NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona's UNOH 'Battle At The Beach' discontinued

Published Nov. 27, 2014 10:00 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Tom Jensen

The UNOH Battle At The Beach is no more.

The Daytona Rising reconstruction of Daytona International Speedway means the fabled 2.5-mile track will not host the K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series races on a backstretch short-track course as it has in each of the last two seasons.

Instead, those events will move a few miles away to New Smyrna Speedway for 2015 while track upgrades continue.

"After much consideration, Daytona International Speedway will not host any future UNOH Battle At The Beach events," said DIS president Joie Chitwood in a statement released by the track. "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.

"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 relations," said Chitwood.

"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," said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president, regional and touring series. "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."

Cameron Hayley and Steve Park won the two Battle of the Beach races in 2013, while this year’s races were taken by Daniel Suarez and Doug Coby. Park won the 2013 Modified race after being hit from behind and making contact with Mike Stefanik, which produced one of the most dramatic post-race interviews of recent memory. ​

share

Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

NASCAR Cup Series