Not many drivers can claim they went from open-wheel racing to winning a stock car championship in their first try at 20 years old. Andrew Ranger can, however. After two years in CART, where he earned a podium and had back to back tenth tenth-place points finishes. He returned to his roots and began racing in Canada’s very own stock car series.

Where after one year he won the title!

With one win, two poles, and ten top tens in twelve races. Impressive stats on their own, but even more considering it was his first time driving these kinds of cars, going up against drivers older and with much more experience in them.

Had anyone been paying proper attention, this would’ve been the springboard for him to develop into a Cup Series regular. Instead, he was made into another road course ringer whenever he made trips for races across the border.

Not to say he doesn’t have the talent for it, something his ARCA West wins, ARCA wins, Nationwide Series top 5 in backmarker, and his CART podium all tell us. But his wins at Canadian ovals like Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières or SunValley Speedway, plus his oval experience in CART, show that he should’ve been given a better shot.

And a team owner should’ve made him a full-time driver in ARCA or the truck series so he could properly begin his journey into Cup. But no, he was forced into a ringer role, and he had his great moments because of it. Like his ARCA wins or a third-place finish at his home country’s only Nationwide Series race in 2011 with the forgotten and underfunded NDS Motorsports.

But his few oval outings showed promise out of the Canadian as well. Promise he’d never get a chance to live up to. Another driver put in the same back was J. R. Fitzpatrick. A Canadian late model legend and the 2006 CASCAR champion.

While he did get beaten by Ranger in the 2007 season in the Canadian Tire series. Later in the late 2010s, he accomplished a ton in the Canadian/Northeastern late-model scene. Such as winning the 2016 OSCAAR Outlaw Super Late Model Series Championship, the 2018 APC United Late Model Series Championship, and being the 2007 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Rookie of the Year and 2007 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Most Popular Driver.

But did he ever get a chance to show if these talents could translate at a national level, hardly? In the Nationwide Series, he had a successful career without a doubt. Getting top tens and top fives in even his few starts. Driving for big teams like JRM and KHI.

But the former Canadian CASCAR champion never got a chance to race at an oval in the Nationwide Series with any team. Let alone the top ones, he managed to land road course rides with. He did start out the 2009 truck series season with TRG and even got a 4th at Daytona to start the year!

But only three races later, the Canadian was let go by the legendary American sports car turned NASCAR team. Because TRG, which originally wanted to run three teams, had to downsize to two, in TRG owner Kevin Buckler’s words.

 “The economy took a dump. Everybody feels it. We got a little buzz going. We’re trying to position ourselves to be sort of the new, small, efficient, lean, and mean business model. We want to establish a new way of doing things. I’m not out to compete today with a Hendrick, but what I want to be the toughest dog in the fight.”

Which does get into another problem we’ll get into later. As for Fitzpatrick, it meant he did get opportunities in trucks with KHI, but after some almost but not quite top tens, that lack of funding and results meant he was forced to go back to racing road courses.

Then went back to the late model scene in Canada/northeast. And ever since then, we’ve seen the occasional Canadian driver pop up. Like Stewart Friesen, who’s an owner-driver with multiple truck series wins and a final four appearance. And Alex Labbe, who’s still racing with DGM, a team with Canadian connections.

But it’s nowhere near as often as it was in the early 2010s, and the reason is obvious!

Why I think the Canada Series has failed, and NASCAR should race in Canada again!

Earlier in 2025, it was rumored that, alongside the Mexico City race, NASCAR would return to one of the most historic tracks in racing. Returning to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the first time since 2012. A rumor that many fans were excited about, but would not come true.

When the 2026 schedule for all three series was revealed, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was on none of them. While that was heartbreaking for most fans who wanted the track’s exciting action. But for the Canadian stock car world, it meant something way more, fewer opportunities.

The reason for the handful of Canadian drivers in the Nationwide Series is that they would sometimes trickle into the Truck Series and Cup Series. Because a Canadian race is in one of the three biggest series. Meant there was more demand from sponsors for Canadian drivers, so that when the crowd roars for them, they see their logo on the driver everyone’s cheering for.

Part of that, however, is also the failure to make the Canada Series very big within Canada. With many fans even complaining that it’s hard to watch races as they are happening within Canada. While American viewers can find it easily on FloRacing.

This causes a trickle-down effect where fewer Canadians are into it. Thus, sponsors are less likely to care, and those who deal give less money, thus making it harder for Canadian drivers to find opportunities outside their native series because of less exposure and money.

Racing at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would give Canadian drivers the same, if not more, opportunities that Canadian stock car drivers had in the 2010s, but that comes with the same problem it did back then. While there are great Canadian ringers like Alex Labbe and the most classic of ringers, Ron Fellows. However, this would be terrible for the stock car drivers in Canada who race at the country’s short and dirt tracks.

Meaning they’ll never be able to show the wider NASCAR world their true talent. But that makes the solution obvious, then. NASCAR tried to race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but obviously failed as the famed race track is not on the NASCAR schedule for any of the three series in 2026. But Canada is a country of many short and dirt tracks, so why not go to one of them?

One might think that attendance would be a problem, and it would be, but not one that’s impossible to solve. Riverside International Speedway has a permanent seating capacity of 12,000. Now, if NASCAR for a special international event, wanted to add 45,000 seats, that would make it the same amount of seats s Gateway. Or if they want to make the event more special and therefore more likely to make bank, they could add 49,000 seats to Ohsweken Speedway, a Canadian dirt track.

Now it’s not common for NASCAR to be making their own seats or upgrading tracks to be spec ready for NASCAR, and instead building their own. But it’s time they stop doing that and instead build up the scene that made NASCAR big in the first place. It wasn’t competing alongside all the stick and ball sports in the big city that built NASCAR into what it is today. It was by being the biggest event in town.

Look at many of NASCAR’s most iconic tracks. Such as Bristol, Darlington, Martinsville, and Daytona. All small towns are where they’re the biggest show in town whenever the NASCAR circus walks in. Now that NASCAR is trying to break into big markets like Chicago and Mexico City, ratings have continued to go down, and the sport has stayed as popular as it was when it began its downward spiral.

Instead of trying to be like every other sport, NASCAR should focus on what makes it unique, especially to grow in international markets. Something NASCAR’s famously struggled with as well. As they could do the same in potentially growing markets, like Canada or even Australia. Going to small towns there and being the biggest event of the year there yearly.

The compromise!

Okay, but it is a risk, there’s no denying that. It’d be something NASCAR hadn’t tried at least in recent years. But there’s an easy compromise then. Try to have the Cup date be at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal at a big market, at one of the most historic racing venues, which would be fitting for NASCAR’s top division. But have the Xfinity and Truck series’ events be at a local short or dirt track nearby.

It gives the event grandiosity and brings a lot of eyes and interest to the Cup Series. While giving local talents an honest shot at showing their talents to more eyes, bigger sponsors, and to people who can turn these Canadian talents from local legends to being seen around the world competing and winning races in NASCAR’s top division. Thanks a bunch for reading!