NASCAR has continually leaned more towards road course racing in recent years, particularly since the introduction of the Next Gen cars in 2022. There are various reasons for it to do so. But could the lower, grassroots-level racing series follow suit if they wanted to? After all, it is NASCAR that drivers in these series are ultimately dreaming of racing in.

Technically, they could. But there are some high challenges that they will need to overcome. A fan recently tagged Dale Earnhardt Jr. on social media, talking about the state of the Virginia International Raceway, and sought his help in bringing families to the track. The racing icon could do so by scheduling a CARS Tour race at the venue. However, that’s easier said than done.

Dale Jr. replied to the fan by stating the absolute realities. While he would love to have at least one road course event on the calendar, he has learnt through the Dodge deal that his cars would need completely different transmissions and oil pans. There are also multiple other expenditure fronts that every team will have to consider. However, it is not something completely out of the question.

Jumping in on the conversation, former driver Brian Keselowski wrote, “It’s just so expensive no matter what you do. Hopefully, you can lock guys into running the same chassis, but then 90% of the components are different. Transmissions, Brakes, LF suspension, ball joints(we learned the hard way), axles, rear-ends, shocks, and the entire body placement.”

Dale Jr. replied, “You nailed it. It’s a massive undertaking for teams.”

So, as much fun as it would be to see the CARS Tour or other grassroots-level racing platforms adopt road courses, it is something that comes with serious financial implications. On another side, some fans weren’t even willing to consider such an outcome.

Already tired of all the road course events on the NASCAR calendar, the last thing they want to see is the fever catching on to other series. They couldn’t comprehend the idea that Dale Jr., of all people, would be open to taking the CARS Tour to a road course. Even as a driver, he wasn’t that great on the road courses, which is what perplexes the fandom.

He has made his stance about road course racing in NASCAR abundantly clear on multiple occasions. He once said that while they are a crucial part of modern-day NASCAR, it is in oval racing that the true spirit of the sport lies. He’d also stated that he would like to limit the number of road course races in a year to two. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the CARS Tour.

The post Dale Earnhardt Jr. And Brian Keselowski Explain Why Grassroots Road Course Racing Is a “Massive Undertaking” appeared first on The SportsRush.

NASCAR is effectively stepping into a new era in 2026, following the long and tiring charter lawsuit issue between the sanctioning body and teams coming to an end through a settlement. The two parties have managed to find a common middle ground, but there is a lot more work to be done before any real results can be seen.

Veteran reporter Bob Pockrassspoke about the after-effects of the settlement on Beating and Banging and detailed how he thinks it will impact the sport. The core point he made was that the sport won’t heal itself through a four-minute press conference in which both parties announced that all the issues between them are resolved. He said, “It takes more than that.

“It takes more trust between teams and NASCAR. And so, you know, I still think there’s work to be done between those sides,” Pockrass continued. “But what it has done is that it has given the teams potentially more value through their charters to be able to attract more investors, as well as the potential to drive up charter prices for those teams that want to sell.”

The teams received some major benefits from NASCAR’s decision tosettlethe lawsuit. For instance, now that the charters are permanent, their values have shot up remarkably. They have become evergreen assets and are now more comparable and similar to the franchise system that can be seen in other major sports.

Furthermore, the teams also get a larger share of NASCAR’s revenue from multiple streams. These are big wins from a financial perspective.

What was the biggest surprise of the entire trial?

The antitrust lawsuit trial involving Denny Hamlin‘s 23XI Racing team and NASCAR held many surprising twists and turns. The financial documents that were revealed to the public contained some shocking numbers. But these weren’t the ones that brought about the loudest thunder. That is attributed to the controversial text messages that were shared between top NASCAR officials.

Pockrass said, “Everybody knows that you get upset with people and you can vent on text and everything, but what surprises you is that… If you’re in a leadership position, you know you’re going to be criticized. You know you’re going to be in tough situations. And just how personally NASCAR executives took some of the actions by the teams and the drivers was a little bit startling.”

The messages in discussion are the ones that Steve Phelps and Brian Herbst sent each other in a bad light against Richard Childress. The reception to the messages being out in the open was chaotic, and has led to Phelps resigning from his position as the NASCAR commissioner.

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