Beginning this weekend, Kansas City officially is a two-race NASCAR town.
The most recent realignment of the Sprint Cup schedule saw Kansas Speedway add a race date as Auto Club Speedway dropped from two races to one. Both tracks are owned by International Speedway Corp. The other major track owner in NASCAR, Speedway Motorsports Inc., took a race from Atlanta Motor Speedway and moved it to Kentucky Speedway beginning this year.
Throughout its 10-year history, Kansas Speedway typically has drawn sellout or near sellout crowds for its one Cup race a year. But other tracks that had just one race have struggled to fill seats when a second date has been added.
So there are still questions about whether Kansas deserves a second Cup date.
Carl Edwards, whose residence in Columbia, Mo., makes Kansas a home track for him, said — not surprisingly — that Kansas should have two races. But he also mentioned fans in Iowa, who have Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races at Iowa Speedway, but no Cup race at their home track.
“I think the fans really love racing,” he said. If you look at Iowa, the fans there are really hungry for NASCAR racing.
“They’re real racers. There are more race tracks in that area of the country than there are anywhere else. It’s a lot like New York. There are a lot of dirt racers, a lot of really savvy racers, and a lot of racing families in history.
“So I think the people there really love the racing, and I’m glad they have two races and I think they deserve them.”
Emporia, Mo., driver Clint Bowyer, echoed Edwards’ comments.
“Two dates there is just big. It’s very special for me,” he said. “And for that fact, being able to race just down the road in my hometown, the old dirt track at Lakeside [Speedway]; there are a lot of fun things fixing to happen.
“We’re fixing to run the [Prelude to the Dream at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway] the week after Kansas. It’s just a very important couple of weeks for me and busy, but a lot of fun.”
Kevin Harvick, a California native, has seen what happened when Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., went from one date to two and struggled at the gate.
“Sometimes you look at two races — the old saying don’t make two mediocres out of one good,” he said.
“Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I think California is a good example of that. ... Kansas has always been sold out and had a great atmosphere and had a great attendance. If both races are still sold out then it’s a success. If it’s not then you need to go to Iowa.”
Tires at Kansas
Running a race at Kansas Speedway in the heat of summer will be a new challenge for drivers and teams used to racing there in the cooler temperatures of the traditional fall race date.
Jeff Gordon said the key will be in the tire compound Goodyear brings to the track.
“I think that’s probably going to mean more than the time of year,” he said. “We go there in June, it’s still a mile-and-a-half, it’s still an important race track, still a track we want to win at.
“But right now I’m just looking at it, we just have to wait and see the weather conditions. Weather conditions always play a role, but I think tires play a bigger role.”
Greg Biffle said that even though Kansas is considered by many to be one of the “cookie-cutter” mile-and-a-half tracks, it really is unique.
“Kansas is a really fun track to me,” he said. “I like it because it’s a little bit less banking, it drives a little flatter and there’s a little more technique involved.”
Greg Biffle to pace
NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series will run its 400th race this weekend at Kansas Speedway, and Biffle, a former series champion, will celebrate the moment by driving the pace truck.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve driven a pace car to the green flag, so, hopefully, I won’t make any mistakes,” Biffle said. “I learned so much in the truck series. They gave me my start and gave me my opportunity. I really miss the truck series and all the people there, so I’m looking forward to going back and getting an opportunity to visit with the officials and spend a little time with them before bringing the field down to the green.”
Edwards, Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate, also has fond memories of his days in the truck series.
“If it weren’t for the truck series I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “[Truck team owner] Mike Mittler reluctantly hired me to drive his truck in 2002. I ran seven races for Mike, so if NASCAR hadn’t come up with the truck series and guys like myself didn’t get those opportunities, this sport would look a lot different today.”
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