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Keeping a Race Date Takes More Than History

NASCAR just made that announcement that its long-rumored foray into the international racing space is becoming a reality in 2025, with both the Cup and Xfinity Series racing in Mexico City on June 14 and June 15 next season.

It isn’t the first event for the Xfinity series at the track. They have previously held races there from 2005 through 2008. There would certainly be potential for a race date to be added to the Cup schedule, taking it to 37 regular-season races, but that is not what is going to happen.

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In order for the Mexico race to be placed on the schedule, Richmond Raceway is going to lose one of its two dates in 2025. It is a tough pill to swallow for the eastern Virginia facility, but unfortunately, they don’t have much of an argument to hang onto the date.

For fans who have been around the sport for a long time, basically since the early 1990s, this is something that has happened numerous times in the sport. Many times, the track losing the date was obvious, while other times it was a rough surprise that left fans heartbroken. Keeping a race date can sometimes be a simple process, while other times, there is nothing that a fan base can do.

Looking back over the years, let’s look at some of the moments where races changed venues and the stories around them. With the return of the Cup Series to North Wilkesboro recently, many fans were reminded of the time in the mid-1990s when the race dates were forcibly removed from the historic race track.

North Wilkesboro is one of two race tracks still in existence that had a date on the very first schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series. The facility was in poor condition in 1995 and the sport was exploding in popularity across the country. Bruton Smith and his SMI company, along with Bob Bahre and his New Hampshire Motor Speedway, came calling with bags of money and ultimately purchased the track from the two families, who were also the co-owners.

The two owners attempted to appease the local fans but, in reality, they were buying the track to move the race dates to their facilities in Texas and New Hampshire, respectively. As a result, the final race took place in 1996 and the track has not seen a points race since, although the All-Star Race did take place there in 2023 and 2024. The brutality of the 1996 loss of race dates for North Wilkesboro is that the track was popular and did not have a problem drawing fans to races. Other tracks have not had the same luck.

Another North Carolina track that paid the price for 1990s expansion of NASCAR was Rockingham Speedway. “The Rock,” as it was referred to by many, ran races very early and very late in the season.

Unfortunately, that meant that the weather was generally less than ideal for fans.

Most of the races at Rockingham were not near sellouts and, despite a rabid fan base living within 100 miles of the track, they were never able to bring in large crowds. They managed to hang onto dates for a bit longer than North Wilkesboro, but by the early 2000s, the end had arrived.

In 2003, the racetrack was sold to International Speedway Corporation and the fall date was moved to the new California Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the final race took place at the track in 2004. Even though rumors were rampant that it was the last race, the stands were still more than 10,000 short of a sellout. The Ferko lawsuit was settled shortly after that race and International Speedway Corporation sold the track to Bruton Smith. The second date was moved to Texas, to join the North Wilkesboro date.

Another classic example of attendance not making a difference, Kentucky Speedway spent years on the Xfinity schedule, selling out race after race but never getting a Cup date. After running Truck and Xfinity races for 11 years, they were finally rewarded with a Cup race in 2011. The facility had great attendance for all of the races that they hosted, but it had lackluster revenue over the decade of Cup races. Eventually SMI, the owner of the track, decided to move the race date elsewhere and stop using the facility for racing. It is now a storage and rental facility for numerous companies.

Chicagoland Speedway is the opposite of Kentucky. The track, in Joliet, Ill., was built to try and draw from one of the largest cities in the country. Unfortunately, the hour’s drive from Chicago was apparently too much for the casual fan base in the Windy City, and attendance was never a big number at the facility.

The track hosted races for 20 years, which is quite an impressive amount of time, but it was never expanded or improved. When the COVID pandemic hit, it gave the owners a perfect opportunity to look at moving the date elsewhere. The property was subdivided into some properties for use by other companies and the history of racing came to an end.

See also
Eyes on Xfinity: Schedule Musings

The bottom line for this diatribe is that, unfortunately, there isn’t a guaranteed way for a facility to hang onto a race date. The schedule for the Cup series is currently set at 36 regular-season and playoff races, along with two exhibition races. The sanctioning body has shown no interest in expanding beyond that length, so a new race location on the schedule is going to require a date being removed from another facility.

Occasionally, a date may move back, as we have seen with North Wilkesboro, but it is rare. Rockingham is under ownership that is putting in a large investment to rejuvenate the facility in hopes that a date will return. We’ll have to wait and see. For now, we are seeing the historic track in Richmond, Va., with two Cup race dates hosted every year since 1959 and 136 total Cup races run, losing one of their dates so that ISC can hold a race in Mexico. We’ll all see how well that race is attended and if we’ll see a long run for an international race in Mexico.

In the meantime, enjoy your one race, Richmond.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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5 Comments
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Mike

John Deere can sponsor the race in Mexico City. NASCAR should be ashamed of this move.

Robert B

Wish they had picked Montreal instead of Mexico City.

DoninAjax

Should have picked Mosport (CTMP). If it’s good enough for Indy it’s more than good enough for Brian’s entertainment(?) product!

Wildcatsfan2016

Richmond was known as the action track once upon a time before the COT which changed the racing but not for the better

I went to races there before the change and it was amazing. Afterward not so much. I’m not talking about wrecks either but good short track racing. I was always glad we got to Bristol before they made their changes

DoninAjax

The complaints about the tracks started with Emperor Brian playing with his new toy in 2004. The cars and the entitled drivers are the problems.