Would NASCAR seriously consider a Cup Series race on the dirt at Eldora?

Fans would probably love it, and some drivers are in favor of it, so will we ever see the Cup Series drivers hit the dirt?

If there was ever a great advertisement for the idea of the top stars of NASCAR doing battle on the dirt track at Eldora Speedway, the 2018 Eldora Dirt Derby provided it on Wednesday night. Following an overtime restart, Chase Briscoe and Grant Enfinger battled it out side by side and door to door, banging on each other in some kind of idealized form of close NASCAR finishes brought vividly to life.

That finish undoubtedly brought a smile to the face of former NASCAR great Tony Stewart, who has been campaigning recently for the sport’s governing body to think about an XFINITY Series race at Eldora Speedway. As owner of the track, Stewart has a vested interest in seeing that happen. Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not, but he too has been banging the drum to see stock cars on the dirt at Eldora as well.

Even noted semi-curmudgeon Brad Keselowski (we kid, Brad K.) was for the idea, albeit while noting that you couldn’t just throw Cup cars out there and say have at it.

While an XFINITY Series race would definitely be interesting, it’s even more intriguing to skip right to the big question: Would NASCAR ever consider running a Cup Series race at Eldora?

The short answer is that it wouldn’t happen for quite some time. It would fit NASCAR’s M.O. to go from Trucks to XFINITY to test some things out first before it ever even considered Cup, kind of like it’s doing with the All-Star Race rules package. There are also track commitments to consider, which is the very reason the Cup Series schedule doesn’t change much from year to year right now. To add a race at Eldora, some track would have to lose a date, because no one has an appetite for making the season even longer.

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An even bigger debate could be had over whether NASCAR should do it even if it thought an Eldora Cup race was a good idea. The pros are pretty obvious: Racing on a track that is known for excitement, offering fans something different and making the best drivers around prove themselves in yet another discipline, similar to the way most people think it’s important to have road course races. One would expect that Cup Series drivers who grew up on dirt would welcome it, and those who didn’t aren’t likely to back down from the challenge.

However, some of the commenters on Keselowski’s tweet raise the idea that it might be too much of a good thing, comparing it to how the NHL watered down the Winter Classic by playing too many outdoor hockey games. When everyone is doing it, suddenly it’s not that special, and the way the Truck Series lags behind the other two national series in terms of popularity and attendance, maybe everyone in racing would be better off if it was allowed to keep its one unique marquee event to itself.

There would be some logistical concerns as well outside of what tires and rules would apply to the cars. Eldora Speedway packs in the fans for the Dirt Derby, and the shots of people sitting in lawn chairs in the turns is always amazing. That said, 20,000-ish people is pretty low even by the standards of this era of NASCAR where the stands at the big tracks are generally not full. It’s quite possible the tracks simply isn’t big enough to fit NASCAR’s idea of what a Cup Series facility should be.

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After the most recent edition of the Eldora Dirt Derby lived up to all the hype, this is a hypothetical scenario that is going to keep getting discussed until NASCAR comes out and says whether or not there’s any chance of it becoming a reality. Stewart thinks that the company can be pressured into pondering it if the fans are vocal enough, so if you’d like to see it happen, the time to reach out and make your voice heard is probably now.