Reigning Cup champ: 'I believe that the schedule needs to be mixed up'
Related: Brad Keselowski's opinions on the Sprint Cup schedule
TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick has some specific ideas about shaking up the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule.
In answering a reporter's question about how NASCAR could further invigorate fan interest, Harvick suggested being more open-minded and flexible with the race venues. He emphasized that races are regularly returning to their "sold out" roots, but the champion proposed more road races and even a wild-card venue each season.
"If you want to talk about growing the sport, I believe that some venues need one race,'' Harvick said Friday before opening practice at Talladega Superspeedway. "I believe that the schedule needs to be mixed up. People like things that change, they don't like stagnant things. In my opinion the most stagnant thing in our sport is our schedule and our venues that we go to.
" … And sometimes you just have to change things up to keep the excitement and enthusiasm in the sport."
Asked what he would do and where he would go, this year's championship points leader was quick with some suggestions.
"I know the first place I would go is Iowa," Harvick said of the Rusty Wallace-designed .875-mile oval that hosts two XFINITY Series and one Camping World Truck Series stand-alone. "I think that everybody wants to see more short tracks and more venues."
Further, Harvick said, "I think road racing -- we have a couple of road races on the schedule and most every team has two road race cars and spends a lot of money on their road race program.
"Adding a road race here or there would definitely be something that I would vote for just for the fact internationally road racing is very recognizable to race fans. … You could take your pick on road courses, Montreal (Canada) does a great job, you could go to Laguna Seca (California), you could go anywhere in the world and race on a road course. There are lots of good venues."
And while he's at it, Harvick said smiling, he has an unconventional idea of rotating at least one venue every year.
"I have always been a fan of let's go to the banquet and roll the pills around of race tracks across the country and have a wild-card race every year,'' Harvick said. "Go to the 'Milwaukee Mile' and really you could go to test these venues and see how the markets react.
"And see the reaction you get from the market, even if you only have 30 or 40 thousand people in the grandstands. If you put on a good event for TV and do the things that it takes to have a unique event, that is really what people want."