NASCAR president Mike Helton takes questions about plans for staging three races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2012.
By AL PEARCE on 7/07/2011
Grand-Am Rolex Series sports cars won't be the only rookies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2012. NASCAR is taking its traditional Nationwide Series race from nearby Lucas Oil Raceway at Clermont, Ind., and moving it 15 miles to the Speedway on the Saturday afternoon before the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.
The July 27-29 program will mark the first time the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted races on its 2.534-mile road course and its 2.5-mile oval on the same weekend. The Rolex and Continental Tire series will run separate races on the road course on Friday, the Nationwide cars will race on the oval on Saturday afternoon and the Cup cars will be on the oval Sunday afternoon.
The full (tentative schedule):
-- Thursday, July 26:
Nationwide Series practice
-- Friday, July 27:
Grand-Am Rolex and Continental Tire Challenge practice, qualifying and races
--Saturday, July 28:
Nationwide practice, qualifying and race; Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying
-- Sunday, July 29:
Brickyard 400
The 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Speedway--formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park and O'Reilly Raceway Park--has hosted a Nationwide race every year since 1982 and a Camping World Truck Series race every year since 1995. Its annual two-night Truck/Nationwide program traditionally has produced some of the weekend's best racing before near-capacity crowds. But with interest in NASCAR at Indy waning, both parties clearly felt it needed something else to offer its fans. Whether Lucas Oil Raceway tries to get any NASCAR races in 2012 seems doubtful at this point.
"Today's announcement is exciting for NASCAR and its fans," NASCAR president Mike Helton said on Wednesday. "By bringing the Nationwide and Grand-Am series to [the Speedway] as companion events in 2012, fans have the opportunity to see NASCAR's top two series combined with Grand-Am's outstanding sports cars compete at one of the world's most iconic racetracks."
Not everyone was thrilled.
"We are disappointed the Nationwide and Camping World will not return on their customary race weekend [next year]," Lucas Oil Raceway general manager Wes Collier said. "The Kroger 200 and AAA Insurance 200 have long been two of the 'can't miss' events for race fans in the Midwest. We want to use this Kroger SpeedFest weekend [July 29-30] to celebrate the rich and dynamic history Lucas Oil Raceway has developed with both series, and [celebrate] past events by packing the stands with fans who crave thrilling race action."
The loss next year of Lucas Oil Raceway leaves the Nationwide Series with only seven stand-alone races, separate from Cup races at the same venue the same weekend. It's almost a given now--55 weeks before the inaugural event--that a full-time Cup driver with experience on the 2.5-mile Speedway will win the Nationwide race.
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