Ky. Speedway expects same NASCAR date in 2016

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Full Race - Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond

Kyle Busch celebrates winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway on July 11, 2015 in Sparta, Kentucky.(Photo: Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

If there are major shakeups to next year"s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, a shift in date for the Kentucky Speedway won"t likely be among them.

Officials at the Sparta, Ky., track anticipate the Quaker State 400 again running in 2016 on the second Saturday night in July, one week after NASCAR"s stop at Daytona.

"We are expecting to be on the same weekend next year," Kentucky Speedway"s general manager, Mark Simendinger, said Monday. "I"d be very surprised if we aren"t. Nothing"s official until it"s official, but that"s what we"re all planning on."

NASCAR has taken longer this year to release the upcoming slate. By the end of August 2014, the 2015 schedule was out.

It was then that the series announced a shift in date for the Quaker State 400 from late June to mid-July, same as where the race positioned for its inaugural running in 2011. Kyle Busch, who won the first Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, also won this summer in a race remembered for NASCAR"s rules experimentation.

Lower downforce and softer tires induced more passing, plus a back-and-forth battle between Joey Logano and Busch in the final 20 laps.

"I don"t think there"s a whole lot of debate so far that the best race of the year was right here at Kentucky in July," Simendinger said. "Now I know how Donald Trump feels. They"re talking aboutme when I"m not around. They"re getting out of the cars (at other tracks) and saying, "Why can"t we set up the cars like at Kentucky?""

The speedway"s current date is also of major importance on the schedule, with the Quaker State 400 the final 1.5-mile track run before the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR"s playoffs include stops at four similarly shaped ovals in the final 10 weeks.

The second-tier Xfinity Series returns to Kentucky Speedway this Saturday for the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300, a race preceded by Friday"s ARCA Racing Series event in Sparta.

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Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/motor/kentuckiana-motorsports/2015/09/21/kentucky-speedway-expects-same-nascar-sprint-cup-series-date-on-2016-schedule/72577976/