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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR made a historic decision Thursday when it announced it would postpone this weekend’s racing events at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon and Texas Motor Speedway outside Fort Worth.
The Winston Cup New Hampshire 300 will now become the season finale, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 23 at the 1.058-mile oval.
A date for the Craftsman Truck Series Silverado 350 in Texas, which was scheduled as a companion race to the Indy Racing Northern Light Series season finale, has not yet been determined.
“It is time for families to come together,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “We felt that postponing this weekend’s races was simply the right thing to do. We join the nation in mourning those who lost their lives and we pray those wounded recover fully.”
“We fully support NASCAR’s decision to postpone the race,” NHIS president Gary Bahre said. “We regret the tragic circumstances that made the postponement necessary. But we truly understand the decision and our hearts go out to those who have suffered losses.”
All New Hampshire 300 tickets will be honored for the November event, Bahre said.
While it has altered its racing schedule previously due to snow, rain and 1998’s summer wildfires in the Daytona Beach area, NASCAR has never in its 53-year history changed a scheduled event for anything other than a natural phenomenon.
NASCAR did alter the lengths of a number of races, shortening them during the fuel crises in the early 1970s.
Tuesday morning’s terrorist attacks that resulted in commercial jetliner crashes in New York, Washington, D.C. and western Pennsylvania made the decision necessary as most other sports leagues, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and PGA postponed or canceled games and events.
NASCAR was put in a difficult situation by the uncertain air travel scenario and a Winston Cup schedule that has no open weekends from now until the previously scheduled Nov. 18 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The starting lineups for both the 43-car New Hampshire 300 and 36-truck Silverado 350 were set after Bud Pole Qualifying for both events was canceled, per the respective series’ rule books using owner point standings and other regulations.
The Featherlite Modified Series and Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring events scheduled for NHIS Saturday afternoon have been canceled. The Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series race scheduled Saturday night at Magic Valley Speedway in Idaho has been canceled as well.
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Al Liebmann
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