Stock car racing returns to Irwindale Speedway – NASCAR news
After remaining closed for a complete year, the Irwindale Speedway will again roar with NASCAR along its tracks this year.
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale or commonly referred to as the Irwindale Speedway was opened for stock car racing in 1999. From 2003 until 2010, the speedway hosted NASCAR Toyota All-Star Shutdown, a stock car racing event in which top 30 drivers from NASCAR
K&N Pro Series and the top 40 drivers from the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series competed against each other on the main half mile oval.
From 1999 until 2011, the speedway was used for NASCAR K&N Pro races and Whelen All-American races. After 2011 NASCAR season was over, NASCAR dropped the speedway from its schedule. Since then, Irwindale has not seen any NASCAR races but according to the
track’s new operators, the speedway will host minor-league NASCAR stock car racing again.
A little over four months from now, on April 6, 2013 to be exact, a ‘grand re-opening’ of racing will be held to celebrate the return of stock car racing. This was confirmed by president of operator Team 211 Entertainment, Jim Cohan in a press release.
The upcoming races will follow the old pattern. So-called super late models and NASCAR’s Whelen All-American cars will race on the track.
“NASCAR is pleased to bring our Home Tracks program back to Irwindale Speedway,” Robert Duvall, NASCAR's senior director of business development, said in a statement.
The speedway has seen a lot of pros and cons since its opening in 1999. In February 2012, manager of Irwindale Speedway LLC, managing company of the track had filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Although the speedway is relatively modern now, a lot of work still
remains to be done.
Return of stock car racing to Irwindale is a piece of good news for the NASCAR fans living in Irwindale. Necessary steps such as improvement of infrastructure, revamping the race track etc. will have to be taken to ensure that higher levels of NASCAR races
are competed on the speedway in the days to come.
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