NASCAR President Steve Phelps confirms Auto Club Speedway will be redesigned as short track
Auto Club Speedway in California is currently being demolished. A short track is planned to go on the site that NASCAR still owns after a big real estate sale this year. NASCAR President Steve Phelps wanted to reassure fans that those short track plans are still in place.
NASCAR fans have wanted more short tracks. Then again, the Next Gen car has proven to be a snore on the little venues. A new track at Auto Club Speedway is going to take time, so there should be an improvement in the Next Gen by the time it’s open.
Talking with SiriusXM NASCAR, Phelps talked about the plans for the track. Apparently, they are pretty far into designing the new facility.
“We’ve got rendering of what that racetrack will look like, both the surface itself, working with iRacing to make sure whatever asphalt track we put down there, whatever size – it will be a short track for sure just based on the fact that we don’t have as much real estate as we had [before],” Phelps said. Oh and by the way, fans for years and years and years said ‘Hey we need some more short tracks.’ And as we continue to improve on our short track package with this Next Gen car, at some point, that track will come online. When that is, I don’t know but that’s our desire and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Before the Next Gen car, Auto Club Speedway had more or less gone its course. It was starting to get boring until the new car showed it was a beast on 1.5-mile tracks. Before that, with how much the land in the area was worth, NASCAR felt they could add a track fans would want and make a bunch of money from the sale of the real estate.
Is Auto Club Speedway short track the answer?
People are going to complain no matter what. However, as long as NASCAR puts a track back at this location, fans will forgive and forget. The nightmare scenario for Auto Club Speedway is one that sounds familiar.
With real estate becoming available around the NASCAR property, homes and other residential projects will pop up. What happens when they start to complain about the noise from the new short track?
Right now, it looks like NASCAR is moving right along with their short-track plans in California. Let’s hope that the Next Gen issues get fixed before they bring the new track onto the schedule.
While we likely won’t see the new Auto Club Speedway in the near future, one day, racing will return.