(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
College football has finished its playoff. The Rolex 24 at Daytona is finished, and the Super Bowl’s been played.
You know what that means – it’s time for Speedweeks.
From stock cars in Daytona to sprint car in Volusia, there are a host of races scheduled for the next two weeks in Central Florida.
Here’s what watch for through it all.
Daytona International Speedway
Brace yourselves, stock car racing fans. Your marquee event is mere days away.
The NASCAR Cup Series will open its 2020 season with the traditional running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 16. A field of 40 contestants will race before a massive crowd, with one lucky competitor realizing a dream and posing next to the Harley J. Earl trophy at day’s end.
But before they get to that, there’s a lot of track time to work through at Daytona International Speedway.
The first series to hit the 2.5-mile oval will actually be the ARCA Menards Series, running a pair of untelevised practices on Feb. 7. Timing and scoring should be available on ARCARacing.com.
The following day will see the Cup fields split time with ARCA, running practices for the both the Busch Clash and Daytona 500 ahead of ARCA’s season-opening Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire at 4:45 p.m. ET. Coverage will be shown on FS1.
Feb. 9 will bring Daytona 500 qualifying at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX, followed by the Busch Clash exhibition race on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET.
From there Daytona will go quiet for three days, with little action save for media day on Feb. 12. After Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series practice, the Cup field will set the starting lineup for the 500 in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at 7 p.m. ET on Feb. 13. Coverage will be on FS1.
The Truck Series will take the headline position on Feb. 14, following a day of practice and qualifying with the NextEra Energy 250 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Feb. 15 will belong to the Xfinity Series field, with the season-opening NASCAR Racing Experience 300 contested at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1 after qualifying and final practice for the Daytona 500.
That leaves the Great-American Race to wrap up the weekend on Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET. The race will be aired on FOX.
New Smyrna Speedway
Just 15 miles south of Daytona, a set of NASCAR championships will be decided in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway.
The half-mile track will host nine nights of racing, with a plethora of different car types competing in a week-long championship battle. Included are Super Late Models, Tour-Type Modifieds, Pro. Late Models and Late Model Sportsman cars. Bombers, Pro Trucks and Ground Pounders can also be seen on the card during certain nights.
Save for the ARCA Menards Series East opener on Feb. 10, the focus will be on the grassroots tours from Feb. 7-15. They’ll each run races of varied orders and distances, with a small spattering of special races though in. Those include the John Blewett III Memorial 76-lapper and Richie Evans Memorial 100-lapper for the Modifieds on Feb. 12 and 14, and the Orange Blossom 100-lap finale for the SLM cars on Feb. 15.
Practice will begin on most days at 1:30 p.m. ET, with qualifying scheduled sometime around 6:00 p.m. and racing following at 7:30 p.m.
Coverage can be seen on NBC Sports Gold’s new Trackpass service, which costs $44.99 for an annual subscription and $4.99 per month.
Volusia Speedway Park
Before NASCAR and ARCA hit the high banks at Daytona International Speedway, the stars of dirt track racing will flock to Volusia Speedway Park to kick off 12 days of racing.
Held 22 miles down the road from Daytona in Barberville, Florida, the DIRTcar Nationals will see various dirt competitors compete for a Gator trophy each night.
After an opening day run with the DIRTcar UMP Modifies headlining on Tuesday, Feb. 4, Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions will take over top billing on Feb. 5-6.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will open its year on Feb. 7-9, with the World of Outlaws Late Morton Buildings Model Series following on Feb. 12-15 after a two-day stint for the DIRTcar Late Models on Feb. 10-11.
Gates open at 5 p.m. ET each day, with hot laps scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and racing planned for 7 p.m. Coverage is available on DirtVision, save for the ASCoC, which will air on FloRacing ($29.99/month).
Given the disassociation from stock cars and asphalt, the DIRTcar Nationals can often fall off of the radar for many racing fans keeping tabs on Florida. But it’s a busy two weeks of racing with a lot to offer.
Coverage of the DIRTcar Nationals will be shown on DirtVision’s Fast Pass pay-per-view service ($39/month) and FloRacing
Other Events
Elsewhere in Florida additional dirt racing can be found.
The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models are racing at Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park from Feb. 3-8 as part of Winternationals. Coverage can be seen on Lucas Oil Racing TV ($100/year). The All Star Circuit of Champions will later race at the same track on Feb. 10-11, with FloRacing airing the races.
USAC National Midget and Sprint car tours will also compete during the two-week stint, running at Ocala’s Bubba Raceway Park.
The Midget field will run on Feb. 7-8, with the Sprint field following on Feb. 13-15. Coverage will be on FloRacing.
