Daytona International Speedway
President Joie Chitwood III announced today that the Budweiser Duel, the
150-mile qualifying races that determine the starting lineup for the Daytona
500, will move under the lights in 2014.
The Budweiser Duel At
Daytona, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 20, will start under the lights and will
be televised by FOX Sports Media Group.
“To earn a coveted starting
spot in the Daytona 500, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will have to
perform under the lights and in front of a primetime audience in the Budweiser
Duel,” Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III said. “Moving
the Budweiser Duel under the lights will add another dimension to Budweiser
Speedweeks.”
The Budweiser Duel joins The
Sprint Unlimited and the NextEra Energy Resources 250 NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series race as the three nighttime races held during Budweiser
Speedweeks.
This year’s 55th annual
Daytona 500 is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 24 on MRN Radio and
FOX. Tickets for all of the events
during Budweiser Speedweeks are available online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com
or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.
Interesting move by NASCAR, though also perplexing. NASCAR ran the 500 in prime time for four years and it was a failure as a prime time race; running the Twins at night for a daylight 500 won't give the teams any credible gauge as to how they may run on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAs for the FOX Sports Media Group televising the Twins, was this an effort to justify switching the Twins to FOX's over the air channels? By my understanding SPEED is being disbanded by FOX so it won't be there to air the Twins next year.
Monkeesfan, please refresh my memory. In what years did the Daytona 500 run in primetime? To my knowledge, the first 53 Daytona 500s ran in the afternoon. Last season's race was a primetime Monday event, but only after being postponed by rain.
DeleteI'm puzzled how that adds up to the Daytona 500 being "a failure as a primetime race" for four years. Can you explain?
The 500 in 2006 switched to primetime - it started past 3 PM and concluded past 7 PM to become a night race. It ran as a primetime race in 2007 and 2008, but after 2009 and the rain-shortened race NASCAR put the race back to afternoon with a 1 PM start. Quibble with my choice of the term, but the reality is the 500 for four runnings was switched to become a night race and it didn't work, so it went back to an afternoon event.
Deletebut having the Daytona 500 in prime time on Sunday is different than the twin 150's on a Thursday night. In reality how many more people will be able to watch the twins at 7 pm versus 1pm on a workday.
DeleteI think it will be a smart move.
Tom