Standalone date: Leave Eldora dirt race to the Truck Series
This week is a rare occurrence in NASCAR where not only do we have a race on a Wednesday, but a race on Wednesday at a dirt track. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to Eldora, which everyone by now knows is owned by Tony Stewart. Last year was an historic moment in the Truck Series by racing on dirt at Eldora with Austin Dillon winning the first race there.
Last year for NASCAR to basically go back to its roots and race on dirt was one of the coolest things they have done with one of our top three series in a long, long time. It was a huge success across the board. Then the talk turned to, 'We needed to run the Nationwide and Cup cars there.'
No we don't. Eldora for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series needs to be a special event. I think that's one thing our sport is guilty of. We find or create a special event and then we simply try to duplicate it at other tracks and before you know it, none of them are special any more. We get greedy. It's like taking medicine. If one pill makes you feel good, well by golly let's take two or three together and see if we feel better quicker.
This needs to stay a special stand-alone event for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. I'm sorry but we simply don't need to be there with the Nationwide and Cup cars. The thing I love is a lot of the drivers, and also the guys that work on those trucks, come from a dirt racing background.
Sure, it is still a challenge to do it only once a year and do it with a truck where you've not had a lot of experience. I would wager there will be a lot of drivers there on Wednesday that may never have raced on dirt before. I bet that would include a lot of our young rookies.
I'm thrilled they kept it a mid-week race. A Wednesday night on dirt is just so special and so I'm glad we're doing it again this year.
