Light it up: Imagining night races at some of your favorite tracks
The energy. The excitement. There's something special about night racing. But not all NASCAR tracks are equipped to handle a race after dark.
Last month, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made waves when he thought he saw foundations for light poles being installed in Dover. Turns out, it was a false alarm. But that got us thinking.
What if Dover did add lights? Or Martinsville? Or Talladega? Or even a road course like Watkins Glen? What would night racing look like at these iconic tracks that currently only run in the daylight?
Thanks to the miracle of Photoshop, we can take a guess.
Talladega Superspeedway
What’s the only thing better than 43 cars racing half a foot away from each other at 200 miles per hour? Doing it under the lights! Just imagine the intensity and insanity of Talladega at night. On the track, that is, not just the infield.
Martinsville Speedway
Saturday night’s alright for fighting and no one knew that better than NASCAR founder William Henry Getty France, a/k/a “Big Bill.” Saturday night short-track skirmishes built this sport and Martinsville sure would look good lit up at night.
Watkins Glen International
If you’ve ever watched a Formula 1 night race, you know that road racing becomes a wholly different animal at night. Watkins Glen would be a great showcase for a nighttime road-course race and surely would challenge drivers even more.
Dover International Speedway
There is no tougher place to race in NASCAR, no more brutal stretch of concrete than the Monster Mile. High-banked corners and a claustrophobic pit road make for nonstop intensity, which would only be enhanced at night.
What track would you like to see add a night race? Tell us in the comments.
