tracks and road courses. This fact was factored into the schedule realignment of 2020 and onward, which we’ll talk about in a little bit.
The truth is that, according to many fans, the abundance of these tracks and races sprinkled throughout the NASCAR schedule had gotten stale.
In response to many fan’s displeasure with the racing product at the intermediates as a whole, NASCAR slowly started to drop races at the longer intermediates from its schedule. In the modern days, Fontana was the first track to lose a date. Then, the Brickyard was replaced by the Indy Road course. Pocono lost and date, and ultimately, so did Michigan. After COVID hit in 2020, NASCAR had to get creative and drastically reconfigured its schedule. It is possible that all the moving around of dates in 2020 gave NASCAR the confidence to shake things up mightily in the coming years.
With fans chanting that they want more short tracks and road courses, NASCAR caved and gave them what they wanted. Following the 2023 race, they announced that Fontana would be torn down and turned into a half-mile short track. NASCAR moved the Clash to a quarter-mile track inside of a football stadium from 2022 to 2024. NASCAR even returned to the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for the All-Star race in 2023 and 2024 and is expected to return to the track in 2025. In 2024 alone, including the exhibitions for the Clash and the All-Star race, NASCAR has 8 short tracks on the schedule, a far cry from 10-15 years ago.
On the road course side, NASCAR raced an unprecedented 6 times in 2022 alone. In recent years, NASCAR has added the Charlotte Roval, Road America, Circuit of the Americas, and the Indy Road Course (until 2024) to the staples of Sonoma and Watkins Glen. They’ve even had a couple of races in the streets of Chicago!
With all these added dates, some tracks had to be axed. Unfortunately for fans of longer intermediates, those races were previously viewed as stale, boring, and too hard to pass.
As mentioned above, the Auto Club Speedway shut down following its race in early 2023. The initial plan was to sell off a lot of the land taken up by the track and build a half-mile short oval in its place. However, though the track’s demolition has already begun, the future remains a mystery, with track officials and NASCAR alike sounding unsure of how they really want to proceed. With the demolition of the Auto Club Speedway, NASCAR has one less large intermediate track to go to, effectively losing them the valuable SoCal market.
Despite NASCAR’s hyperfocus on short tracks and road courses, many fans seem to have buyer’s remorse. With the NextGen car taken into account, the short ovals and road courses have ironically become the weaker spots in the NASCAR schedule, with aerodynamics strangely playing a large role. With the barnburner of a race in Fontana in 2023, NASCAR fans began questioning whether turning it into a short track was the right route. Now, it seems as though the track is trapped in development hell.
With how well the Coca-Cola 600 has been in the NextGen era, many fans are also begging NASCAR to ditch the infield road course and run two events at the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile configuration like they had traditionally. With improvements being made on the infield road course, however, it seems unlikely that NASCAR will change course (no pun intended) very soon.
With how well the NextGen has performed at intermediates and even Pocono, there was a lot of hype for the return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year. NASCAR media started asking whether or not the race should be considered a crown jewel, with many drivers stating that it should. But then, when the race started, due to all the high hopes, many fans came out of that race feeling disappointed. The race wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t good either. Many fans walked away thinking it was merely an average race.
As far as the future goes for these types of tracks, it looks grim. Auto Club Speedway is gone. Pocono and Michigan have both been cut down to only one race per year each. Based on the hype alone (similar to the Chicago Street Course experiment), the Brickyard 400 likely has a home next year and into the future, though I could see them alternating between the 400 and the road course configuration from year to year. But I don’t see them adding more races at these types of tracks to the schedule. It would appear that the fascination with longer intermediates, at least when it comes to NASCAR, is over in favor of schedule variety.
What do you think, NASCAR fans? Do you want to see more longer intermediate tracks on the NASCAR schedule? What do you think about the steep drop-off in terms of a number of races? Do you like that there’s more variety on the NASCAR schedule than there used to be? Let us know your thoughts! And continue to check in here at DailyDownforce.com to catch up on all the NASCAR breaking news, rumors, and fan discussions!
