Jeff Gordon believes the NASCAR Sprint Cup's 10-race Chase for the Championship would benefit from having a road course race in the future.
The four-time Cup champion, who has won more road course races at NASCAR's top level than anyone else, says that the only significant thing missing from the Chase is a non-oval race, and that the implementation of double-file restarts would add an extra dimension to the mix for drivers and fans.
"I've always said that in order to make the championship fully complete and find out the true best team and driver, the only thing that I think we're missing in the Chase right now is a road course," said Gordon.
"I feel like the Chase has about everything right now from short tracks to superspeedways to intermediates, so I think it's pretty complete right now, but if you wanted to look at just one little thing that was missing, it would be a road course.
"I guess as exciting as the road courses have been here lately with these double-file restarts, I think the fans would be for it as well whereas in the past, you haven't seen that kind of action. Most people would say that a road course isn't as traditional as the ovals are in our sport, so why have one in the Chase? I could see one in there."
When asked about the possibility of a road course being included on the Chase schedule, NASCAR president Mike Helton refused to close the door on it. However, he said that no such proposal has been put on the table yet.
"I've learned over time to never not imagine the possibilities of something," Helton said during the build-up to the Watkins Glen Cup race.
"But as we sit here today, we still maintain the thought process when we introduced the Chase that we were not going to shuffle tracks around to adapt to the Chase, but that the Chase was the last 10 races.
"Now, however that may work out in the future, if someone comes to us and asks to change stuff around, we would consider it. But there is nothing on the table today.
"We wouldn't stack tracks up in the Chase for benefit of the Chase. The Chase is the last 10 races of the season. But as the evolution of changes go on, who knows what could end up the last 10 races?"
NASCAR's Sprint Cup currently competes at two road course races during the season, both of them during the summer at Sears Point and Watkins Glen.
