Sweeping changes for 2005 NASCAR schedule

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Tracks in two southern states will lose Nextel Cup races next year, and venues in Texas and Arizona will get them as part of a sweeping realignment for 2005.

	Brian France

NASCAR said Friday that North Carolina Speedway and Darlington Raceway in South Carolina will each lose a race. That will leave the track in Rockingham, N.C., without any races, sparking a series of track sales and wrangling to solve a number of problems facing NASCAR.

Among the changes, North Carolina Speedway will be purchased by Bruton Smith-led Speedway Motorsports Inc. for $100.4 million as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that has dragged on for about two years.

The settlement is in the "best interest of all parties involved and more importantly, allows us all to put the issues to rest and focus our resources on the future growth of the sport," NASCAR chairman and chief executive Brian France said.

A shareholder in SMI sued NASCAR, claiming the governing body had breached agreements by not awarding a second Cup race to Texas Motor Speedway.

The track in Forth Worth, Texas, and Phoenix International Raceway will each gain a second race weekend under the realignment, with Texas' date falling during the 10-race chase for the championship in 2005. Phoenix will add a spring date to the one it has in the fall.

Also, Martinsville Speedway, already partially owned by International Speedway Corp., will be bought outright by ISC for $192 million with cash from the Rockingham sale and another $91.6 million.

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The announcements were made before a news conference with France at Richmond International Raceway, where the series is racing this weekend.

The changes mean North Carolina Speedway will have lost both of its Nextel Cup weekends in the span of a year. The struggling track's other date was given to California Speedway at the start of this season.

Darlington, the original NASCAR superspeedway and host through this year of the prestigious Southern 500, would be left with only one race -- on Mother's Day weekend -- for the first time since the 1960 season.

The Southern 500 Labor Day date moved this year to California from Darlington, which had its second race pushed back to Nov. 14.

Francis Ferko, a shareholder in SMI, which owns and operates Texas, filed suit after SMI's board of directors refused to sue NASCAR.