Ben Kennedy talks through the new changes coming to the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series schedules.
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00:00Alex, we were here joined by Ben Kennedy and looking at the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the
00:05Craftsman Truck Series schedules, exciting news here with the return of The Rock.
00:10I know a lot of fans are going to be super excited to see NASCAR racing here back at
00:14the Historic Speedway.
00:15How did that one come into play?
00:17Yeah, we've been talking about The Rock for a few years now and, you know, this one came
00:22through our partners at Track Enterprises who have put on a number of our Craftsman
00:27Truck Series races over the past few years and it talked about this opportunity a few
00:32months ago and, you know, with the continued kind of improvements that the owners have
00:38been putting into the facility and then frankly looking at the success of some of these new
00:44events like North Wilkesboro as an example, felt like it was a good opportunity to go
00:50back to The Rock and not only with our Craftsman Truck Series but the Xfinity Series and on
00:54Easter weekend.
00:55So we're going to have racing on Friday and on Saturday of that weekend.
01:00I think it's going to be neat to see our Craftsman Truck Series and our Xfinity Series on its
01:06own weekend.
01:07It's going to be interesting to see if any Cup drivers come down and run that weekend
01:10too, having that weekend off for Cups.
01:13So excited to see The Rock back on the schedule, I know our fans have been asking about it
01:17for a long time.
01:18It's going to be a big event for sure.
01:20Well, speaking of the Truck Series, that schedule is moving from 23 events to 25 and we'll also
01:27see a brand new track with Lime Rock Park.
01:30What decision went, or what multiple, I'm sure there were multiple decisions that went
01:34into play to expanding that series to 25 events.
01:38Yeah, that was something that our schedule committee talked about at length is, you know,
01:44we went from 23 events down to 22 events.
01:48It's ebbed and flowed between 22 and 23 for a number of years, now it's going to expand
01:52to 25.
01:53I'd say a big reason for that is a feedback from the teams in the industry that we've
01:58heard and received over the past few years is to have two additional events on the schedule
02:02just drives more momentum.
02:05And if you think about, you know, some of our existing Truck Series schedules, we would
02:09have a month or longer where we would have a lull in the schedule and back-to-back off
02:14weeks.
02:15Now with two additional events and, you know, the Rock coming on board and Lime Rock Park,
02:2025 is going to be a really good number for us.
02:23And, you know, on Lime Rock Park, you know, that's going to be neat for us to get up there
02:28for the first time in the Truck Series history.
02:32They have been great partners to work with over the past several years, over the past
02:37several months, I should say.
02:38They reached out to us a handful of months ago and really put their best foot forward
02:43in a lot of our conversations.
02:45And, you know, I think it's going to be really neat to see the Craftsman Trucks up there.
02:49It's an important region in the U.S. as you think about the Northeast and being up and
02:55around kind of New York and Massachusetts area.
02:58And you know, I'm excited to see that one on the schedule as well.
03:01One of the oldest continuously operating road racing circuits in the United States.
03:05So a perfect fit for our Craftsman Truck Series.
03:07All right, Ben, that does it.
03:09Can you now sleep?
03:10Can you take some rest and just look forward to 2025?
03:13No, we have playoffs coming up for 2024.
03:15So thanks so much for all you do, and we look forward to seeing the schedule in 2025.
03:20Thank you, Alex.