Though the schedule is similar to final 12 months’s, the NASCAR Cup Collection might be racing in the direction of a brand new future and an fascinating previous in 2023.
Final season, essentially the most fascinating race on the schedule was the opening – Coliseum Wrestle. Nobody is aware of what to anticipate on the purpose-built observe inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the unknown — in addition to the looks of the next-gen automotive — made Los Angeles a scorching subject for weeks earlier than the race.
Conflict was an enormous success.
This 12 months, the 2 most engaging races have been on the new (the streets of Chicago) and the previous (North Wilkesboro Speedway).
Here is a have a look at 5 fascinating races because the countdown to the brand new season continues:
Streets of Chicago – 2 July
Need totally different? that is totally different.
NASCAR will journey to all-new territory this Independence Day weekend, shaping a race observe from the streets of downtown Chicago.
Many collection race it on road programs, after all, nevertheless it’s a brand new animal for NASCAR and its massive automobiles. Some drivers expressed concern about overtaking areas on the observe that might essentially be slender, and there have been additionally questions on accidents at or close to turns blocking the observe and creating terrifying crunches.
a part of the plot.
Very like final 12 months’s Conflict on the Coliseum, the Chicago race has its share of doubters. Los Angeles resulted in a serious blow to NASCAR. The same end in Chicago may enhance the chance that NASCAR will think about different visits to main cities.
North Wilkesboro Speedway – Could twenty first
The revival of one of many Cup Collection’ unique racetracks, within the shadow of North Carolina’s Brushy Mountains, has been one of many sport’s high tales over the previous 12 months.
North Wilkesboro’s renovations and rebuilds might be on show Could 21 as NASCAR holds its annual All-Star Race on the 0.625-mile observe. The final Cup auto race was in North Wilkesboro in 1996.
Though the touches of the previous observe, which has been in disrepair for years, stay as nods to its previous, followers who attend the Could race will see newly renovated suites and a state-of-the-art lighting system.
The All-Star Race was moved from Texas Motor Speedway, because it was not a spectacle that many followers affiliate with the occasion. North Wilkesboro will give it a brand new/previous look.
Daytona Worldwide Speedway – Feb. 19
Daytona 500 – all the time an fascinating race.
Even earlier than NASCAR determined to make its largest race the season opener for a factors competitors, the five hundred was typically the game’s most anticipated occasion. When NASCAR founder Invoice France Sr. opened the monster observe in 1959, inventory automotive racers have been all of the sudden hurled right into a brutal new world of blazingly excessive speeds and beam-like racing beforehand unknown to drivers accustomed to quick grime tracks.
The game has modified and developed in some ways over the many years since DIS opened, however the observe stays the cathedral of NASCAR, a spot the place the sudden is anticipated and nice careers start.
Partly due to the status of the observe and the race, and partly due to the quiet low season, the February race dates in coastal Florida will all the time be purple days on the racing calendar.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Aug. 13
This 12 months’s Indy observe race might be fascinating if for no different purpose than to see if it may be accomplished with out a number of extra time.
In final 12 months’s race, the primary flip, by which drivers left the entrance straight oval to dive into the within street course, was a nook for catastrophe. On the inexperienced flag restart, there was a little bit of give and take as the sector navigated the tight flip, leading to crashes, confusion and extra time.
about what turned out to be a current reboot, Ross Chastain He obtained by means of the chaos of flip one and continued on the entrance straight to rejoin the sector alongside the entry street, thus taking the lead from Tyler Reddick. NASCAR rapidly declared the transfer a no, and Reddick was again within the lead.
Riddick lastly received the race, 17% of which was carried out beneath warning.
It’s potential that NASCAR will attempt to keep away from a number of the chaos by tweaking the observe this 12 months.
Darlington Raceway – Sept. 3
After years of being the go-to fixture on NASCAR’s evolving schedule, the Darlington Southern 500 seems to have discovered a everlasting house in its unique spot – on or round Labor Day weekend.
The truth that NASCAR’s weirdest and hardest observe now additionally hosts the primary spherical of Cup qualifying provides to the intrigue that Darlington brings to the desk. It is 500 miles of powerful street going into the following spherical of qualifying, the prize awaits any driver within the discipline who finishes first.
On a traditional day, Darlington is tough. On a late summer time day/evening with temperatures within the 90’s and South Carolina humidity masking the path, it may be a brutal take a look at.