The Bowman Gray Stadium was brought back into the NASCAR schedule this year after decades of absence. Chase Elliott conquered it and kicked off his campaign toward a second Cup Series championship. It is a special kind of achievement when a driver beats his fellow contenders on a track on which none of them have raced before.
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They’re all dealing with the same unknown factors, and none have a particular advantage over the other. Also, it is only in a new track that their true calibers can be assessed in their rawest form. In the last 10 tracks that were introduced by NASCAR, beginning in 2020, Elliott and Joey Logano have managed to come out on top the most number of times.
Before Bowman Gray, Elliott won in the Daytona Road Course in 2020 and the Circuit of the Americas in 2021. Logano won in the Bristol Dirt Course in 2021 and in the L.A. Coliseum and the Gateway in 2022. Apart from them, four drivers make the list. Ryan Blaney won at the Iowa Speedway last season.
And of course, who could forget the Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen’s success at the Chicago Street Course in 2023? It was an achievement that has now led to him being a full-time driver in the Cup Series. A.J. Allmendinger won at the Indy Road Course in 2021, and Kyle Larson won at Nashville that same year.
With three wins each, Elliott and Logano have surpassed the others on the field. They have the opportunity to edge over the other when NASCAR travels to Mexico City for its first points-paying Cup Series race in an international venue. The event will go down at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on June 15.
Jeff Gordon reigns high with an impressive inaugural race record
Gordon played a significant role in popularizing NASCAR in the 1990s and the 2000s. He was a popular icon throughout the world of motorsports. His fame was backed by incredible skill behind the wheel, and it showed every time he got into a car. It did not matter to him whether a track was new to him or familiar.
In 1994, he won NASCAR’s first-ever race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was 23 years old at the time. In 1997, the Auto Club Speedway was introduced into the calendar. He conquered it en route to his second championship. Finally, in 2001, the Kansas Speedway was introduced. Gordon won again.
He serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports today. He is far off from the days when he made it a fun activity to beat his competitors on new tracks. But the streets will not forget what he was capable of.
