NASCAR appears headed back to Montreal in 2009

The Nationwide Series appears likely to return to Montreal for 2009 and it could be the only international race on the No. 2 series’ schedule.

NASCAR has already said it would not return to Mexico City next year, but NASCAR Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell said officials from the sanctioning body “anticipate" Montreal being back on the schedule for 2009.

O’Donnell said Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would not host a Sprint Cup date in 2009, and he would not speculate on whether the Cup series would race there beyond ’09.

“We were a little bit surprised just how big NASCAR is in general in Canada," O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said the Canadian Tire Series has been well received, perhaps even more than NASCAR hoped. Part of the goal of that series is to produce Canadian driving talent for NASCAR’s three national series, and O’Donnell cited Andrew Ranger as hope for that farm series. Scenedaily.com