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Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Although 11 of the expected 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup dates in 2011 have yet to be announced, none of those slots appear to hold any surprises.

The Brickyard 400 date for 2011 has been confirmed as July 31 -- one week later than this year -- as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has begun selling tickets at its website.

The Indy confirmation leaves 11 dates remaining, but most are repeat dates from last year.

Texas Motor Speedway is publicizing a gala announcement of its 2011 schedule this coming Tuesday night at the House of Blues in Dallas, complete with NASCAR president Brian France, more than 1,000 fans and guests and a concert by "a well-known, Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum rock group."

But unless the speedway is switching to a Saturday night, there doesn't appear to be anything new to report about its Sprint Cup race dates.

 

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Filed under: Sprint Cup, NASCAR

I'm surprised, but I know I shouldn't be.

NASCAR made some changes this week in what we can now call "The Great Three-Days-and-Counting Schedule Reveal of 2010" with Kentucky Speedway adding its face to the Sprint Cup Series while biannual attendance-bust Auto Club Speedway lost what should have never been its: a second Cup date.

And, oh, Chicagoland Speedway will now earn page five in the sports sections of the Chicago newspaper coverage, buried by the NFL, when it opens the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup with a Sunday afternoon race. Meanwhile, Kansas Speedway will now feature two humdrum events at its cookie-cutter, 1.5-mile track.

So much for the "impactful changes" that NASCAR CEO Brian France alluded to at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the Brickyard 400 just a couple of weeks ago.

Where was the boldness? Where was the dramatic move to charge up what just became more of a tired mess of tracks for the 10-race championship chase? And why in the world are recent track lighting projects now going virtually unused for their biggest events?

 

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Filed under: NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, Joey Logano, NASCAR

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule officially took shape Tuesday as several speedways chimed in one by one with announcements of their races, each taking care to put the best spin on their particular circumstance.

In a flurry of news releases and announcements, Kentucky Speedway announced its inaugural Sprint Cup event on July 9, 2011, Phoenix International Raceway said it would continue to have two Sprint Cup races, Auto Club Speedway in Southern California confirmed it was back to one date and Kansas Speedway said it would add a Cup date in 2011.

Kentucky on Tuesday was the fourth track to make its 2011 plans public when it had a mid-afternoon announcement revealing that its inaugural Sprint Cup race would be on July 9, 2011. The Speedway Motorsports In., track is taking the date relinquished by Atlanta, another SMI track.

The Phoenix speedway confirmed that it would continue to have two races, as it has had since 2005, but that the "spring" date would be moved from April to Feb. 27, the Sunday following NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500.

And the lights are going out at Phoenix, at least for now. The speedway said both races, including the traditional penultimate race of the season on Nov. 13, would be on Sunday, with a 1 p.m. start time. Its spring race has been running on Saturday night.

"We are honored to be the only facility in the west with two Sprint Cup Series events," PIR President Bryan R. Sperber said in the speedway's news release. "Phoenix will be the first and last stop NASCAR makes in the west," Sperber said. "It's a great privilege for us to help celebrate the excitement of a new season in February and to help crown season champions as the year winds down with the Chase in November."

Auto Club Speedway in southern California confirmed the facts of Sperber's quotes in a brief, three-paragraph news release stating it would have only a single Sprint Cup race in 2011 on March 27, returning to its "traditional" spot on the calendar.

 

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