After The Clash weekend, the racing world now anticipates NASCAR heading down to Florida for Daytona Speedweeks. The “Super Bowl of NASCAR” kicks off the season with a unique schedule compared to every other NASCAR weekend. The Cup Series is stretched across five days of action, starting on February 14th with qualifying. The Xfinity, Craftsman Trucks, and ARCA series all join the Cup teams in Daytona for their opening events. Daytona Speedweeks is always a fan favorite, but the “weeks” portion of the name has become a lie. Five days hardly equals a full week of action, let alone the plural. NASCAR has significantly drawn back on the festivities at Daytona. However, the local tracks in the area are making up for that to keep Speedweeks, well, Speedweeks.
For those unfamiliar with Volusa County, there are two local tracks that host events around the Daytona 500. One is the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” dirt track out in DeLeon Springs, Florida. Volusia Speedway Park is set to host the DIRTcar Nationals, which is two weeks of dirt car racing. The Federated Auto Part DIRTcar and World of Outlaws series will be holding races during those two weeks. Meanwhile, New Smyrna Beach offers up asphalt racing on their banked, half-mile oval. Starting on February 9th, New Smyrna Speedway will host their World Series of Asphalt Racing, with NASCAR Whelen Modified and ASA STARS tours holding races at the track. Although the action has dipped at Daytona International Speedway, these two local short tracks are more than making up for it with their Speedweeks offerings.
Volusia Speedway Park
Formerly the Barberville Speedway, Volusia Speedway Park is located in DeLeon Springs. About a half hour drive away from the Daytona International Speedway, the dirt track was established in 1968 by Benny Corbin. Originally, the track was only a quarter-mile long. Upon sale in 1982, the track was expanded to a half-mile. Outside of an asphalt hiatus from 1989 to 1997, the main track in DeLeon Springs has been the local dirt track for Volusia County residents.
Numerous well-known drivers have raced at Volusia Speedway Park. Most notably, Kenny Wallace picked up his first career NASCAR win at Volusia. Most recently, Ricky Stenhouse Jr competed in the Germfree Southern Sprint Car Shootout a couple of weekends ago. Outside of Speedweeks, the track hosts events frequently on the weekends. Sprint cars, modifieds, late models, and go-karts race at the facility.
DIRTcar Nationals
Starting February 5th, the two-week DIRTcar Nationals kicks off at Volusia Speedway Park. This week, the World of Outlaws will take center stage. Both spring cars and modifieds will be featured heavily, with Saturday’s main event offering a $5,000 prize for the DIRTcar UMP Modified winner. The World of Outlaws main event will run prior to the Modified race. During Week 2, the World of Outlaws Late Model series will join with the Super DIRTcar series to bring the event to a close.
Notable entries for the two-week event include:
- Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace
- Current Truck Series driver Stewart Friesen
- Former NASCAR driver Dexter Stacey
- Dirt Legend Brett “The Jet” Hearn
- Dirt Legan “The Doctor” Danny Johnson
- Billy Pauch Jr
- “Hollywood” Felix Roy
- “Super” Matt Sheppard
Even if you are not familiar with the World of Outlaws or dirt track racing in general, it is well worthwhile to venture out to Deleon Springs. The racing at the track is a great time. Plus, you are able to buy pit passes that allow you to see the cars up close. For those who cannot attend, all the DIRTcar Nationals will be aired on DIRTVision.
New Smyrna Speedway
A bit closer to Daytona International Speedway is New Smyrna Speedway. Located about 15 minutes south of Daytona, New Smyrna Speedway is the high banked, half-mile asphalt track. The track has been featured in voting for the Advance Auto Parts “Advance My Track” competition in recent years. Established in 1964 as a dirt track, New Smyrna Speedway is part of the NASCAR Weekly Series. Some of NASCAR’s national series have stopped in to host an event at the track, including the ARCA East and Whelen Modified Tour. Plenty of notable NASCAR figures have raced at the local short track. The extensive list includes Neil Bonnet, the Allisons, Jimmy Spencer, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and William Byron.
Outside of the NASCAR events, New Smyrna Speedway hosts the Florida Governor’s Cup, which is an annual November event for the modifieds. The track hosts events from January through December, featuring a variety of local racing series. During Family Fun Nights, they offer opportunities for the fans to race. For the children, they host bicycle races. Meanwhile, any adult with a street legal car and a helmet is allowed to compete in Spectator races.
World Series of Asphalt Racing
Kicking off this Friday (February 9th), New Smyrna Speedway will host their annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. For 9 days, numerous series will take on the high-banked oval. Notable national series such as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and ASA STARS Tour will main event their own nights respectively. In addition to the national series, other divisions will race, including various late models, tour modifieds, and the bomber series. Each night will offer something different, which is great for fans staying for entirety of Speedweeks.
Similar to the festivities at Volusia Speedway Park, the list of notable names at New Smyrna Speedway is extensive. Here are a few notables:
- Former Cup driver Ryan Newman (Saturday – Whelen Modified)
- Current NASCAR Cup Driver Ryan Preece (Saturday)
- NASCAR Driver Patrick Emerling (Saturday)
- Current Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott (Tuesday – ASA CARS)
- Current Truck Series Driver Ty Majeski (Tuesday)
- NASCAR Derek Kraus (Tuesday)
- NASCAR Driver Kris Wright (Tuesday)
- ASA CARS Star Dawson Sutton (Tuesday)
- ASA CARS Star Caden Kvapil (Tuesday)
- ASA CARS Star Bubba Pollard (Tuesday)
- NASCAR Driver William Sawalich (Tuesday)
Once again, action will take place February 9th through February 17th. Truck modifieds, Florida modifieds, and two bomber classes are also part of the week’s festivities. For those who are unable to attend, you can watch all the action on FloRacing.
Keeping Speedweeks Alive
Daytona Speedweeks is not what it used to be. It is difficult to consider the Daytona on-track action truly Speedweeks anymore. In the glory days, there would be racing for 8 days during Speedweeks. Action would kick off the weekend before the Daytona 500. Saturday night would be a double feature of IROC and The Budweiser Shootout. Sunday would host the ARCA race and Daytona 500 qualifying. Monday through Wednesday would see a series of practices leading up to the Gatorade Duels on Thursday. Friday night Truck Series racing, Saturday Busch Series action, and then the big race on Sunday. Daytona Speedweeks truly established itself as something unique on the schedule. While it is still unique, the luster has faded since NASCAR does not seem interested in a week-long extravaganza.
This is why local track racing is great. Where NASCAR is dropping the ball, the two other Volusia County tracks are picking it up. Speedweeks is alive in Volusia County, you simply have to depart Daytona Beach to find it. Both tracks are close enough to the Daytona International Speedway where driving or using Uber is not an issue. Prices for all events are affordable. Plus, access to the drivers competing is usually there. Especially when there is nothing happening at Daytona, these are the places to be.
Daytona Speedweeks is still a special time of year. Volusia County is hosting over 10 national series starting on February 5th. If you are in the area and enjoy racing, venture out to these other venues. They are keeping Speedweeks alive and well in 2024. Moving forward, hopefully the extra days of action will bring more fans in earlier for Daytona. Maybe that will convince NASCAR to take ownership back of Speedweeks.
