2014 Cup Schedule out

[taz1458]

From Jayski:

2014 Sprint Cup schedule announced; Air Titan available at every race: NASCAR announced the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule for the 2014 season, the 66th year of racing for the sport's premier series. In addition to the schedule unveiling, NASCAR announced that its revolutionary Air Titan track drying system will be available at every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend throughout the 2014 season.
For the 13th consecutive year, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will consist of 36 points races as well as two additional weekends featuring non-points events. The Sprint Unlimited (Feb. 15) and two Daytona 500 qualifying races (both on Feb. 20) will take place before the season officially gets underway. The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will take place on May 17, broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
"This season has delivered plenty of drama and excitement, and we're anticipating even more for our fans in 2014 now that the Gen-6 car has competed at every track," said Steve O'Donnell, senior vice president of racing operations. "Having the Air Titan at each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend allows us to meet a very important goal set by our Chairman and CEO, Brian France: to drastically decrease track-drying time to the best of our ability and ensure our fans in the stands and those watching on TV get to see each race on its scheduled day."
The season will open with the 56th running of the Daytona 500 live on FOX on Feb. 23 before moving west to Phoenix International Raceway (March 2) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 9). Four tracks will undergo spring date changes: Texas Motor Speedway will hold its event one week earlier and move from Saturday to Sunday (April 6). Darlington Raceway will feature its race on April 12. Kansas Speedway will hold its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Saturday night race, with its event shifting to May 10, while Martinsville Speedway will host the series on March 30, a week earlier than in 2013.
For the fourth consecutive season, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will start at Chicagoland Speedway (Sept. 14) and conclude live on ESPN on Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Developed in-house at NASCAR's R & D Center, the Air Titan progressed quickly following France's directive to improve the racing product and fan experience in every form. Following testing in the summer and fall of 2012, Phase 1 of the technology was on-site at Daytona International Speedway in February. The 2012 Daytona 500 was the first to be postponed to the following day because of inclement weather.
Its race event debut was in April at Martinsville where it successfully decreased drying time in order to hold NASCAR Sprint Cup practice rather than have it cancelled. Air Titan's biggest save to date was at Talladega Superspeedway's rainy spring races where it shaved nearly an hour off drying time for both the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, allowing those events to be completed on their scheduled days. It also was in use Oct. 3 at Kansas for track conditioning purposes while also trimming nearly 45 minutes from drying time prior to the Goodyear zone tread tire test.(NASCAR), see the complete schedule on the 2014 Sprint Cup schedule page.(10-15-2013)

I still absolutely HATE HATE HATE that the cooker cutter steals Darlingtons date. It makes no sense whatsoever. But that typical for this no common sense idiots in NASCAR. I don't think I've ever been so frustrated. Who really truthfully gives a damn if Kansas gets a night race? I haven't watched hardly any of it since Tony got hurt, so that tells ya how my interest has wained considerably.

Thoughts?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

 

[Jbm93]

I would have been excited about Kansas getting a night race...in 2010. They ruined any appeal that track had when they reconfigured it and made it another Texas/Charlotte/Atlanta/Vegas clone. At least before it had something that set it apart from them.

 

[bigrolltide1877]

Guess im the only one actually looking forward to the kansas night race. give it another year and the groove should be wider. and its about time the air titan is available at every race.

 

[Euro Dash]

since the repave, I've grown to like Kansas, so the night race IMO would be great to see

 

[ShadowKnight508]

Should have given Darlington back it's traditional Labor Day date. Oh well, hopefully the night race at Kansas turns out decently next year.

 

[Mcc457]

I thougtht Atlanta should be at the end of the season again, but the weather is too unpredictable, one minute the air is cool, the next thing you know there's flurries and harsh cold wind, lol.

Otherwise I was hoping they would bring Road America to the NSCS, and put Sonoma in the Chase.

 

[Mystical]

Guess this also confirms that ESPN is returning next year as well even though they were wanting to back out early.

 

[canadienhits]

Even though Kansas is my home track, I don't want to see another night race.

 

[Tetronix]

I can't say I like it, but I can't say I hate it.

 

[MattSRD28]

I would have been excited about Kansas getting a night race...in 2010. They ruined any appeal that track had when they reconfigured it and made it another Texas/Charlotte/Atlanta/Vegas clone. At least before it had something that set it apart from them.

Texas/Charlottle/Atlanta are not identical clones. Vegas is certainly not a clone of those three. Kansas is not a clone of any of those four.

I really wish people would stop being lazy and broad-brushing tracks as identical or "cookie-cutters" when they are not. Let's keep the intelligence level in here slightly higher than it is outside of here.

 

[Devin41]

Texas/Charlottle/Atlanta are not identical clones. Vegas is certainly not a clone of those three. Kansas is not a clone of any of those four.

I really wish people would stop being lazy and broad-brushing tracks as identical or "cookie-cutters" when they are not. Let's keep the intelligence level in here slightly higher than it is outside of here.

All of those tracks are different in some way, shape, or form. Might as well throw Chicagoland and Homestead in that list as well since they're also 1.5 mile tracks...still they're all different.

 

[Markfan]

When people see the tracks as different, I feel that they need to keep in mind something. Technically, the four COT manufacturers had different cars which drove differently. Does that mean that the cars didn't feel more like spec than stock and didn't need to be more unique? Definitely not.

Before 1996, all of the tracks in the cup series had unique configurations that were indentifiably distinct to the point where you could easily tell which track is which just by getting an image of the track shape and start line, without even considering pit road.

Since then, that's no longer the case:

-Michigan is a D-shaped 2-mi oval
-California is a D-shaped 2-mi oval.

-Atlanta is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval
-Texas is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval
-Charlotte is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval

-Kansas is a ~1.5-mi. trioval
-Las Vegas is a 1.5-mi. trioval
-Kentucky is a 1.5-mi trioval with a slighty curvy pitroad
-Chicagoland is a 1.5-mi trioval with a slightly curvy backstretch

This is exceptionally uncreative because there are almost unlimited possibilities for track designs at-or-below 2-miles while still remaining ovular in shape. Cookie-Cutter is a very accurate term for these tracks. A cookie-cutter is a template, not every cookie cut with one is going to be identical to a tee, even when intentionally trying to do so. It's fairly obvious that these tracks are designed based on the same template (the first track of each particular set to be made in that configuaration), so calling them out on that is kind of understandable when this was not an issue for the longest in the series' history.

The 9 tracks listed above could have absolutely easily been made/kept unique from each other. For example, we could have had:

-Michigan still being the only 2.0-mi D-oval
-California being a 1.66-mi. diamond
-Atlanta remaining a 1.5-mi. stadium instead of being reconfigured to the current shape
-Charlotte being the sole 1.5-mi quadoval
-Texas being a 1.4-mi egg
-Kansas being a 1.5-mi true-oval
-Las Vegas being the sole 1.5-mi symmetrical trioval
-Kentucky being a 1.33-mi triangle
-Chicagoland being a 0.75-mi stadium akin to a non-egg-shaped Bristol

The possibilities for track design were endless, but they still go for the same kind of configuration. That's why people complain about it.

 

[Sgt Slaughter]

I'm still salty that Chicago Motor Speedway closed 10+ years ago...

Anyway, I wish they would try and get Sonoma its old date so we can have grass again. Still like the changes they made, though...

Now get Iowa, Road Atlanta, and New Jersey dates and I'll be even happier.

 

[MattSRD28]

When people see the tracks as different, I feel that they need to keep in mind something. Technically, the four COT manufacturers had different cars which drove differently. Does that mean that the cars didn't feel more like spec than stock and didn't need to be more unique? Definitely not.

Before 1996, all of the tracks in the cup series had unique configurations that were indentifiably distinct to the point where you could easily tell which track is which just by getting an image of the track shape and start line, without even considering pit road.

Since then, that's no longer the case:

-Michigan is a D-shaped 2-mi oval
-California is a D-shaped 2-mi oval.

-Atlanta is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval
-Texas is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval
-Charlotte is a ~1.5-mi. quadoval

-Kansas is a ~1.5-mi. trioval
-Las Vegas is a 1.5-mi. trioval
-Kentucky is a 1.5-mi trioval with a slighty curvy pitroad
-Chicagoland is a 1.5-mi trioval with a slightly curvy backstretch

That's not right at all. You're looking at history through rose-colored glasses.

By that logic, Bristol, Martinsville, and North Wilkesboro are all 0.5 mile ovals, and therefore all identical.

Daytona and Talladega are 2.5 mile triovals, and therefore identical. (Yes I know Tally is 2.66, but Atlanta is longer than 1.5 and was unjustly lumped in with Charlotte and Texas.)


Sears Point and Watkins Glen were 2.5 mile road courses, and therefore identical.

Rockingham and Loudon are both 1 mile ovals, and therefore identical.



If you want to throw out each venue's unique traits, yes they'll be identical. Of course that's grossly unfair and a complete mischaracterization of each track. Just listen to the teams and drivers who compete on these tracks. They'll tell you no one track is identical to another. Not Texas and Charlotte. Not Vegas and Kansas. Not ACS and Michigan.

For example, we could have had:

-Michigan still being the only 2.0-mi D-oval
-California being a 1.66-mi. diamond
-Atlanta remaining a 1.5-mi. stadium instead of being reconfigured to the current shape
-Charlotte being the sole 1.5-mi quadoval
-Texas being a 1.4-mi egg
-Kansas being a 1.5-mi true-oval
-Las Vegas being the sole 1.5-mi symmetrical trioval
-Kentucky being a 1.33-mi triangle
-Chicagoland being a 0.75-mi stadium akin to a non-egg-shaped Bristol

The possibilities for track design were endless, but they still go for the same kind of configuration. That's why people complain about it.

What? :confused1:

You're complaining that California isn't a 1.66 mile diamond, or Chicagoland isn't a D-shaped Bristol? You must enjoy screaming at the wind because that makes absolutely no sense at all. Real world race venues aren't created in Sandbox. There's SO much more than goes into the design besides where someone with a computer would like the course to turn today.

If you don't like the sport because the venues are "exceptionally uncreative" there's an easy solution - don't watch. Don't watch and spare us the complaining about something that is not going to change unless someone out there has a few hundred million dollars ready to blow on the experiment of a 1.66 mile "diamond" racetrack. At the very least, spare us the incorrect and intellectually lazy mischaracterizations of certain tracks as being identical or "cookie-cutter" tracks when they are not.

 

[WayneD92]

Despite the obvious lighting challenges I'd honestly like to see one of the road courses under the lights.

 

[Markfan]

That's not right at all. You're looking at history through rose-colored glasses.

By that logic, Bristol, Martinsville, and North Wilkesboro are all 0.5 mile ovals, and therefore all identical.

Bristol is a ~0.5 egg-shaped stadium, Martinsville is a ~0.5 paperclip stadium and Norh Wilkesboro is a ~0.6 stadium. Totally different, heck, the latter of the three isn't even 0.5 miles.

Daytona and Talladega are 2.5 mile triovals, and therefore identical. (Yes I know Tally is 2.66, but Atlanta is longer than 1.5 and was unjustly lumped in with Charlotte and Texas.)

Talladega is far wider than Daytona, and, like I mentioned before, if you were given the outline of the track and the starting line, would be able to immediately tell which is which due to Talladega having it's start line on a straightaway. Can you honestly say that you could do the same if someone showed the racing groove outline for Atlanta, Texas and Charlotte?

Sears Point and Watkins Glen were 2.5 mile road courses, and therefore identical.

Ok, now you're just being absurd. Road course could mean anything. Quadoval, trioval and D-ovals are far more specific.

Rockingham and Loudon are both 1 mile ovals, and therefore identical.

Rockingham is a kinked, assymetrical oval and Loudon is a stadium.

If you want to throw out each venue's unique traits, yes they'll be identical. Of course that's grossly unfair and a complete mischaracterization of each track. Just listen to the teams and drivers who compete on these tracks. They'll tell you no one track is identical to another. Not Texas and Charlotte. Not Vegas and Kansas. Not ACS and Michigan.

The point is that they are too similar in their overall design and could be more different. They may have unique traits, but do you disagree that teams that typically have advantage at one in a particular (for simplicity's sake) "group" of tracks usually have advantages at the others, too?

What? :confused1:

You're complaining that California isn't a 1.66 mile diamond, or Chicagoland isn't a D-shaped Bristol? You must enjoy screaming at the wind because that makes absolutely no sense at all. Real world race venues aren't created in Sandbox.

There's SO much more than goes into the design besides where someone with a computer would like the course to turn today.

Which is why they most likely use computational information to make the tracks similar? ISC and SMI play it very safe on new designs intentionally. You say that there is so much more that goes into the configuration. Out of curiosity, what do you say it is? Quadovals and triovals aren't magical designs that maximize the efficiency of a particular area in all conditions, there are equally viable options in other designs too.

If they weren't, road courses and assymetrical tracks like Darlington would never exist (yes I'm aware of the reason to why Darlington is shaped like it is). Please do tell me why a diamond or a short track is such an unreasonable design, because Iowa Speedway didn't need to be a quadoval or a trioval to be a successful track.

At the very least, spare us the incorrect and intellectually lazy mischaracterizations of certain tracks as being identical or "cookie-cutter" tracks when they are not.

How is it intellectually lazy to bring up the fact that there are tracks that clearly have similarity in structure? As I said before, it does not need to be perfectly identical to be blatant that some tracks are clearly based off others. Are you going to tell me that California looking like and being the same length as Michigan is a coincidence? What about Texas and the reconfiguration job of Atlanta clearly using Charlotte as a reference?

 

[JeffJordan]

Well, the general reasoning behind tracks having similar designs and not having a lot of fluctuation on ovals was the original Homestead configuration. That track was just plain dangerous. While I do agree that there should be a lot more diversity, it should not be at the expense of safety. Proper track geometry is very, very important.

 

[Sgt Slaughter]

Alright, why haven't they made a Hot Wheels track yet?

 

[Devin41]

Kentucky is actually different from Kansas, Chicagoland, and Las Vegas. Turns 1 and 2 are longer than turns 3 and 4 and the radius of the two separate turns are different.

In other words, the other tracks are symmetrical at the S/F line and if folded over, the turns would still line up. Kentucky's turns wouldn't line up as they have different radii.

Structurally in design Charlotte, Vegas, Texas, Atlanta, Kentucky, Kansas, and Chicagoland are all different...they all have unique straightaway lengths, banking, width, turn radius, and the location of the track and the weather associated with the location makes them all race differently.

 

[MattSRD28]

How is it intellectually lazy to bring up the fact that there are tracks that clearly have similarity in structure? As I said before, it does not need to be perfectly identical to be blatant that some tracks are clearly based off others. Are you going to tell me that California looking like and being the same length as Michigan is a coincidence? What about Texas and the reconfiguration job of Atlanta clearly using Charlotte as a reference?

It's intellectually lazy when the line between identical and similar becomes blurred so badly, some people can no longer see it. Similarity and equality are two completely different concepts. The former acknowledges differences. The latter does not.

The post I was originally replying to was a complaint about "clones", "cookie-cutter" tracks and other references to how all 1.5 milers are identical. That's completely different from pointing out similarities. While they may be similar, Bristol and Martinsville are similar. Dover and Loudon are similar. Daytona and Talladega are similar. None of them are identical to the other.

To the point about one track being based off another, so what? Talladega was based off Daytona, and I don't see anyone complaining about that.

But before anyone starts talking about Texas/Atlanta being Charlotte "clones" (hardly) or being based off Charlotte, there are a couple important points. The first being what we know of today as Texas Motor Speedway was not at all its original vision. The original vision for Texas was a dual-banked racetrack, which is why the 24 degree banks fall off so much. They used to be flat going into the turns to allow CART/Indycars (in theory) the chance to race onto the flat bank, where we're all used to looking for the apron, and back up off it onto the straightaways. Modifications were made to increase the banking in the transitions once CART flat out said no, Nascar teams threatened to boycott without track modifications, and the IRL decided its slightly-slower cars could handle the 24 degree banking and didn't need the flat bank turns. So if you ever wondered why Texas has large aprons, that's why. Beyond that, Texas also has wider turns, allowing for a different approach to a chassis setup than Charlotte.


As for Atlanta, of course its original design was an oval track with half-mile turns and quarter-mile straightaways. When the S/F line was moved to the other side of the track and the quad-oval front stretch was installed (to increase seating capacity on the frontstretch - that was the goal), those simple proportions were slightly altered, but Atlanta still features longer corners and wider straightaways than Charlotte, and is a longer track than Charlotte.

Are Atlanta and Charlotte similar? Yes, but they're no more identical than Daytona and Talladega are. To call them identical, "clones" or "cookie-cutter" tracks is intellectually lazy and simply not accurate. "Cookie-cutter" does not mean similar. "Cookie-cutter" means identical, as in all cookies made from the same cutter. As I said earlier, let's stop being lazy and wrong, and let's keep the intellectual level in here slightly higher than it is outside of here.