Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, The Daytona 500 is the biggest and most historical race on the NASCAR Cup Series season schedule, the Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s superbowl event, however does NASCAR need something before the big race for the drivers and teams to test, work on their car(s) and at the same time, to get the fans excited and fired up for the upcoming season, yes sort of like what preseason testing in January did for everyone and so does what the Budweiser shootout use to do?
Earlier last month (January) at Sound & Speed in Nashville, Michael Waltrip said “Why not have a race in January, maybe a New Year's Eve race, middle of January, some sort of race in a cool location where it pays money?” (Read entire article…)
NASCAR has heard this suggestion over and over again and in past years, the answer to this suggestion was simple, the January Preseason Testing at Daytona followed by the February Budweiser Shootout, that is a week before the Daytona 500, however in this day in age, considering the January preseason testing has been cancelled at least for this year (2009) and that the Budweiser Shootout has been changed so much in past years and for 2009 has gone straight to the manufacturers, the suggestion has gotten my attention and really has me thinking as to what NASCAR could do.
However in this tough economy, for sponsors, teams, drivers, fans and for NASCAR, cost cutting is now and will always be a way of life, so such a concept would have be something that fits on all levels including looks good on paper and something that the drivers, teams and the fans would attend.
So with that said, what about taking Michael Waltrip’s suggestion of a preseason race and putting the event in either, Las Vegas, Phoenix or Southern California?
First and for most, warm weather for the event comes to mind, second the preseason race would not only take the place of preseason testing as it is a 2-day test session, the race would also take the place of the upcoming Budweiser Shootout, in a lot of ways, it is a longer Budweiser Shootout, only it would be in January, have at least a 43 car start field, no points on the line, an open test date before the race, at least 250 miler to be exact and the race/event would be perfect for a fan fest.
I figure since its too cold in Charlotte and the speedway already has the All-Star race in May, the race/event should be on the West Coast or in Florida and considering there is only a few tracks that could handle such an event, first logical choose would be the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, SMI has been asking for a second date for a long time and this would be perfect, the test session gets teams ready for Charlotte, Texas and other 1.5-2.0 mile ovals, although there would be two conditions, first, the Las Vegas date at the beginning of season would have to be moved to October or November during the chase and second, the second Las Vegas Cup date once moved must stay at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the schedule, not be moved.
The second location could be Phoenix International Raceway, the 1 mile unique short track would be perfect, the test session gets teams ready for Bristol, Martinsville, Loudon and etc. In creating a preseason race here, NASCAR would have to remove one of Phoenix’s Cup Series race dates from the upcoming season schedule, personally it would work, a good old fashion Saturday Night short track race under the lights. Also, the freed up date during the season would be an off-weekend, something the Cup Series and Nationwide Series schedules are in need of.
Although, I’m not sure where the preseason race could go in Southern California, so why not put the preseason race at Daytona International Speedway or California Speedway? First, the racing at California Speedway isn’t all that entertaining to begin with, they can’t sellout two dates and NASCAR should move one of their dates to Kansas Speedway, Iowa Speedway or another speedway (not Kentucky Speedway, there are too many races in the Kentucky market and the racing isn’t all that good to begin with.)
What about Speedweeks in Daytona? The schedule is huge as it stands for 2009, so if this suggestion works, that would move the Budweiser Shootout, then put the first date to arrive for all teams and drivers on the Tuesday before the Duels at Daytona that would save a little bit of money for each team. Cup Series qualifying would have to moved to Wednesday.
Did I miss any racetracks? What does everyone think, does NASCAR need a preseason race in January (the race would take the place of preseason testing and the Budweiser Shootout)?
