If you've looked at the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, then you've probably taken note of the changes that the auto sanctioning body has made to appeal to both relatively new fans as well as more seasoned viewers who were introduced to the sport decades ago. The new fans will be catered to when NASCAR heads to Los Angeles for a repeat of the Clash at The Coliseum and to Chicago in July for the Chicago Street Race. The old fans? They're probably going to be most pumped about the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, as NASCAR hasn't regularly raced at the Wilkes County, North Carolina track since the mid-'90s.
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For Jeff Gordon, a NASCAR Hall of Famer and current Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, the mix of the new and the old is a promising sign for NASCAR's future. During a recent interview on Barstool Sports' Rubbin Is Racing podcast, where he was joined by 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, Gordon talked about the exciting possibilities that have arisen as a result of NASCAR's big schedule changes. The big question is this: does NASCAR go international? Gordon doesn't see why not.
"I think we're gonna see a snapshot this year of what's possible and what the future holds for NASCAR," Gordon said. "The Clash, if you can put on an event in a stadium like that, or in an arena, what other places could we go?"
"Could you go to London to Wembley? Could you go to Brazil or go to Middle East? Who knows where you can go with that? And put on a heck of a show and bring people that maybe never seen a NASCAR race together," he said. "I think it'd be very entertaining. Then you got the street course in Chicago. If you can go race on the street course in the middle of a metropolitan city, who knows what's next? Where could you take that? I think it's really exciting."
"I also love the throwback at North Wilkesboro, a track we hadn't been to for thirty years, so that's super cool to me. We're gonna get that opportunity to see this track that really helped build NASCAR and a county, the history of NASCAR almost built on and go back there."
"So you have the new and the old."
Can you imagine if NASCAR went to Wembley? They'd really be giving Formula One a run for its money with such a major schedule shift like that. Of course, right now that doesn't seem to even really be a blip on NASCAR's radar. At least not openly. Who knows what they've been talking about behind the scenes?
