The place To Watch NASCAR This Weekend:
Friday, June 27
NCTS Ultimate Apply (FS2 at 1 p.m. ET)
NXS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (CW App at 3 p.m. ET)
NCS Busch Mild Pole Qualifying (truTV, PRN, SiriusXM at 5 p.m. ET)
NXS Race: Centered Well being 250 (CW, PRN, SiriusXM at 7:30 ET)
Saturday, June 21
NCTS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS1 at 9:30 a.m. ET)
NCTS Race: Liuna 150 (FOX, NRN, SiriusXM at 1 p.m. ET)
ARCA Race: Lime Rock Park 100 (FS2, MRN, SiriusXM at 4 p.m. ET)
Historic EchoPark Speedway Info:
· From the primary race in 1960 by means of the SMI period the monitor got here to be outlined by climate, usually all unhealthy. The primary race scheduled for late 1959 was not run till the next July as a result of unhealthy climate delayed building.
· An incomplete facility and muddy circumstances greeted the 25,000 followers who noticed Fireball Roberts win the inaugural NASCAR occasion.
· Rain impacted the race weekends for a lot of the rest of the last decade that contributed to the worsening monetary situation and eventual chapter within the Nineteen Seventies.
· Among the many quite a few presidents and normal managers of the monitor in its first 30 years was Vice Chairman of NASCAR Mike Helton who served as normal supervisor in 1985-86.
· In a most weird incidence, the 1993 spring race was postponed when the jap seaboard acquired buried in over a foot of snow.
· Lately, the monitor was hit by hurricanes and tornados. The September 2011 race was set to go at 9:15 PM when it began raining. Primarily based on the forecast for Monday that tropical storm Lee would persist all day, it was finally postponed till Tuesday.
· In 1990, SMI acquired the monitor. Since then, it has undergone an entire transformation from one of many unique Sixties undercapitalized superspeedways to probably the most fashionable and quickest tracks.
· Within the fall of 1997, probably the most dramatic change within the monitor’s historical past was made when the unique 1.5 mile symmetrical oval was reworked into the present 1.54 quad oval with the entrance stretch and backstretch switched.
· In 2013 Goodyear debuted a tire know-how at AMS. The best aspect tire featured Multi-Zone Tread Expertise, which mixed two totally different rubber compounds in a single tread. With the mix of the excessive put on abrasive floor and the excessive velocity, AMS had proved to be probably the most difficult tracks for Goodyear.
· The season ending race was scheduled at Atlanta from 1986 to 2001 (turned subsequent to final in 2001 because of the postponement of the New Hampshire race). In 2002, at administration’s request, the autumn race was moved again a month to October in anticipation of higher climate.
· In 2009, the autumn race was moved to the Labor Day weekend and the monitor hosted its first night time race. Starting in 2011, the monitor’s conventional spring race was dropped from the schedule. From 2012 to 2020 Atlanta held one race a 12 months, with that single occasion being the 2nd race of the schedule from 2015 to 2019.
· Beginning in 2021 Atlanta gained a second date, and the second race was run in the course of the summer season
· In 2025, the monitor was renamed to EchoPark Speedway..
Historic & Vital Occasions at Lime Rock Park:
Lime Rock Park, nestled in Lakeville, Connecticut, is certainly one of America’s most iconic and scenic street racing circuits.
Opened in 1957, it was the primary U.S. monitor purpose-built for sports activities automobile racing utilizing pure terrain.
Designed by racing pioneer John Fitch and based by Jim Vaill, the 1.53-mile, seven-turn course rapidly earned a fame as a real driver’s circuit—quick, technical, and fantastically located within the Berkshire foothills.
From its very first race a Sports activities Automotive Membership of America (SCCA) occasion in April 1957 Lime Rock turned a cornerstone of U.S. street racing.
All through the Sixties and ‘70s, it hosted fierce competitors in Trans-Am, Can-Am, and Formulation 5000 collection. The monitor drew legends like Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, and Paul Newman, who started his skilled racing profession at Lime Rock and remained carefully related to it for many years.
Within the early Nineteen Eighties, Lime Rock underwent a pivotal transition. Businessman and former racer Skip Barber, founding father of the Skip Barber Racing College, bought the monitor. Barber introduced a imaginative and prescient of mixing skilled racing, driver growth, and long-term sustainability. His stewardship modernized the enterprise whereas holding the grassroots spirit intact. Barber’s management helped the monitor thrive by increasing Saturday occasions, selling non-race Sundays (automobile reveals, classic shows), and deepening neighborhood ties.
Underneath Skip Barber’s possession and later by means of new funding teams (together with Lime Rock Group LLC within the 2020s), the monitor noticed steady enchancment:
2008: A significant repaving undertaking—its first since opening—preserved the unique structure however improved grip and security.
2010s–2020s: Amenities have been modernized, together with absolutely up to date paddock areas, new media facilities, higher entry roads, enhanced spectator areas, and upgraded restrooms and hospitality areas.
Environmental initiatives included solar energy installations and sustainable land use planning.
Security upgrades added fashionable obstacles, runoff zones, and improved fencing—all whereas sustaining the unique monitor’s character.
The 1.474-mile monitor size at Lime Rock Park is the official measurement utilized by IMSA (Worldwide Motor Sports activities Affiliation) for its WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.
Whereas the “traditional” Lime Rock structure has traditionally been known as 1.530 miles, newer and extra exact measurements—particularly after the 2008 resurfacing and re-surveying—have clarified that the precise race distance is shorter than beforehand believed. As a part of this work, the monitor’s operations workforce used fashionable surveying strategies to re-measure all 4 structure choices. They discovered that the precise size of every configuration was nearer to 1.500 miles, give or take a small margin. When IMSA re-evaluated the course for its WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, it measured the monitor size based mostly on the racing line, which might differ barely from the geometric centerline.
