Getty Alon Day
Alon Day knows NASCAR. He’s a four-time EuroNASCAR champion (2022, 2020, 2018, 2017). He’s raced in America at least once in all three NASCAR Series. On July 6, he’ll drive for Alpha Prime Racing in the Xfinity Series Chicago race. Alon Day also knows that the next step of his career is going to be a seat in an American NASCAR series.
“It’s time to be in America because here’s the real thing. The United States is the real NASCAR and I want to be here and I want to race here,” Alon Day told me on July 20.
GettyAlon Day drives at Richmond Raceway
EuroNASCAR Versus American NASCAR
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES) was founded in 2008 by Anne Galpin, the NWES COO, and her husband, Jerome Galpin, the NWES President and CEO, as a way to bring a piece of the American series and V8 engine to Europe. Previously, V8 cars only raced in France. In 2010, the series was officially internationalized by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), and in 2012, the series partnered with NASCAR.
Since then, it’s been viewed as a way to bring European drivers to the States and expand the NASCAR market into Europe.
Of course, it’s not a one-to-one comparison between the two NASCAR series. The cars themselves are different, although both series boast V8 engines. The European vehicle can reach a top speed of around 152 mph with a power output of 400 brake horsepower. The American stock car in the Cup Series can exhibit 510 to 670 horsepower depending on the track, with max speeds of 240 mph.
Alon explained how it feels to drive the American stock car versus the European counterpart; “They have way more horsepower and they’re a bit heavier, which makes it a bit more difficult to drive.”.
It’s not just the cars that are different. The races feature longer lap times in the States, which affects driver strategy.
“The races are super long, you know, even if it’s only 55 laps in Chicago. But still, you have so many cautions. It can go up to two and a half hours even. So I think you need to adapt yourself to the fact that it’s not a sprint race like I’m used to driving in Europe,” Alon said.
“Here’s a bit different, you need to think about the long run, you need to survive the half of the race, obviously, the whole race, but you need to be there at the end. It’s just an endurance game eventually. I think when you see European drivers like Formula One drivers coming here, they think it’s a sprint race. That’s the mistake,” Alon said.
GettyAlon Day at Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway
Day Looks to Potential Seat in the States
Day hopes to be one of those drivers able to make the leap from EuroNASCAR to America. The Series doesn’t matter; Alon has experience in all three NASCAR series, having run two races in each series thus far.
But, NASCAR seats can be hard to come by, especially with the incumbent new charter agreement. If Day doesn’t secure a seat for next season in America, he’s made it clear that he won’t return to the NWES, but didn’t reveal what series he would race in instead.
“I won’t go to the EuroNASCAR series. I won four championships already. I hold every record. I think if somebody will eventually break my record I will go back. But for now, I think I’ve done enough in Europe, and it’s time for the next step,” Alon said.
Day does top the records for most of the NWES. He has 37 pole positions, 33 fastest laps, and, of course, 4 championship titles.
It’s an impressive resume to take to a team. I asked Alon if he had any potential contracts on the horizon.
“It’s funny you ask that because I don’t think about it. I think about race in Chicago… I look at the next step. And for me, the next step is Chicago. And after that, everything is open,” He said.
Chicago is Alon’s moment to show the American NASCAR audience (ie, potential teams) that he’s won those championships for a reason. He last raced in a NASCAR Series on American soil in 2018, and with no other American appearances coming up, Day needs to take advantage of what Chicago has to offer to secure a seat.
“I want to be good. I want to take this opportunity that they gave me, the sponsors, JSSI and Alpha Prime Racing, and leverage that to the best I can,” Alon said.
Day will be driving the JSSI-wrapped No. 45 Chevrolet for Alpha Prime Racing on the Chicago Street Course on July 6. He last drove for the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2016.
Day is a road course specialist and hopes that this opportunity to drive in the Xfinity Series will be a source of momentum going forward. I asked Day if he’s looking ahead to a seat in the American series for the 2024 season.
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Day confirmed, “I’m a road course specialist. I come from a road course background. So I want to base myself as the specialist guide for road courses that teams will take me to drive on road courses. But obviously, I want to do everything in the States.”