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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Should Cup Cross North Of The Border?
While the Nationwide Series has a presence in Canada, the Sprint Cup Series hasn't yet followed suit...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted August 26, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has proven to be an attractive site for the NASCAR Nationwide Series. (Photo: Getty Images)
When Nationwide Series team members first stepped onto the grounds at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in the summer of 2007, this comment – or variations on the theme – could be heard throughout the garage area: “Wow, this place needs a Cup race.”

The 2.7-mile track is one of the world’s best road courses. Its setting, in a park that once hosted a World’s Fair, is immaculate. Its fans are devoted, turning out in strong numbers – 65,000 or so – every year to see stock cars race on a track that wasn’t built for them.

And then there is Montreal, a grand international city with great food, striking architecture, a rich music scene and a welcoming riverine landscape. There are few such remarkable cities on any NASCAR tour.

Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 will be the fourth Nationwide event at the track, and there is not even a serious hint that Montreal will have a Cup race in the near future.

There are scenarios in which it could work, however. There is a strong case to be built for including a road-course race in the Chase, and Montreal could fit well there in the early weeks of the 10-race run. Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., new to the Nationwide Series this year and perhaps the best road course in the United States without a Cup race, also could put in a claim for that spot. And then there’s the planned supertrack in Austin, Texas that is scheduled to host the United States Grand Prix in 2012, but putting a Cup race there – assuming the speedway actually is built – is next to impossible because Texas Motor Speedway is only three hours away.

Oddly, the biggest argument against a Cup race in Montreal might be the success of the Nationwide races there. A mercenary might say, “If fans will turn out for NASCAR’s No. 2 series, why give them the best piece of pie?”

Because it’s the right thing to do. And because NASCAR, in a time of relative stress in the Ticket and Promotions Department, needs to juice its Canadian fan base, one that is surprisingly strong for a country that’s often viewed through sports glasses as a hockey haven and nothing else.

“I think it would be very popular,” Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve said of a Cup race in his country. “There’s already a big crowd for Nationwide, and it would be quite as big for the Cup race. And also, the Montreal crowd is used to having a top level of racing, which is Formula One, so they are expecting to get the Cup as well.

“So it would have a big success, and it would bring a new market and new sponsorship race to the whole of NASCAR. Just having Nationwide makes it a little bit more difficult, because they are used to having Formula One, anyway. So, to them, to bring the Canadian companies into NASCAR, you need to get the Cup there.”

Carl Edwards won last year’s Nationwide race at the track.
Nationwide Series drivers compete at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2008. (Photo: Getty Images)

“That victory lap last season and the response I got from the crowd, that was one of the neatest wins I’ve ever had in my life,” Edwards said. “It’s an amazing city, and it’s a beautiful race track and, like I said, the fans are just great.

“So it’s one that I’ve got on my calendar, and it’s one of my favorite places to go. I have some family coming with me, they are excited to see the city and I’m just really excited about the race.”

Edwards said Canadian fans want the best.

“The question whether a race track deserves a Sprint Cup race – I always say yes,” Edwards said. “The fan presence is there. The race track and the city are just – I mean, they are just fun to go to. I mean, it’s a fun place to stay. It’s a fun track to race on. The problem is the politics and the money and contracts and all those things.

“But to me, the Canadian fans, it’s like going to Kentucky or going to Iowa. These places, they love the stock car racing and they want to see these races and it’s a change of pace for them. They are just amped up. There’s just so much energy there.”

Some of that energy also could be released eventually at Canadian Motor Speedway, a one-mile oval track planned for Fort Erie, Ontario, near Toronto. Developers of that project hope to have it open and hosting racing in 2012, and it also could be a potential Cup site down the road.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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