UPDATE: BGN will make a second stop at Daytona next season, according to an ESPN report. The report said that the series will bring the BGN cars back to the 2.5-mile tri-oval in July as a support race the night before the Pepsi 400. The BGN cars annually open their season the day before the Daytona 500 in February. DIS officials would not confirm the move but said it is a possibility. According to the report, NASCAR would drop its lone BGN road-course date at Watkins Glen International, which is also owned by DIS parent International Speedway Corporation(Daytona Beach News Journal), also hear the BGN will not go to Milwaukee or Indianpolis Raceway Park in 2001 and may race at the Indianapolis Intl Speedway(7-6-2001)
UPDATE 2: Beginning next season, the Daytona International Speedway will add a NASCAR Grand National series race to its Pepsi 400 Winston Cup race weekend. The addition to the BGN schedule will give the series three restrictor-plate races. Currently, the series runs once at Daytona and Talladega each season. Sources said the weekend will be run similar to this season’s, with the BGN race held on Friday night and the Winston Cup event on Saturday night(That’s Racin’)(7-8-2001)
UPDATE 3 Word has been abounding that NASCAR and the Indianapolis Intl Speedway would like to bring the BGN race, traditionally held at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park, to the Speedway for the Saturday support show next year. Although many believe this will happen, IMS Owner Tony George says he does not expect it any time soon. “It really hasn’t been discussed,” George said. “The NHRA [owner of IRP] and IRP really stepped up and made a lot of improvements NASCAR was looking for to keep the Busch Series growing out at IRP. It really hasn’t been discussed. They’ve got 20 years out there. You don’t just, NASCAR doesn’t pick up and move that quick. That’s really not something we’ve discussed with any degree of concern. It’s very unlikely unless something changes.”(SpeedVision)(8-5-2001)
UPDATE 4: NASCAR officials are pushing Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Tony George to add a Busch Series race to next summer’s Winston Cup weekend here, but the man who runs this legendary track is resisting. The Busch tour plays at Indianapolis Raceway Park this weekend each August, but the traffic surrounding IRP has been horrendous, and the commute for Cup and Busch drivers between the two has been a nightmare(Winston Salem Journal)(8-6-2001)
UPDATE 5 IRP Stays: On Saturday night at IRP, the PA announcers had NASCAR’s Director of Operations, Kevin Triplett, up in their booth before the race and asked him point-blank if the Busch Series would be back at IRP next year. His reply was something like this, “We’ll be back in Indy in 2002, and we’ll be back here at IRP.”(many sources)(8-7-2001)