BROWNSBURG, Ind. – The buzz surrounding next year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series schedules released Wednesday morning revolved around one nostalgic addition.
Lucas Oil Raceway, the .686-mile asphalt oval in Brownsburg, Ind., known for its prolific action dating back to the Indianapolis Raceway Park days, returns to the Truck Series lineup for the first time since 2011.
Not just that, but the Friday, July 29 race date is the series playoff opener and takes place on the same weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on July 30-31.
“A lot of our fans have reached out to us over the past couple years, really hoping to see that as a part of the future iteration of the Truck Series schedule,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation during a teleconference Wednesday. “Excited to deliver that one.
“Lucas Oil is something actually we’ve been looking at for a while now,” Kennedy said. “Ultimately, a lot of those conversations kind of came to a head over the summer. We felt like the timing made a lot of sense.
“Obviously working with [president] Doug Boles and the team out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as well to make sure from a scheduling perspective that it made sense [so] that we can create a really special week-long schedule of events for the fans that are coming out for racing at Indianapolis,” Kennedy added.
The Truck Series made a yearly stop to the unique short track from its inception in 1995 to 2011.
Up to the eventual decade-long absence from the facility starting in 2012, NASCAR held at least once race at the track since 1985, starting with the Xfinity Series.
The Lucas Oil Speedway oval has remained relevant and continues to host open-wheel and stock car events each season.
After Tony Stewart’s Superstar Racing Experience reintroduced nationally-televised stock car racing to the venue this summer in an emphatic way, NASCAR realized the importance to incorporate the track into its long-term vision.
“The Midwest in particular is another really important part,” Kennedy said. “I think part of that speaks to the reasoning for why we’re going to St. Louis [for the NASCAR Cup Series at World Wide Technology Raceway] and why we’re bringing the Trucks to Lucas Oil Raceway, as well.”
Now, six short tracks appear on the 23-race Truck Series schedule: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on April 7, two races at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on April 16 and Sept. 15 (the first being on the dirt), Knoxville (Iowa) Speedway on June 18, Lucas Oil Speedway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Aug. 13.
It’s also the second-straight year NASCAR has added a grassroots short track to the schedule. Knoxville made its debut earlier this summer.
When asked if there’s enough potential and logistical sense to consider more grassroots-originated tracks on NASCAR’s schedules moving forward, Kennedy left the door open.
“It absolutely is,” Kennedy said. “It’s a big part of the reason that we are going back to Lucas Oil Raceway next year.
“If you look at some of the old videos, the Twitter video that the track put out today, there was some exciting racing at Lucas Oil,” Kennedy added. “It always put on a great show for our fans.”