“Totally Abandoned”: Fans Disappointed as NASCAR Overseas Series Turns a Blind Eye to Their Demands

NASCAR organizes a full-fledged motor racing series on the other side of the world. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is more than just a flash-in-the-pan experiment. The first season was held in 2009 under the purview of the FIA—the organizers of Formula One. NASCAR was brought into the fold in 2012. While the European stock-car racing competition is still registered as an international FIA series, it is NASCAR that makes the big decisions. One such decision left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths, and they did not shy away from expressing themselves on social media.

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series recently released its schedule for the 2024 season. This comes only a couple of days before the tournament’s season-finale race in Belgium. While it did not cause as much of an uproar as the 2024 Cup Series schedule did, there was one particular point that fans did not like.

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series set for thrilling finale this weekend

The season finale of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Cup Series will take place at Circuit Zolder in Belgium on October 14–15. There are four main contenders in the top flight of the series, the EuroNASCAR Pro. With a total of 175 points to be won over the two days, it is impossible to predict who the victor is going to be.

Gianmarco Ercoli goes into the final race as the championship leader with 285 points, but his advantage is paper thin. The Caal Racing Chevrolet driver is closely followed by his compatriot Vittorio Ghirelli of Team Bleekemolen Toyota, who is just 4 points behind. Lucas Lasserre of Speedhouse Ford is third, 21 points behind the leader. Fourth place is occupied by Anthony Kumpen of PK Carsport Chevrolet, 23 points behind the Ercoli.

Not long after the victor collects his trophy and celebrates with his team, friends, and family, the focus will shift to 2024. There will be seven venues in the season, including an addition that has delighted NASCAR fans. The inclusion of the Venray Raceway has invited cheers from fans who were disappointed that there was no oval race in 2023 in a NASCAR competition.

But these fans were not happy about everything. NASCAR has organized races on asphalt and dirt for years but 2023 was supposed to have something special. NASCAR was to organize its first-ever ice race at Val Thorens in France.

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The organizers had taken one of the cars to the snowy French mountains and tested how it ran. The results were positive and NASCAR scheduled the ice race debut for the 2023 season. However, only a couple of months before the season, the race had to be indefinitely postponed due to issues with the supply chain. The organizers were not able to send the proper equipment to the cars for ice racing.

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Fans were hopeful that 2024 would see the highly anticipated ice race but there was no mention of it on the schedule. This was a source of disappointment for many who had been patiently waiting for the spectacular event. “Still no ice race,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “Right? Was hoping they’d be working on that all season to bring it back next year. It sounds like so much fun!” another user replied.

There were a few rather pessimistic fans who believed that the idea of the ice race was shelved altogether. If that is indeed the case, it truly is a shame. “I guess they totally abandoned the race on Ice plan all together,” another fan wrote.

However, not all was gloomy among the fans. The return of the Venray Oval was good news because a  NASCAR series without an Oval race really is just weird. “Back at Venray at least. They should continue to try the ice,” a user commented. “That’s cool they are doing a oval. Just looked at the track looks cool probably be a fun one,” penned another.

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is slowly but steadily gaining popularity among motorsports fans around the globe, especially in Europe. Perhaps the ice race would have helped them grow even more in popularity. Do you think we will see the ice race any time in the near future? Let us know your thoughts.

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