The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Watkins Glen this weekend, and you have to wonder how much longer road courses will be on the schedule. Any time NASCAR talks of building more tracks to feature Cup events, the question is which existing venues will lose an event in the series.

If and when it happens, Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway will likely be the casualties.

In the modern era of NASCAR, it’s all about speed and three and four-wide racing. Road courses offer little more than a bump-and-grind exhibition. I’m not a huge fan of road course events, but they do provide variety. Long tracks, short tracks, tracks that have left and right turns — over the course of a season it tests all the skills a driver possesses.

Unfortunately some of the top competitors in the series opt to bring in “hired guns” to drive in their stead on road courses. For every Jeff Gordon who actually enjoys spending a Sunday afternoon twisting and turning, there are competitors who’d just as soon sit it out and let a road course expert take the wheel.

The hired gun mentality is why Boris Said was able to get a foot in the NASCAR door. For years he was the man a team would call on to negotiate road courses. Still, the fact that some of the top stars in NASCAR would rather leave the driving to someone else tells me these tracks might not be part of the highest level of stock car racing in coming years.

Maybe Watkins Glen and Infineon are better suited for the Grand American Road Racing Series. That circuit has plenty of ties to NASCAR in terms of ownership and cross-promotion, but the founders understand that it’s an entirely different animal. It was founded as something of a companion series to traditional oval racing, and it serves as a niche motorsport.

While it obviously takes skill and strategy to negotiate these tracks, the kind of racing they feature isn’t the kind of racing NASCAR patrons are accustomed to. It’s almost as though Watkins Glen and Infineon remain part of the schedule simply on the basis of tradition. But since NASCAR is doing away with a lot of its tradition, I can’t help but think road courses might be on a course for NASCAR extinction.

The NASCAR of today is much different than the NASCAR of even five years ago. I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when Sunday races are a thing of the past, replaced by the primetime, under the lights events that are becoming more frequent.

And as the sport continues its move to more glitz and glamour at the expense of grease and sweat, I just don’t believe Watkins Glen and Infineon will be able to hold their positions — not as long as there are multi-millionaires who want to build a by-the-numbers oval in some major media market.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe fans will start packing the stands to see races at these venues and convince the NASCAR brain trust they’re still viable. But I’m guessing these tracks are expendable.

If that’s the case, enjoy them while you can.