“Yeah, it’s definitely a long year… it always is,” said an exhausted Kyle Larson last month. Indeed, the Cup Series calendar has become something of a grind. With 36 races spanning from February into November, even the most seasoned drivers like Larson talk about getting fatigued or losing the sense of urgency mid-season. It’s not just him; many others, like Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr, have expressed how the schedule feels long, and it should have some weekend breaks in the summer.

So here’s the meat of what he’s floating. During his latest appearance on the Rubbin is Racing Podcast, Larson is proposing a sort of “speed-weeks” model within NASCAR, where clusters of races are grouped (for example, tracks like Darlington Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and

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