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  • 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule Released

    2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule Released

    NASCAR has released the 2014 Sprint Cup schedule and I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed. They need to change up the season a lot and once again, we have another year where the biggest change is somebody going to a night race or two tracks swapping dates. There is hope though. With the new TV deal in 2015, that leaves some wiggle room to play with the calendar and adjust the things that desperately need adjusting.

    Schedule

    
2-15: Sprint Unlimited (Fox Sports 1
)
    2-20: Budweiser Duels (Fox Sports 1)
    2-23: Daytona (Fox)
    3-2: Phoenix (Fox)
    3-9: Las Vegas (Fox)
    3-16: Bristol (Fox)
    3-23: California (Fox)
    3-30: Martinsville (Fox)
    4-6: Texas (Fox)
    4-12: Darlington (Fox)
    4-26: Richmond (Fox)
    5-4: Talladega (Fox)
    5-10: Kansas (Fox)
    5-17: All-Star Race (Fox Sports 1)
    5-25: Charlotte (Fox)
    6-1: Dover (Fox)
    6-8: Pocono (TNT)
    6-15: Michigann (TNT)
    6-22: Sonoma (TNT)
    6-28: Kentucky (TNT)
    7-5: Daytona (TNT)
    7-13: New Hampshire (TNT)
    7-27: Indianapolis (ESPN)
    8-3: Pocono (ESPN)
    8-10: Watkins Glen (ESPN)
    8-17: Michigan (ESPN)
    8-23: Bristol (ABC)
    8-31: Atlanta (ESPN)
    9-6: Richmond (ABC)
    9-14: Chicagoland (ESPN)
    9-21: New Hampshire (ESPN)
    9-28: Dover (ESPN)
    10-5: Kansas (ESPN)
    10-11: Charlotte (ABC)
    10-19: Talladega (ESPN)
    10-26: Martinsville (ESPN)
    11-2: Texas (ESPN)
    11-9: Phoenix (ESPN)
    11-16: Homestead (ESPN)

    The season continues to be 36 races in length and the chase lineup remains the same. Kansas and Darlington are switching dates and Kansas is becoming a night race run on Mother’s Day weekend. The spring Texas event will run on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night and that’s the only other altercation. Some very good news that came along with this announcement is that NASCAR is mandating that the Air Titan which saved the day at Talladega earlier this year will be at every event in 2014!

    In 2015, NASCAR isn’t ruling out the possibility of an overhaul with this brand new TV deal on the horizon. My dream is that NASCAR scales back the number of mile and a half’s and adds some more road courses and short tracks. At the very least, we need a road course in the chase to give that much more credence to the eventual champion. Feel free to comment below with your thoughts on the newly released schedule and your hopes for future changes to it.

    NASCAR VP Steve O’Donnell Statement

    “Yes. We’re excited this morning to officially announce our 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, starting with the 56th running of the Daytona 500, which will be live on FOX Sunday, February 23rd. Once again, we’ll showcase 36 points races, two weekends of non‑points action, which will include the All Star weekend in Charlotte on May 17th, and wind up at Homestead‑Miami Speedway on November 16th, which is the final Race for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, which will be live on ESPN.
    Although there are no real surprises on the schedule, we will have four spring date changes. Texas will hold its event one week earlier. They’re moving to a Sunday afternoon event on April 6th. Darlington will run on April 12th. Kansas will hold its first‑ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race, and that will be shifted to May 10th. Finally Martinsville in the spring will host the series on March 30th, one week earlier than this year.
    One of the things we’re excited to announce today, in addition to another great season of racing, we’re also working as hard as we can for fans in the stands and those watching on TV for them to have the best chance at each of our events to see a completed race.
    We’re happy to announce that the NASCAR Air Titan drying technology will be at every Cup weekend in 2014. We all know that the time it takes to dry the track, the impact it’s had on either those watching in the stands or on TV, was the main reason Brian France tasked the R&D center to come up with a solution to reduce that timeframe.
    We put the decision in the hands of the tracks for 2014. We met with a number of media members in Daytona at the beginning of the year and talked about this being Phase I of a technology. We’re happy to announce that we’ve learned a lot of things through Phase I. We’ve seen the Air Titan at a number of our tracks this year and we’ll be moving on to Phase II in 2014 as well.
    You’ll see that again at all of our Sprint Cup Series weekends for 2014. We think it’s the right thing to do for the fans. We feel we’re really in a good position in terms of the technology that’s been advanced through the R&D center. We look forward to showcasing that, hopefully minimally, because we’d like to see the sun shine for each of our events.
    With that, we’re headed to Talladega for the Chase. Excited about what we’ll see for this upcoming weekend. Certainly want to just remind everyone from the Air Titan standpoint, it played an important role last time being able to get those races in on time. Hopefully we won’t have to use that technology, but we’re excited to head to Talladega this weekend.”

  • NASCAR Singing in the Rain with New Air Titan

    NASCAR Singing in the Rain with New Air Titan

    NASCAR-Air-Titan-1-track-dryer
    Photo Credit: Mike Meadows/ISC

    After thirty hours of rain delay and one colossal jet dryer flame out during last year’s Daytona 500, NASCAR vowed to find a new way to dry wet race tracks.

    And they have done just that, unveiling the new Air Titan, which will not only dry tracks quicker but also help ensure that NASCAR will be singing in the rain if it happens to interrupt this year’s Daytona Speed Weeks festivities.

    “NASCAR is really excited to officially introduce our track-drying technology, which we are naming NASCAR’s Air Titan,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, said. “Having the first Daytona 500 rained out certainly put more of an emphasis on the importance for the fans attending and those watching.”

    “Everyone knows the time it takes to dry a track and the impact it’s had on our fans attending an event and those watching us on television is really the main reason our chairman Brian France tasked the folks at the R & D Center to come up with a solution to reduce drying time,” O’Donnell said. “And what we look at is an 18 to 24 month process to get us to Phase 1, where we were able to design, develop and test the Air Titan and have it ready for Speedweeks in Daytona.”

    “It’s been a thoroughly-tested scientific process.”

    O’Donnell advised that the ultimate goal of Air Titan is to reduce the track drying time by 80 percent or down to about thirty minutes.  And its first true test may be if the rains come at anytime in the next two weeks at Daytona International Speedway.

    So, how will this new Air Titan help NASCAR sing, instead of sigh, in the rain?

    “We’ll have basically two sets of identical equipment on opposite sides of the track that will move in the same direction and do one complete pass of the race track,” O’Donnell said. “The system basically works by having compressors feed air at a high rate of speed through a hose to the Air Titan modules.”

    “The Air Titan is able to blow air in narrow, highly pressurized sheets over the race surface down onto the apron,” O’Donnell continued. “Then on the apron we’ve got a regenerative air vacuum truck, which obviously absorbs the water.”

    “And then we’ll have jet dryers behind each cycle, we’ll have five of those, that will move at a rate of speed of approximately 3 to 5 miles per hour.”

    O’Donnell admitted that this new Air Titan technology is brand spanking new and will really be put to the test at Daytona before being rolled out at other tracks.

    “Daytona will really give us the first chance for us to see it work,” O’Donnell said. “Speedweeks historically has a lot of product on the track.”

    “So we’re going to use this as a test,” O’Donnell continued. “We’ve still got some work to do there for the other tracks, so we’ll look at options in the future, but Daytona will just be Phase 1.”

    O’Donnell also admitted that powering the new Air Titan might just be one of NASCAR’s most significant challenges, especially given its green commitment.

    “We’ve still got some work to do from powering the Air Titan,” O’Donnell said. “There’s still some challenges there and some logistical challenges depending on where we’re racing.”

    “I think we’re able to power it right now, but you’ll see how many air compressors it takes to power the Air Titan,” O’Donnell continued. “When you see the air compressors, there are a number of them.”

    “We’re going to have 17 of them out on the track,” O’Donnell said. “We have to look at how do we reduce that, how do we look at how they’re powered, are there greener technologies we can use.”

    “So we’re really excited about actually having the Air Titan out there and the fact that it works and excited to now just focus on that power aspect of it moving forward.”

    While NASCAR knows this is groundbreaking technology when it comes to track drying, O’Donnell also acknowledged that jet dryers and other equipment will still be needed, at least in the short term. But in the long term, jet dryers may be singing in the rain at junk yards instead of race tracks.

    “I think the way the system was developed really for Phase 1 was in combination of what exists today, i.e., jet dryers, vacuums, the Air Titan, and using a combination of all of those to have the most efficient means possible to dry the track,” O’Donnell said. “I think moving forward would we love to have an all-in all in one system?”

    “Absolutely, that’s the ultimate goal if we can get there.”

    “I think if everything works where we see it going in the future, you could see jet dryers being a thing of the past,” O’Donnell said. “You could see that model where the tracks have gone out and purchased jet dryers that they now are purchasing the Air Titans and having their own air supply at each track because obviously they host more than just NASCAR events.”

    “So I think that model that’s existed in the past will continue; we’ve just got to work through some of those things to get it where it needs to be.”

    While NASCAR may be singing in the rain over its new innovation, the main focus of the leadership of the sport is to get the fans singing as well in spite of any rain. And to also get the television broadcasters and the sponsors signing in the rain will be the ultimate goal.

    “When fans come to the racetrack, they’ve invested a significant amount of time and money to come to a race, and understanding now that they may have the opportunity to see that race happen that day we think is huge for the industry,” O’Donnell said. “We also think it’s huge for our television partners.”

    “We know that when a red flag comes out, that’s a challenge, and so speeding up any downtime we think is a win-win for the entire industry, the tracks, the drivers, the race teams, the fans,” O’Donnell continued. “That’s the goal is to get this down to as short a time as possible, and if we do that, we think it’s a benefit to the entire industry.”

    “We know it’s imperative for us to innovate every day,” O’Donnell said. “One of those is the Air Titan.”

    “At the end of the day we feel like we’ve got the best story to tell.”

    So, thanks to the new Air Titan, let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place, NASCAR has a smile on its face because they are just singin’, singin’ in the rain.