If you have been watching NASCAR over the past few years, some of the best – and most exciting – races have come at road courses.

Unfortunately, road racing has been relegated to just two out of the 36 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Now, I will admit that I am a huge road-course fan. In fact, I have attended the race at Watkins Glen International for the past 13 years, as the track is just 45 minutes from my former hometown.

I made the trip back to The Glen this past weekend and, once again, the drivers put on a show for the fans in attendance and around the country.

The reason I am bringing this up is because I believe NASCAR is doing the fans and the sport a disservice by not having a road course in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which is the playoffs for NASCAR’s top division.

Of the two road courses – Watkins Glen and Sonoma in California – I feel The Glen has proven to be the better course and created more exciting finishes on a consistent basis. So, if there is going to be a road course added to the Chase, it should be the one in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.

Watkins Glen is consistently ranked as one of the best races of the NASCAR season and fans recently voted WGI as the best track in the country, according to a USA Today poll.

I think it’s obvious that drivers should be tested with a road course in the Chase. The only debate I have had is whether or not NASCAR should simply move either the race at Sonoma or The Glen into the playoff season or if there should be a third road course race added to the schedule.

As I said in the beginning of this column, the fact that only two of the 36 races include right and left turns seems a little off to me. So, a third road course race shouldn’t be immediately dismissed by NASCAR officials.

I think there is an easy fix to this problem. If I were running the show, there would not be two races at Pocono Raceway, which currently hosts two events less than two months apart.

Pocono is a historic track, but where as The Glen has been consistently creating exciting races, the “Tricky Triangle” in Long Pond, Pennsylvania has produced a few strong races and several duds in recent years.

NASCAR could easily move the Sonoma race to early June, which is when the first Pocono race is usually scheduled, and then put the first Watkins Glen race in Sonoma’s normal spot in late June. The second race at The Glen would then come in early September during the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

NASCAR would need to take a race out of the playoffs, which would obviously make one track unhappy. However, I feel that if NASCAR wants to do what is right for the sport, they will have to make that tough decision and take the heat from whichever track they choose.

This debate comes up every year at some point and hopefully sooner or later NASCAR will take a serious look at the situation.

The drivers should be tested in the playoffs with a road course and fans have made it clear that they enjoy seeing the craziness that ensues when the Sprint Cup gets twisted.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.