NASCAR: 3 eventual replacements for the Bristol dirt race

Bristol dirt replacements: No. 2 – Stadium race (various locations)

NASCAR also went back to their roots of short track racing when they raced at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for this year’s preseason Busch Light Clash. A 0.25-mile (0.402-kilometer) mile track was created in a football stadium to produce a mixture of racing and entertainment while attracting a new market that engaged with a whole new fanbase.

NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy, Ben Kennedy, served as the visionary for the idea and has entertained the possibility of stadium races in the future.

With 32 NFL teams, there is at a variety of outdoor stadiums where the sport could hypothetically build a short track on, especially during the Easter weekend date on which the Bristol dirt race was scheduled. Within those stadiums, there are plenty of untapped markets where NASCAR hasn’t touched, such as Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, and more.

Some may see this as a lateral move as far as logistics and everything else that goes into a points-paying race.

But the Bristol dirt race didn’t seem like it would become a reality at first, nor did NASCAR flipping the script of a football field/racetrack combination, until both were brought to life.

Traveling to a new location with a pop-up style track may not seem like the most financially rewarding idea for Cup Series teams at first, but it could pay off in the long run.

After all, the Busch Light Clash was enough of a success for NASCAR to schedule it again at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the 2023 season, and a Cup Series race that capitalizes on this idea could spell long-term success for the sport.