Daytona cancels 'Battle at the Beach' for 2015
No third year for the short-track show on the Speedway's Superstretch.
Doug Coby
Greg Nichols
Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III says the UNOH Battle At The Beach has been cancelled.
The event was announced in 2012 to showcase some of the lower NASCAR series drivers who run in the regional races. The track was a one-third-mile oval set on the back straight, using part of the track, part of the asphalt apron.
The first one, 2013, saw Cameron Haley win in K&N, Steve Park win in Whelan Modifieds and future NASCAR star Kyle Larson win in Whelen All-America.
In 2014, the races were reduced to two. Daniel Suarez won in K&N, and Doug Coby (in photo) won in modifieds.
“After much consideration, Daytona International Speedway will not host any future UNOH Battle At The Beach events. For the past two years, the UNOH Battle At the Beach has produced thrilling racing on our backstretch. It was necessary for us to make this difficult decision given that we will open 40,000 new seats during Budweiser Speedweeks 2015 as part of the DAYTONA Rising redevelopment project and will remove the backstretch grandstands prior to 2016 racing season.
"We are pleased to see the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will remain in Central Florida during Budweiser Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway and encourage fans to attend those exciting races." New Smyrna Speedway, a half-hour south of Daytona, has a NASCAR sanction.
“The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) has been a great partner in supporting the Battle At The Beach and we look forward to continuing to work with them to grow our relationship.”
Said George Silberman, NASCAR vice-president: “The UNOH Battle at the Beach provided NASCAR’s stars of tomorrow an excellent opportunity to participate at The World Center of Racing, but it isn’t feasible to continue the event given the progress with the DAYTONA Rising project. Fortunately, nearby New Smyrna Speedway is excited to bring the K&N Pro Series East back for the season opener again this year in addition to its week-long slate of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action; NASCAR fans will still have plenty of opportunities to see exciting short-track action in the Daytona area again this February.”
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