NASCAR’s Brian France said he’s going to step up the pace of ‘realigning’ the Winston/Nextel Cup tour to feature newer markets. ‘We are moving a date to California for 2004 — we think that will work better in the long run. And there’ll be more of that,’ France says. But he said that the moves will be considered ‘carefully,’ and that the moves will come ‘in a slow, methodical way. We’re just not going to shred it up to where we lose that continuity.’ The next step is expected to be adding a second Cup date at either Kansas or Phoenix in 2005, or perhaps both, at the expense of races in Rockingham and Darlington. But France has offered no details on that or on any plans he might have for dealing with Bruton Smith and that contentious second Texas race date. However there has been speculation that, as swiftly as France is moving in his first days on the job as NASCAR CEO, that the 2004 tour schedule might not be cast in stone. There is an open date in July … and the Labor Day Southern 500 was not a sellout, despite all the hype.( Winston Salem Journal )(9-23-2003)
