Credit: Autostock

Lights possible for 2005 finale at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- If Homestead-Miami Speedway president Curtis Gray gets his wish, future races at the track will be run at night, beginning with a trio of NASCAR races in November.

To do it, the track will have to install lights and work out the details with local officials and the TV networks that broadcast the races.

Credit: Autostock

"It's something we're seriously looking at," Gray said Sunday during the IRL season-opening Toyota Indy 300. "Our fans have asked for it."

Gray said he thought about the lights last year when the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship came down to the season-finale at Homestead.

"Everything went fine last year but to have a race end early because of darkness in that situation, it's a risky proposition from our standpoint," he said. "And the networks like to have later starts.

"We're talking to the sanctioning bodies and networks to get their input."

The NASCAR season will end here the third week of November with a Craftsman Truck Series race, a Busch Series event and the Cup finale.

Gray also said there is no truth to the rumor that NASCAR is considering moving the July race at Daytona International Speedway to the end of the season instead of finishing at Homestead.

"We feel like we have the perfect track in the perfect market to end the season," he said. "It's a great market for the sponsors and the teams and fans from all over the country like coming down here the third week of November."