Saturday nights NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway was easily one of the best of the season. It was full of high drama, great action, heartbreaking story lines from some, and in the end a feel good winner.
The Lady In Black was her old self, forcing drivers to stay up on the wheel lest she reach out and bite them and keeping fans on the edge of their seats from the green flag to the checkered.
All in all it was a great race and a great night for NASCAR. But that’s to be expected at NASCAR’s second oldest track. Darlington is known for giving NASCAR some of its greatest moments. Just a few short years ago however the possibility of more memories nearly came to and end. 
Because of sagging ticket sales, according to NASCAR, in 2005 one of Darlington’s two dates was taken away including the Labor Day Southern 500 a tradition as old as the track itself. Darlington’s lone date was set for Mothers Day weekend, a day that in NASCAR’s history had proven to be a bust.
The All-Star Race was run at Atlanta on Mothers Day in 1986. To say it was not well attended is an understatement. Since then NASCAR had traditionally avoided Mothers Day, until 2005 however when Darlington was awarded their one and only date.
When Darlington lost their coveted Labor Day date and was given a race on Mother’s Day, many felt it was only a matter of time before Darlington would be gone from the schedule for good.
But something amazing happened.
The track added lights, upgraded facilities and fans started buying more and more tickets. Now instead of a Mothers Day weekend bust, the Southern 500 has become a tradition.
Through all the changes the racing has never been better and Saturday night proved that.
NASCAR is now looking at realigning the schedule in 2010. For the novice that means just like in 2005, tracks could lose or gain a date and new venues could be added to the schedule.
One of the tracks looking to move up to the Sprint Cup ranks is Kentucky Speedway. Speedway Motorsports Incorporated recently bought the track, and SMI CEO Bruton Smith has already admitted that he has spoken to NASCAR about adding Kentucky to the Sprint Cup schedule.
Kentucky Speedway has made no secret of the fact that they want a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. In fact the former owners of the Speedway felt so strongly about it they filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation.
The suit was dismissed in 2008 but is still on appeal. And according to NASCAR until that suit is completely dropped, no Cup date for Kentucky Speedway will be considered.
Let’s hope it stays that way.
The amenities are nice at the track located in Sparta Kentucky near Cincinnati Ohio, and SMI is in the midst of adding $13.5 million of upgrades and improvements. But adding Kentucky Speedway to the Sprint Cup schedule would be adding another 1.5-mile cookie cutter track in a series that is increasingly becoming full of 1.5-mile tracks.
And the problem with most of the 1.5 mile tracks already on the schedule is the one thing they lack that Darlington doesn’t; character.
Racing at Darlington forces a driver to be up on the wheel every single second. It’s unforgiving, making teams ensure that their cars are dialed in correctly. Darlington is a track that really does seem to be alive and as much a part of the race as a pit stop.
Go to Michigan, or Kansas, California and while they will have their moments, those tracks are known more for long, ho-hum, fuel mileage racing.
If NASCAR is serious about growing their fan base, about giving fans great racing and competitors challenging events then don’t give us Kentucky, gives us another race like Saturday night.
Give Darlington its second date back, better yet put it in the Chase. The Lady In Black is still in her prime ready to give NASCAR many more exciting Saturday nights.
Comments
Jump on the I hate KY bandwagon, but you will see that KY is full of fans that want a race and the track has much better racing than Chicago or Kansas. We hate that people like you and NA$CAR are so quick to dismiss us
I attended the 500 Saturday night. There were alot of empty seats in the turn 4, front and turn 1 grandstands. I would not call it a great race. There were hardly any green flag passes for the lead. In fact there were hardly any challenges for the lead. This clean air deal has not been solved by the new car. Most changes came from pit stradegy. However it is still a great place to watch a race. In fact Saturday night demonstrated the WWE aspect of Cup racing as 2 of the cars in the top 5 (Johnson and Gordon) were recipients of the Lucky Dog. They never passed a leader once to get a lap back.
I am from SC and the citizens of this State very much want to keep Darlington alive and well. However, still, even today, it is obvious ISC would like nothing better than to find a viable excuse to close the track "Too Tough To Tame". Why do I say this? You only have to look as far as management and management's inability to deliver a fan friendly environment to it's visitors.
I am handicapped and cannot walk long distances. When I bought my tickets for Darlington this year in January I made sure the tickets were near a handicap parking lot and was assured they were. I had already had a very bad experience getting to my seats in 2006 due to the gates nearest my seats not being open but chalked that one up to the unexpected first year sellout. However, this year Mr. Chris Browning and ISC had three years of sellouts so you would think they would have kind of figured things out. Not so. First, there is now only one handicap parking lot and that is in the middle of turns 3 and 4. Secondly, the rules stated you could not leave a car in the lot early so you would have a way back to your camp site. However, this parking lot was full by 1:00 pm on Saturday afternoon so I guess several hundred people sat in the stands in 90 degree heat until 7:30 pm just to make sure they did not miss the start of the race. Finally all handicapped visitors were assured golf carts would be sent to strategic locations within the camp grounds to pict up and deliver the handicapped to and from the race. These carts never showed the first time. I and several handicapped fellow campers around us came to our site and watched the race on television while my expensive tickets and very good seats went to waste.
I guess Darlington, the fans and the State of South Carolina must come to accept the fact that Darlington is the poorest run track on the ISC owned circuit which can only lead one to believe that between poor management and ISC's desire to get another date for some other track, the death of "The Track Too Tough To Tame" is just a matter of time.
The reason that Darlington lost one of its races in the first place is because they couldn't sell out the place. And it's not like this is Bristol we're talking about, with 160,000 or however many seats that place has now. Darlington only has 60,000 seats and they can't sell that out. People complained about the one race that they did have getting moved to Mother's Day weekend but at least they sold that date out for a few years. Saturday night's race wasn't a sell out, however, and yet you want Darlington to get a second race?
People can voice their support for a track all they want. That doesn't matter. What matters is supporting a track with your actions, with your money. If Darlington can't sell out 60,000 seats then what incentive does NASCAR have to keep it on the schedule, let alone give back its second race? So all these people that are crying for a second Darlington date need to start backing up their words with actions. Because if NASCAR only hears your support for Darlington but doesn't see you at the track then it doesn't do any good. NASCAR is going to go where the money is and Darlington isn't that place.
We need to keep the tracks that give the drivers a challenge and most of the cookie cutter tracks don't do that, even with the new car. I have no problem with KY getting a date. I've thought for years that Pocono or NH should lose one of their dates. Darlington not only needs to get back a second date but it should be part of the Chase. There should be more challenges in those last 10 races.
really ab? i've watched a few races there in the busch, and truck series...ITS MORE BORING THAN KANSAS AND CHICAGOLAND!! Kentucky speedway SUCKS, even in NR2003 IT SUCKS. NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO TO THE TRACK IT SUCKS. even if they put it in my home state, NY, it would still suck. if they out it in my back yard it would STILL suck
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