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RICHMOND, Va. - The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule will be announced this morning at a 9:30 a.m. news conference at Richmond International Raceway, and North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham will not be on it.
"NASCAR has made the decision to not run any more Cup races at North Carolina Speedway after this season," Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for corporate communications, said Thursday, formally sounding the death knell for the 1.017-mile track. Its date will move to Texas Motor Speedway for 2005.
Hunter would not comment further on the details of what will be announced by NASCAR chairman Brian France this morning, but sources tell The Charlotte Observer that next year's schedule will also include a second race for Phoenix International Raceway that will come at the expense of Darlington Raceway.
That means the Carolinas will have only three Nextel Cup points events next season after playing host to five in 2004.
There will be some good news today for Lowe's Motor Speedway, however. The Observer has confirmed that the schedule to be announced today will leave the Nextel All-Star Challenge at the Charlotte track for 2005.
The morning news conference at Richmond, where the Nextel Cup and Busch series are racing this weekend, will be the first of several on what's shaping up to be a busy news day for the sport.
The announcement of the move of a date from North Carolina Speedway, owned by International Speedway Corp., to Texas Motor Speedway, owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., indicates that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by SMI stockholder Francis Ferko alleging that NASCAR reneged on a promise to give a second Cup date to the Texas track.
Speedway Motorsports will own Rockingham as part of that settlement, but in his statement Friday, Hunter emphasized that it is NASCAR's decision to end Rockingham's run as a host of stock-car racing's top series that began in 1965.
Texas Motor Speedway will host the Dallas-Fort Worth media to listen in via teleconference to the announcement here. Sources said the second Texas race would be held on Nov. 6, making it part of the 10-race Chase for the Championship.
International Speedway Corp. officials will then hold an 11 a.m. news conference at Richmond, discussing its decision to "realign" a date from Darlington to Phoenix. The Phoenix track will then host media from that area for at 3:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 p.m. Phoenix time) to talk about its new race, which will be slotted on April 24.
When the day is done, the 2005 Nextel Cup schedule is expected to take on a significantly different look.
After beginning the year with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 next season, the circuit will go to California Speedway on Feb. 27.
After taking the first weekend in March off, teams will go West again to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 13 and then go to Atlanta Motor Speedway the following Sunday. That pushes the races back at those two tracks one week later than this year.
Darlington's only Cup race in 2005 will run on May 7, the night before Mother's Day. NASCAR's top series has traditionally taken Mother's Day weekend off.
The last event run on that weekend was the 1986 all-star race, which was held in front of a sparse crowd at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That's the only time that event, now known as the Nextel All-Star Challenge, has been held anywhere expect for Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"NASCAR has made the decision to not run any more Cup races at North Carolina Speedway after this season," Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for corporate communications, said Thursday, formally sounding the death knell for the 1.017-mile track. Its date will move to Texas Motor Speedway for 2005.
Hunter would not comment further on the details of what will be announced by NASCAR chairman Brian France this morning, but sources tell The Charlotte Observer that next year's schedule will also include a second race for Phoenix International Raceway that will come at the expense of Darlington Raceway.
That means the Carolinas will have only three Nextel Cup points events next season after playing host to five in 2004.
There will be some good news today for Lowe's Motor Speedway, however. The Observer has confirmed that the schedule to be announced today will leave the Nextel All-Star Challenge at the Charlotte track for 2005.
The morning news conference at Richmond, where the Nextel Cup and Busch series are racing this weekend, will be the first of several on what's shaping up to be a busy news day for the sport.
The announcement of the move of a date from North Carolina Speedway, owned by International Speedway Corp., to Texas Motor Speedway, owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., indicates that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by SMI stockholder Francis Ferko alleging that NASCAR reneged on a promise to give a second Cup date to the Texas track.
Speedway Motorsports will own Rockingham as part of that settlement, but in his statement Friday, Hunter emphasized that it is NASCAR's decision to end Rockingham's run as a host of stock-car racing's top series that began in 1965.
Texas Motor Speedway will host the Dallas-Fort Worth media to listen in via teleconference to the announcement here. Sources said the second Texas race would be held on Nov. 6, making it part of the 10-race Chase for the Championship.
International Speedway Corp. officials will then hold an 11 a.m. news conference at Richmond, discussing its decision to "realign" a date from Darlington to Phoenix. The Phoenix track will then host media from that area for at 3:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 p.m. Phoenix time) to talk about its new race, which will be slotted on April 24.
When the day is done, the 2005 Nextel Cup schedule is expected to take on a significantly different look.
After beginning the year with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 next season, the circuit will go to California Speedway on Feb. 27.
After taking the first weekend in March off, teams will go West again to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 13 and then go to Atlanta Motor Speedway the following Sunday. That pushes the races back at those two tracks one week later than this year.
Darlington's only Cup race in 2005 will run on May 7, the night before Mother's Day. NASCAR's top series has traditionally taken Mother's Day weekend off.
The last event run on that weekend was the 1986 all-star race, which was held in front of a sparse crowd at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That's the only time that event, now known as the Nextel All-Star Challenge, has been held anywhere expect for Lowe's Motor Speedway.