2012 Daytona 500 shifts a week

The 2012 Daytona 500 will be held a week later next season, eliminating a potential conflict with the NFL. 

The season-opening NASCAR Sprint Cup race will be held Feb. 26, a date that allows for an extra week in the short offseason for competitors. It will also close up the opening segment of the Sprint Cup season by eliminating what is now an open date for the fourth week of the season.

NASCAR officials say that the move will prevent the Daytona 500 from conflicting with the Super Bowl if the NFL expands to an 18-game schedule.

“We certainly want to try and keep that date now moving forward," Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, said. "We’re not going to deny the fact that part of this also is in dealing with the NFL. Who knows where they’ll go with an 18-game schedule, but we want to get ahead of that. Either way, we think it’s the right thing to do for our season kickoff. Super Bowl is certainly a big event but so is the Daytona 500 and give fans an opportunity to go to both of those, we think is the right move, We think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

NASCAR and track officials did not commit to any further specifics, from the date of the Budweiser Shootout to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Traditionally, Speedweeks covers 10 days of the schedule with a series of events, including races in the ARCA, Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series.

Joie Chitwood, president of Daytona International Speedway, said that he would work with the Grand-Am Series concerning a date for next season. The scheduling of the events within Speedweeks, such as the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorae Duels, has also not been released. 

As to this season's events, Chitwood said that attendance has been up to date.

“If you look at our events from last weekend and the events of this week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we’ve been up in attendance perspective," he said. "We never release specifics, that’s the nature of our public company … We’ve been up for those events.”

He said that while he cannot release the attendance numbers, there has been a significant boost.

“I will say this, from Jan. 3 to today, versus Jan. 3 last year to date, that seven-week period, we’re up over 20 percent," he said. "From a ticket-sales perspective, for that seven-week span year to year.”