Nascar – Sprint Cup 2014 Schedule Released

NASCAR has released its 2014 Sprint Cup schedule and with minor changes, things are looking pretty similar to the 2013 variation.

The major change is an announced swap of the Darlington and Kansas times: Darlington will go to April 12 with Kansas now a Saturday evening competition held May 10 (Mother’s day weekend). This alteration has been made to accommodate Kansas, which recently installed lights and has for a very long time sought after an evening competition.

The only other change to the 2014 routine sees Texas move its yearly April competition from Saturday evening to Sunday mid-day to stay away from a conflict with the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four held the same weekend in nearby Arlington, Texas.

Just before Tuesday’s announcement, there had been rumors going that NASCAR had been searching to shake up a routine which some felt had become monotonous. There has very long been a push among fans and drivers alike for a road program to be added to the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup or to see various tracks rotated in.

Although those modifications did not take place for 2014, Steve O’ Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, hinted that an overhaul could occur next season whenever the ’15 routine is unveiled. This would coincide with NASCAR beginning its brand new tv agreement with NBC Sports, which replaces ESPN and TNT, to broadcast the 2nd half of the Cup routine.

“We’re definitely going to be looking at it,” O’Donnell stated. “The timing to bring in a new TV contract made sense. One thing to help keep in mind, though, is with each of the tracks, if we constantly move times and dates, it becomes more and more of a challenge for each track. Our fans like some of the familiarity. We want to balance that.

“But it’s definitely one thing to look at as we go into next season for certain.”

As for those whom would like to see the addition of more quick tracks and road programs within the 36-race routine, O’Donnell stressed NASCAR is presently happy with the variety of its routine for its leading series.

“I understand fans have talked about a road program in the Chase,” he stated. “We’d never ever rule that out, (but) under our present routine, that’s extremely challenging for us to do. If you requested both of those road programs, I believe they’ve a pretty successful thing going on right now. We’re really happy with where those dates fall.

NASCAR additionally announced it is going to make Air Titan, its track-drying system which decreases the time it takes to dry a track in instance of rainfall, offered at all races in 2014.

Formerly, tracks had the choice of paying to make use of the apparatus, but the cost deterred many from doing so. This year’s opening Chase at Chicagoland Speedway endured a five-hour wait due to rainfall, and Air Titan had been not there to speed up the drying.

“We’re going to make sure it is now available at every competition,” O’Donnell stated. “In 2014, NASCAR is to take over that part completely and have it at every occasion.

“We believe it’s the right thing to do for the fans. We feel we’re truly in a great place in terms of the technology that’s been advanced through the R&D center. We look ahead to showcasing that, hopefully minimally, because we’d like to see the sunlight shine for each of our events.”