NASCAR Atlanta Motor Speedway dates announced
Officials for the Atlanta Motor Speedway announced Thursday that the facility, one of the sports original superspeedways, will host a NASCAR race weekend on 2-4 September. In the past 50 years the Atlanta track has hosted only one race weekend event and is excited to be back on the ticket.
Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark read the statement at a press conference.
"Atlanta Motor speedway has provided top-quality racing entertainment to spectators from across the nation and around the world for 50 years," he began. "While our schedule will change, our commitment to the racing fans who have been the heart and soul of Atlanta Motor Speedway through these years will be stronger than ever. Our entire staff will be even more driven to produce the top annual sporting event in Georgia for many years to come."
In 2009 AMS hosted the inaugural Labor Day racing weekend, shuffling around the schedule after events were pushed forward to accommodate the big NASCAR event.
"We were thrilled with the acquisition of the Labor Day date two years ago and are proud to host such a prestigious, historical date on the NASCAR schedule," Clark continued. "This track produces some of the greatest racing the circuit sees, it remains one of the drivers' favourite tracks and we will continue to build a platform that sets this one date apart from the rest."
Following the Atlanta announcement, a press conference is set for Tuesday in Sparta, Kentucky, where it is anticipated the Kentucky Speedway officials will reveal their track will receive a Cup Series race in the 2011 season. It’s expected that the 1.5 mile tri-oval Kentucky Speedway will host the NASCAR top series event in early July.
This is the first time that the speedway will host the coveted Cup series, a goal Burton Smith, owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc, set out to accomplish when he purchased the Kentucky track from its previous owner in 2008. The previous owners of the track had filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., citing that the corporations had tried to exclude the Kentucky course from the Cup series intentionally.
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