Allmendinger admitted Wednesday that he was biased to the discipline but shared his thoughts on NASCAR potentially adding the course for one of the track’s three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events, specifically the May All-Star Race or the October playoff race.
"I don’t know what's going to happen, but it was a lot of fun." Allmendinger said. "It can bring something new to the schedule. I’m all for it."
Allmendinger understands that oval racing is the backbone of NASCAR’s roots. But with the sport’s new format enhancements designed to create better racing and more memorable moments, Allmendinger believes more road-course racing can help the cause.
"Change can be good," he said. "It can be a little scary, but could it be successful? It would be a fantastic race and something new the fans would enjoy."
Denny Hamlin, NASCAR’s most recent road-course winner at Watkins Glen International, disagrees with Allmendinger. He admits that the races are exciting but feels the sport should stick to what's made it successful.
"We have just the right amount of road courses on the schedule," Hamlin said. "Maybe we could add one, but road courses overtaking our sport? I’m not sure about that. Ovals are what our sport was founded on."
Charlotte has hosted events on its road course before including SCCA races and the IMSA Camel GT Series in the 1980s. But NASCAR racing has been held exclusively on its 1.5-mile oval since 1960. If NASCAR attempted to run the road course in "The Queen City" during the playoffs in October, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Paul Menard would be all for it.
"Putting one (road race) in the playoffs is what the sport needs to shake things up," Menard said. "We have speedways, we have the intermediate tracks and we have short tracks. Throw a road course in there."
Menard has driven on multiple road-course/oval layouts built around current NASCAR tracks. He's won at Auto Club Speedway’s 1.2-mile road course and Phoenix International Raceway’s 1.5-mile layout in the Grand Am Series in 2002. Menard says tracks the sport visits twice a year could be the perfect opportunity to implement more road-course races.
"Tracks like Kansas, Charlotte and Daytona, that we go to twice a year that have road courses," he said. "I’ve driven on Daytona's road course. It’s a good mix of high speeds and slow corners. There's a lot of give-and-take on setup.
"Two road courses aren’t enough. Our cars aren’t built for road-course racing, which makes that really exciting to drive and gives our fans an exciting product to watch."
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