Winston Racing Series Regions Listed

NASCAR Winston Racing Series regions listed

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 20, 1998)

NASCAR officials Friday announced the NASCAR Winston Racing Series regional alignment for 1998, NASCAR's 50th Anniversary season. While many tracks will remain in the same region, revisions have been made to accommodate the series' six new tracks.

"Short track racing is as strong as ever, and the NASCAR Winston Racing Series is leading the charge with enhanced competition and fan satisfaction," said Tom Deery, NASCAR vice president for Winston Racing Series. "As we enter NASCAR's 50th Anniversary year, the NASCAR Winston Racing Series tracks, competitors and fans will come together in what can be a very successful year for weekly short track racing."

The NASCAR Winston Racing Series, NASCAR's weekly grassroots racing program, is the backbone of NASCAR's 13 divisions of racing across the country. Drivers including Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Sterling Marlin are just of few of the competitors who raced at longtime NASCAR Winston Racing Series tracks early in their careers. In the early days of NASCAR, short tracks reigned supreme for their close racing action and for the ability of fans to easily see action everywhere on the track. Today, regardless of whether a driver competes at his or her local short track throughout their NASCAR career or advances to the high-banked superspeedways of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, drivers continue to learn and hone their talents on NASCAR Winston Racing Series short tracks.

Each of the 95 tracks, which are placed in geographic regions, determines its feature division from all eligible NASCAR classes, with that division eligible for the NASCAR Winston Racing Series championship. Feature divisions at each track include classes such as Modified, Late Model Stock Car, Grand American Stock Car, Grand American Modified, Chargers and Pro Stock.

New tracks for the 1998 season include Afton (N.Y.) Raceway; Butler County Speedway in Allison, Iowa; I-94 Speedway in Sauk Centre, Minn.; North Star Speedway in Palmer, Alaska; Southern National Speedway in Kenly, N.C.; and St. Augustine (Fla.) Speedway.

While each track boasts its own distinct personality, each venue shares a common ground. Each of the track champions at the end of the year earn an invitation to the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., for the annual NASCAR Winston Racing Series banquet.

The top-10 drivers from each region are honored as are the 10 regional champions, and one of the 10 is recognized as the national champion.

"As NASCAR racing continues to grow, and reaches new and broader audiences, so can weekly racing and the NASCAR Winston Racing Series," said Deery. "NASCAR is poised to take advantage of these new opportunities and the short track competitors, promoters and fans will be the benefactors."

The NASCAR Winston Racing Series, composed of both paved and dirt track surfaces of various lengths, provides competitors with regional and national recognition, and a $1.3 million championship point fund based on their performance at a local NASCAR track.

An extra incentive is that NASCAR Winston Racing Series competitors are featured in the sanctioning body's publications such as NASCAR Magazine, the Official Publication for NASCAR Members, and NASCAR Online.

To be eligible for the NASCAR Winston Racing Series regional and national championship, competitors must participate in a minimum of 18 events by Sept. 16 at their designated NASCAR Winston Racing Series track. The regional and national champions are determined by a weighted points system that takes into consideration average win percentage, number of cars and percent of available starts.

Source: NASCAR Online