Florida Speedweeks is So Much More than NASCAR at Daytona

It’s still Florida Speedweeks if you know where to look.

What was historically Daytona Speedweeks was essentially cut in half in advance of the 2021 season, taking place over a span of six days instead of its traditional (almost) two weeks length.

In another change, the non-points Clash at Daytona will take place on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Tuesday, Feb. 9 and the week will conclude with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 14.

  • Tue Feb. 9: The Clash at Daytona’s Road Course
  • Wed Feb. 10: Daytona 500 Qualifying
  • Thur Feb. 11: Duel at Daytona qualifying races
  • Fri Feb. 12: NASCAR Truck Series
  • Sat Feb. 13: NASCAR Xfinity Series
  • Sat Feb. 13: ARCA Racing Series
  • Sun Feb. 14: Daytona 500

A caveat, of course, is that the cancellation of the March event at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California means that NASCAR will race at Daytona in back-to-back weekends — on the superspeedway and the road course.

So, that’s technically plural Speedweeks at Daytona.

The Daytona 500 will have a reduced capacity of some kind, but there are no shortage of racing events in the greater Volusia and Flagler County areas for racing fans to attend if they can’t obtain a ticket to The Great American Race.

Speedweeks, after all, is so much more than NASCAR, as it also features Late Models, Sprint Cars, Midgets and more, across the Sunshine State. Florida welcomes the best across the entire racing landscape each February and 2021 is no exception.

NASCAR drivers even compete in each of these events. For example, Ryan Preece will race a Tour-Type Modified at New Smyrna when he’s not required to be in his Cup Series car. JJ Haley will be in the DIRTcar Modified division at Volusia. The Dillon Brothers have occasionally raced Late Models at Volusia each year. While not racing, you can expect to see the likes of Ricky Stenhouse, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell roaming the grounds at the DIRTcar Nationals as well.

The complete menu of motorsport options can be found below.

The Winternationals is where Florida in February begins with the second events for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series and All Star Circuit of Champions respectively.

It’s a week full of racing at the Clay by the Bay for virtually every dirt division across the country.

-Mon, Jan 24: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Tue, Jan 25: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Wed, Jan 26: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Thu, Jan 27: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Fri, Jan 28: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Sat, Jan 29: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Sun, Jan 30: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Mon, Feb 1: All Star Circuit Sprints
-Tue, Feb 2: All Star Circuit Sprints
-Wed, Feb 3: Crate Racin’ USA, Top Gun Sprints
-Thu, Feb 4: Crate Racin’ USA, Top Gun Sprints
-Fri, Feb 5: Crate Racin’ USA, Top Gun Sprints
-Sat, Feb 6: Crate Racin’ USA, Top Gun Sprints

Streaming:
FloSport (ASCOC), MAVTV + Facebook (Lucas Oil)

If there was ever a year to sample the annual World Series of Asphalt, this is it.

The annual seven races in nine nights at New Smyrna Speedway features Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Tour-Type Modifieds and a variety of other divisions. It welcomes the best short trackers from all across the country to Central Florida for a week of action.

What makes this year so remarkable are the entry lists. They are up across the board and includes the top names of every discipline, no hyperbole.

That means Doug Coby and Matt Hirschman in a Tour Type Modified, Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse in a Super Late … all week.

The format is 35 lap races each night with each division having at least one 100 lapper during the course of the week. The week also includes the ARCA East division opener on Monday, Feb. 8.

-Fri, Feb. 5: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Locals
-Sat, Feb. 6: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Locals
-Sun, Feb. 7: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Locals
-Mon, Feb. 8: ARCA East Division
-Tue, Feb. 9: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Tour Types
-Wed, Feb. 10: Super Late Models, Tour Types, Locals
-Thu, Feb. 11: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Tour Types
-Fri, Feb. 12: Tour Types, Pro Late Models, Locals
-Sat, Feb. 13: Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Locals

Streaming:
NBC TrackPass

They call it the Hunt for the Gator.

The DIRTcar Nationals features every national touring division under the World Racing Group umbrella at Volusia Raceway Park in Barberville, Florida. That means the DIRTcar Modifieds, Super DIRTcar Modifieds, World of Outlaws Late Models and World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.

The week actually begins with the All Star Circuit of Champions at Volusia with the combined five nights of All Stars Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws Sprint Car races making up a combined DIRTcar Nationals championship.

-Tue, Feb 2: DIRTcar UMP Mods
-Wed, Feb 3: AllStar Circuit of Champions, DIRTcar Mods
-Thu, Feb 4: AllStar Circuit of Champions, DIRTcar Mods
-Fri, Feb 5: World of Outlaws Sprints, DIRTcar Mods
-Sat, Feb 6: World of Outlaws Sprints, DIRTcar Mods
-Sun, Feb 7: World of Outlaws Sprints, DIRTcar Mods
-Mon, Feb 8: DIRTcar Late Models, DIRTcar Mods
-Tue, Feb 9: DIRTcar Late Models, DIRTcar Mods
-Wed, Feb 10: World of Outlaws Late Models, SUPER DIRTCAR
-Thu, Feb 11: World of Outlaws Late Models, SUPER DIRTCAR
-Fri, Feb 12: World of Outlaws Late Models, SUPER DIRTCAR
-Sat, Feb 13: World of Outlaws Late Models, SUPER DIRTCAR

Streaming: DIRTVision

The featured tours are joined by a variety of companion divisions as well.

-Mon, Feb 1: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Tue, Feb 2: Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models
-Wed, Feb 3: Modified Lite STARS Series
-Thu, Feb 4: Modified Lite STARS Series
-Fri, Feb 5: USAC National Midgets, Modified Lite STARS
-Sat, Feb 6: USAC National Midgets, Modified Lite STARS
-Wed, Feb 10: USAC National Sprints, V8 Thunderstocks
-Thu, Feb 11: USAC National Sprints, V8 Thunderstocks
-Fri, Feb 12: USAC National Sprints, V8 Thunderstocks
-Sat, Feb 13:USAC National Sprints, V8 Thunderstocks

Streaming: FloSport (USAC), MAVTV + Facebook (Lucas Oil)

Everyone starts somewhere. A large majority of today’s NASCAR and dirt racing stars started their racing career in US Legend Car machines, the scaled-down replicas of the cars racing legends raced around courses including Daytona’s superspeedway and the famed beach course.

The US Legend Car scene has continued to grow, and their first national event of the year takes place during Speedweeks. This year, entries are ahead-of-record pace, with between 150 and 200 cars are expected to hit the track at Auburndale Speedway, outside of Orlando, for the annual Winter Nationals. Four days of racing through the week highlight the event, and it is the only daytime-racing event of the short track speedweeks in Florida, allowing fans to enjoy the shows early before picking their course for the evening.

Bubba Wallace, David Ragan and Daniel Hemric are three of many NASCAR stars who still race Legend cars on off occasions, and NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Ron Hornaday is expected to be in attendance coaching drivers as part of his grandson-in-law’s race team. LegendsNation.tv will have flag-to-flag coverage of all the racing action of these popular cars and drivers including the Bandolero cars, the Young Lions (12-15), Semi-Pro (16-39), Masters (40+) and the Pro division where most of racing’s upcoming stars spend some portion of their career.

-Tue, Feb 8: Race Day 1
-Wed, Feb 9: Race Day 2
-Thu, Feb 11: Race Day 3
-Fri, Feb 12: Championship Day

Streaming: LegendsNation.tv

Always looking for more races, a large portion of dirt late model racing’s superstars are expected to converge on North Florida Speedway the weekend of the Super Bowl, one week in advance of the Daytona 500. Names who have expressed an interest in attending this two-night extravaganza include Jonathan Davenport, Tyler Erb, Stewart Friesen, Kyle Bronson, Hudson O’Neal, Donnie Moran, Freddie Carpenter, Darrell Lanigan, Ross Bailes and many more.

North Florida Speedway is a large 3/8-mile dirt oval near Lake City, FL, and Thursday night features practice for the super late models in addition to races for 602 modifieds and other divisions.

Friday’s program features an $8000-to-win event for the Valvoline Ironman Late Model Series while Saturday’s event is a similar event, but paying $10,000-to-win as the weekend finale. The event is co-promoted by, among others, Chris Tilley from the Ironman Late Model Series and Brad McCown from Atomic Speedway in Ohio.

-Thu, Feb 4: Super Late Models, Locals
-Fri, Feb 5: Super Late Models, Locals
-Sat, Feb 6: Super Late Models, Locals

Streaming: PitRow.tv

Source: Read Full Article