Auto Racing Insider Pete Pistone Posted Friday, August 22, 2008
The more I've been able to study the 2009 schedules for NASCAR's top three divisions, the more I like what I see.
Adding a truck series race to Chicagoland Speedway, which is in sponsor Craftsman's backyard, is long overdue. Although the company won't be backing the series as its title sponsor next season, I have no doubt Craftsman will underwrite the race next August.
Losing the Nationwide Series road course in Mexico City (hooray!) for a good old fashioned race in the Heartland of the United Stated at Iowa Speedway will be a major homerun.
That track is a perfect fit for the circuit and with the addition of seats will be one of the crown jewels of the series for years to come.
And I've already given kudos to the tinkering on the Sprint Cup calendar. The Atlanta-Fontana-Talladega swap is a great move as is the addition of a fourth off-weekend to break-up the grind of 36 points races.
But I have a feeling the 2010 schedule is going to have an even more drastic look to it.
Apparently Bruton Smith and SMI will exercise the option to finalize the purchase of Kentucky Speedway.
Although it won't happen in 2009, Smith has vowed to bring a Cup date to the track and will need to shift a date from one of his existing venues.
Where that will come from is anyone's guess but Smith would not complete this transaction unless he had something up his sleeve. But it must be way up there because I don't see how the move will pay off.
Buying Pocono seems out of the question based on continued responses from the Mattioli family. Perhaps a Dover purchase will take place, but if it did I don't think NASCAR would be too pleased with giving up two races in that area of the Philadelphia-New Jersey market and allow Smith to harvest the dates for Kentucky and Las Vegas, which he also vowed would have a second date soon.
On the other side of the coin is International Speedway Corporation's desire to bring a second date to its Kansas Speedway in the aftermath of a huge hotel/casino complex being built on the property.
That new date would also have to come from somewhere putting all other ISC properties on the radar with little old Martinsville - as always - in the scope.
Personally I can't see how adding a Cup race at Kentucky or a second at Kansas helps the sport at all. Two more 1.5-mile tracks on the slate in two areas of the country that in my opinion are already perfectly served by the schedule seems like overkill.
And when and if new tracks come online, where will those dates come from.
There was talk last week that Charlotte would be forced to move the all-star race to the Thursday before the Coca-Cola 600 in a couple of years in order to open up a weekend for a 37th race.
Television contracts and sponsorship dollars also must be part of this equation with one source close to the TV side of the business saying when the current contracts expire in 2012, there would have to be a significant shake-up in the way the schedule runs.
That could mean some mid-week prime time events to help juice up the ratings.
So enjoy 2009. Future Cup schedules may not be recognizable.
Pete Pistone is the Managing Editor of RacingOne. Pistone is also a sports reporter/anchor for Chicago's WGN Radio and also hosts weekly auto racing segments on the station. He is the national motorsports writer for CBS Sports.com and also hosts the syndicated "SpeedJournal Report," heard on 100 radio stations nationwide. Listen to "Sirius Speedway" with Dave Moody on Sirius NASCAR Channel 128 every Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET for Pete's weekly segment.
