Changes Mostly Good on '09 Schedules

Got reservations for 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Bristol, Atlanta, California, or Talladega? Better get on the phone with your travel agent.

NASCAR unveiled the 2009 schedules for all three series' -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman Truck Series -- Tuesday afternoon with a few a changes here and there that mostly seem to be very good.

There weren't any new tracks added to the schedule Sprint Cup for 2009 and Auto Club Speedway isn't scheduled for demolition (there's always next year!) but date changes and schedule location swaps were the name of the game. Chronologically the changes were:

• - Bristol: The spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway has long tried to dodge rain and even snow in its March location on the schedule, and it got a little bit of relief by being pushed back one week from 2008 to March 22 in 2009.


• - Atlanta: The next change on the schedule will see Atlanta Motor Speedway move to Labor Day weekend for a Sunday night race at the 1.5-mile track. If nothing else, it means NASCAR will race on Labor Day some 2,100 miles closer to where it should be that weekend. Ahem, Darlington.

• - Auto Club (California): NASCAR will still race twice in Fontana in 2009, but the dates will easier to stomach because they are further apart. California takes the spot of Talladega in the Chase at spot No. 4 on October 11th.
  


• - Talladega: The Sprint Cup weekend at Talladega Superspeedway will remain in the Chase, but will put teams in contention for the championship on pins and needles as it comes to spot No. 7 in the Chase on Nov. 1 in 2009. The restrictor plate event is nothing short of the biggest wild-card in the 10-race stretch.

Overall, they seem like some pretty good changes to the schedule despite not giving NASCAR fans any new tracks to watch racing at in 2009 like the Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Truck Series did.

For the Nationwide Series, the biggest change involves the previously-announced removal of the road course at Mexico City, and in it's place Iowa Speedway was inserted on the schedule. Iowa is nearly-brand new speedway that is a 7/8ths of a mile long and is patterned to be a bigger, faster version of Richmond International Raceway.

The track features variable banking in the corners and, if I remember correctly, the backstretch is raised to allow the fans on the frontstretch to see the action on the back. Without a doubt, it should put on a great Nationwide Series show.

For the Craftsman Truck Series, the biggest change was the addition of an event at Chicagoland Speedway on August 28th in coordination with the IndyCar Series event at the track. To me, the truck series doesn't need more races like the 1.5-miler at Chicagoland brings and instead should be racing on a few more short tracks instead.