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Sprint Cup
CUP: Summer Of Change Continues
From schedule realignments to driver shakeups, it's a busy time in NASCAR...
Kasey Kahne could be hard to handle tonight at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
NASCAR’s mid-summer burst of news will continue today with press conferences about racing in Kansas City, Southern California and Kentucky.
Also in the wind is possible word on where driver Kasey Kahne will land for the 2011 Sprint Cup season.
Barring a nuclear surprise, the only drama surrounding the Kentucky and Kansas City announcements are the dates that the races awarded to those tracks will fall on.
In Kansas City, track and International Speedway Corp. officials have been tight-lipped about the date of the second date for Kansas City, which was promised to Kansas officials in exchange for rights to build a casino in Turn 2 at the track.
That casino was awarded, is under construction and will be quite nice as it sits on elevated ground above the Turn 2, so…
Track president Pat Warren refused to comment on the date late Monday.
But, one source close to the story said the second Kansas date will be in June.
That would mean at least one other change to the schedule as Pocono, Michigan, Infineon and New Hampshire hosted June dates this season.
Word also leaked out several days ago that Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., will “donate” one of its dates to Kansas. That information looks solid, as well.
In Kentucky, it is expected that it will be announced that Kentucky Speedway in Sparta will get the spring race which Atlanta announced last week it is giving up.
Both tracks are owned by Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. Atlanta, SMI obviously believes, is under-performing at the gate. Then there is the fact that Smith just paid many millions of dollars for Kentucky.
On Monday, it was announced that the Sprint Cup race in Joliet, Ill., would be moved. Beginning in 2011, Chicagoland Speedway will be home for the first race of the 10-race, 12-driver playoff known as the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
During a teleconference, NASCAR and Chicagoland officials, along with Cup drivers David Reutimann and Kevin Harvick, extolled the virtues of kicking off the Chase near Chicago. They pointed out that the move would put NASCAR’s second biggest media market into the Chase.
Thing was, during the teleconference, not one question was asked by a member of the Chicago media. Interesting.
What was brought up by outsiders were questions about how ticket sales for a race would go if the event – which is being moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon in September – happened on a day when the Bears were playing or when the Cubs and/or White Sox were in a pennant race.
Also yet to be determined is the fate of racing at New Hampshire, which has hosted the Chase-opening event since the playoff system was implemented in 2004.
The Kahne saga picked up steam over the last 48 hours and the resulting word there is that he is this close to signing a deal with Red Bull Racing.
Kahne, who is currently driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, has signed to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. That has left a big hole in his daytimer – a 12-month hole, as in all of 2011 – as Hendrick already has four drivers under contract for next season and none are going anywhere.
Mark Martin has dug his heals in on talk that he retire or move on a year early and hand the wheel (yes, they come off the steering column quite easily) to Kahne next season.
Speculation had been that Stewart Haas Racing – which gets engines and technical support from Hendrick – would field a car for Kahne.
Unable to put that together, eyes have turned to Red Bull.
Red Bull is run by Jay Frye, who is an old Hendrick guy and still a very good friend of Mr. H’s.
The problem there is that Red Bull uses Toyota engines while Hendrick has a Chevy deal. And in racing, yes, that is a big deal.
Both Rick Hendrick and Frye have been silent on the subject but that has not slowed the digging process.
So, keep it right here today. The news should be interesting, if not terribly surprising.
Jim Pedley is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley spent more than 10 years covering auto racing for the Kansas City Star. Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com.
Also in the wind is possible word on where driver Kasey Kahne will land for the 2011 Sprint Cup season.
Barring a nuclear surprise, the only drama surrounding the Kentucky and Kansas City announcements are the dates that the races awarded to those tracks will fall on.
In Kansas City, track and International Speedway Corp. officials have been tight-lipped about the date of the second date for Kansas City, which was promised to Kansas officials in exchange for rights to build a casino in Turn 2 at the track.
That casino was awarded, is under construction and will be quite nice as it sits on elevated ground above the Turn 2, so…
Track president Pat Warren refused to comment on the date late Monday.
But, one source close to the story said the second Kansas date will be in June.
That would mean at least one other change to the schedule as Pocono, Michigan, Infineon and New Hampshire hosted June dates this season.
Word also leaked out several days ago that Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., will “donate” one of its dates to Kansas. That information looks solid, as well.
In Kentucky, it is expected that it will be announced that Kentucky Speedway in Sparta will get the spring race which Atlanta announced last week it is giving up.
Both tracks are owned by Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. Atlanta, SMI obviously believes, is under-performing at the gate. Then there is the fact that Smith just paid many millions of dollars for Kentucky.
On Monday, it was announced that the Sprint Cup race in Joliet, Ill., would be moved. Beginning in 2011, Chicagoland Speedway will be home for the first race of the 10-race, 12-driver playoff known as the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
During a teleconference, NASCAR and Chicagoland officials, along with Cup drivers David Reutimann and Kevin Harvick, extolled the virtues of kicking off the Chase near Chicago. They pointed out that the move would put NASCAR’s second biggest media market into the Chase.
Thing was, during the teleconference, not one question was asked by a member of the Chicago media. Interesting.
What was brought up by outsiders were questions about how ticket sales for a race would go if the event – which is being moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon in September – happened on a day when the Bears were playing or when the Cubs and/or White Sox were in a pennant race.
Also yet to be determined is the fate of racing at New Hampshire, which has hosted the Chase-opening event since the playoff system was implemented in 2004.
The Kahne saga picked up steam over the last 48 hours and the resulting word there is that he is this close to signing a deal with Red Bull Racing.
Kahne, who is currently driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, has signed to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. That has left a big hole in his daytimer – a 12-month hole, as in all of 2011 – as Hendrick already has four drivers under contract for next season and none are going anywhere.
Mark Martin has dug his heals in on talk that he retire or move on a year early and hand the wheel (yes, they come off the steering column quite easily) to Kahne next season.
Speculation had been that Stewart Haas Racing – which gets engines and technical support from Hendrick – would field a car for Kahne.
Unable to put that together, eyes have turned to Red Bull.
Red Bull is run by Jay Frye, who is an old Hendrick guy and still a very good friend of Mr. H’s.
The problem there is that Red Bull uses Toyota engines while Hendrick has a Chevy deal. And in racing, yes, that is a big deal.
Both Rick Hendrick and Frye have been silent on the subject but that has not slowed the digging process.
So, keep it right here today. The news should be interesting, if not terribly surprising.
Jim Pedley is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley spent more than 10 years covering auto racing for the Kansas City Star. Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com.
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