Kevin Harvick: NASCAR needs more short tracks and road courses

If Kevin Harvick had his way the Sprint Cup schedule would have a dramatically different look. And in a perfect world, the defending series champion wants fewer tracks hosting multiple races with an increase in the number of road courses and short tracks.

“If you want to talk about growing the sport, I believe that some venues need one race,” Harvick said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. “I believe that the schedule needs to be mixed up. People like things that change, they don’t like stagnant things.

“You can beat a dead horse as much as you want, but it doesn’t come back to life. And sometimes you just have to change things up to keep the excitement and enthusiasm in the sport. I think our schedule is definitely the weak link along with some of the venues that we go to.”

Harvick’s comments came when a reporter asked him what can be done better to increase NASCAR’s popularity and grow the sport. It’s not the first time he called for a revamped schedule, but Friday he was more direct than in previous interviews .

NASCAR officials have repeatedly stated the Cup schedule would not expand beyond 36-point races plus two exhibition events. Kentucky Speedway in 2011 was the last track added to the calendar, but that came at the expense of Atlanta Motor Speedway, which lost one of its two dates.

Harvick specifically cited half-mile Iowa Speedway and road courses at Laguna Seca (located in Monterey, Calif.) and Montreal as deserving of Cup races. He would also like to see NASCAR select one “wildcard” race every year, which would then take the sport to underserved markets.

“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,” Harvick said. “Whether it be Formula 1 or any other form of racing, there are not many ovals. You could go anywhere in the world and race on a road course. There are lots of good venues.”

When asked why there’s not a more diverse schedule, Harvick provided a candid response: “Two publicly controlled companies,” he said.

International Speedway Corp., whose voting stock is controlled by the France family, who owns NASCAR, has 20 events across 12 of its tracks, while Speedway Motorsports Inc.‘s eight tracks host 13 races. Only three tracks -- Pocono Raceway, Dover International Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- are independently owned.

In addition to an overhauled schedule, Harvick also prefers fewer Saturday night races. Citing television ratings where Sunday afternoon events have higher viewership numbers compared to Saturday night races, Harvick doesn’t see why NASCAR doesn’t cater more to what fans want.

“We need to be on the TV when the most people watch, because the sponsors are a big part of what makes this go around,” Harvick said. “And the fans watching on TV and in the grandstands seeing those products are important, but the TV numbers are the most important thing we have.”