NASCAR 2022: How many road courses are there this Cup Series season?

A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series holds races at 26 different tracks in the United States, including short tracks, superspeedways, intermediates, and road courses. The road course is one that adds turns to make things interesting for fans and challenging for drivers.

Basically, a road course is a type of motorsport race that runs on a cleared street surface. Road courses are not typical ovals. In fact, they are quite different from oval racing that drivers are used to racing on.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series' calendar contains six road course races, namely Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma Raceway, Road America, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International, and Charlotte Roval.

In the current NASCAR season, Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway are the only two races where the championship has been done so far.


Six road courses on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule

#1 Circuit of the Americas

Circuit of the Americas is located in Austin, Texas. The 3.426-mile-long track is the first road course on the schedule and was opened in 2012. The track features 20 turns and 130 feet of elevation changes throughout the course.

The venue hosted Cup Series’ EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on March 27, 2022, which was won by Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain.

#2 Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma Raceway is located in Sonoma County, California. The 1.99-mile-long opened in 1968 and is the most recently concluded road course of the 2022 season. The track features 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 feet (49 m) of total elevation change.

The venue hosted the NASCAR Cup Series’ Toyota/Save Mart 350 on June 12, 2022 and was won by another Trackhouse Racing driver, Daniel Suarez.

#3 Road America

Road America is located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The 4.048-mile-long track opened in 1955 and hosted its first NASCAR race at the track in 1956. The track features 14 turns with a total distance of about 250 miles covered in 62 laps for the race.

The venue will host the Cup Series’ Kwik Trip 250 on July 3, 2022. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott will return this season as the defending champion of the event.

#4 Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is located in Speedway, Indiana. The 2.439-mile-long track opened in 1909 and hosted its first Cup race in 1994. The track features 14 turns with a total distance of about 200 miles covered in 82 laps for the race.

The Verizon 200 at the Brickyard is an upcoming road race competition, which will be held on July 30, 2022. Last year, the inaugural event was won by A.J. Almendinger.

#5 Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen International is known as The Glen and is located in Watkins Glen, New York. The 2.45-mile-long track opened in 1956 and hosted its first Cup race in 1957. The track features eight turns with 141 feet of total elevation change.

The venue will host Go Bowling at The Glen on August 20, 2022, and Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will return as the defending champion of the event.

#6 Charlotte Roval

Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course is located in Concord, North Carolina. The 2.28-mile-long track is the final road course on the schedule and was opened in 1960. The track features a 17-turn course that combines the high-banks of the traditional oval with an infield road course.

The venue will host NASCAR Bank of America Roval 400 on October, 9 2022, and Kyle Larson is the defending champion of the event.

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