NASCAR officials announced Wednesday that the Battle at the Beach event at Daytona International Speedway will not be returning to the schedule for the 2015 season.
The event has been held the last two years at Daytona as part othe Speedweeks events leading up to the Daytona 500.
The event was created as a showcase for short track and regional racing.
The Battle at the Beach events were contested on specially designed track made using the backstretch area of Daytona International Speedway.
“The UNOH Battle at the Beach provided NASCAR’s stars of tomorrow an excellent opportunity to participate at The World Center of Racing, but it isn’t feasible to continue the event given the progress with the DAYTONA Rising project,” George Silberman, NASCAR Vice President, Regional and Touring Series said in release. “Fortunately, nearby New Smyrna Speedway is excited to bring the K&N Pro Series East back for the season opener again this year in addition to its week-long slate of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action; NASCAR fans will still have plenty of opportunities to see exciting short-track action in the Daytona area again this February.”
During an informal question and answer session Tuesday on Twitter, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell confirmed that the event would not be held in 2015.
The inaugural 2013 event featured a non-points Whelen Modified Tour event, a non-points K&N Pro Series event and a Whelen All-American Series Late Model event. The 2014 edition feature a non-points event for the Whelen Modified Tour and a points event for the K&N Pro Series East.
Steve Park won the first Whelen Modified Tour event in 2013. Doug Coby, the 2014 Whelen Modified Tour series champion, won the Modified event in 2014.
MODS WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY TO RACE THERE…TAKE A HIKE NASCAR….YOU AND YOUR STUPID CASE……NOT REAL RACING ANYMORE………
Good!!! Waste if money for tour cars…nascar doesn’t care about mods…. It’s just about $$$$$. All the New England tracks should dump nascar!….what do they give northeast racing? Stupid regional points that is a joke.
That’s great maybe Thompson Speedway will get the north and south race back there instead of at the Daytona parking lot!! I believe it was a nice try , but a poor design more like a demolition derby. Where Thompson speedway was a very competitive race and lets pray it comes back soon .thanks for the read.
… and in other, related news – our beat reporter Goldy is on the scene in wintery New England, where he has some reaction to this landmark decision coming out of the “World Center of Racing”.. Goldy … Thanks Shawn.. While Nascar’s “Stars of Tomorrow” punk junk racers are pouting they won’t be able to showcase how well they dump the leader in front of the bigs and make a name for themselves, their car owners are now re-forecasting their 2015 racing budgets by10 to 15 thousand dollars. Said one Whelen Modified Tour owner “This will allow us to run maybe 2 – 3 events we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Ya know, THEY said it wasn’t feasible, we’ll it was NEVER feasible from our standpoint…. but then again, THEY (Nascar) never asked”.
Shawn, we also spoke to one up and coming racer on the decision by the Nascar brass to drop the show, and he said, and I quote “I guess they did what they had to do”.. Now that’s a pretty legitimate statement coming from this young racer; he’s clearly mature and determined beyond his years.
… Shawn, back to you in the studio..
That race was awful and then track or lack their of was a poor poor example of modified racing
Well, I think the real reason it was cancelled is because nobody was going to go. The owners gave it a shot, and it just sucked. That was no way to race mighty modifieds. That course was terrible.
Hey Shawn, any news on the new modified series?
I’ve always loved the show at New Smyrna Speedway.Seems like a win win for all!
darealgoodfella,
Nothing new of late.
The track was a terrible layout/design, not conducive to good racing. NASCAR can and should do better, bring it back in 2016 with a better track. NASCAR needs to promote short track racing better or where will the ‘stars’ for their ‘Top Tier’ divisions come from?
I thank NASCAR for trying to get more visibility for the Modifieds. But that “track” did not show the modifieds for what they are capable of. We can only hope that the DAYTONA Rising Project includes a proper short track to allow the modifieds to put on a race like only they can.
I think the show should be at a near by track, not a make shift track. The concept is really cool and make sure it is a points race, that way you will get all the best tour teams competing. I used to think that it was a lot of money for these tour teams to travel that far but after seeing these teams at Thompson this year, these teams can afford it.
Another nail in the NASCAR coffin for the modifieds. They could have easily had a big $ show at New Smyrna during speedweek. After all its not like they can’r afford it. Modifieds are just not a priority to the France family and their underlings.