The rumors have been circulating for months concerning the 2004 Cup schedule. There has been a lot of squabbling and positioning from racetrack venues and municipalities alike in an effort to align themselves in a favorable light with NASCAR.
After all, a Cup race brings in millions of dollars in revenue to the area where the event is held. The revenue addition to the county/township tax structure is astronomical, not to mention the revenue addition to motels, restaurants, filling stations, convenience stores, etc. The racetracks also hire a large amount of local labor to maintain the facilities and to operate food and drink stands.
There are two areas in particular that will be affected by changes in the 2004 Cup racing schedule. California Speedway is getting a second race, so the merchants in the Fontana, California area are going to be elated with the news that their revenues will double. North Carolina Speedway lost its fall race, so the revenue will be cut in that area, leaving an empty space in a lot of pockets.
The Southern 500, which has been a solid Labor Day tradition at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, has been moved to California. Tradition has given way to money, as a result of the France families efforts to line their pockets with more revenue. In order to move the Southern 500 to California, and to not take a race away from Darlington Raceway, the North Carolina Speedway had to suffer the loss because of its smaller crowds and the fact that there were more races in North Carolina than in any other state.
This article has been revised to display the official release of the 2004 schedule, but even when the new schedules are "officially" published, they always have a rider that states that they are subject to change at any given time.
You'll notice below that the new official schedule covers a period of 42 weeks out of the 52 week year. There are four weekends off as opposed to the usual three, along with the usual exhibition races, the Bud Shootout at Daytona, the Gatorade Twin 125's, and the All Star race at Charlotte. It has yet to be determined what name will be attached to the All Star race at Charlotte because of the Nextel Corporation's new sponsorship of the Cup Series. This was one of the sticking points of the new schedule; certain factions in NASCAR have been trying to get the all star race moved out of the Charlotte area to be divided up among the existing venues. The Charlotte area put up quite a fight this year to keep the race, but it's really doubtful that the race will remain there for the 2005 season. The Nextel Corp. is headquartered in the Richmond Virginia area and they would like to see the All Star race held in their backyard at the Richmond International Raceway facility.
