Join the Discussion "All of the new tracks that have been built lately have been cooler-free so that they could sell more concessions.. So now Dover Downs (and I suspect many other tracks will follow suit) have a built-in excuse to ban coolers so they won't look like the bad guys." What Do You Think?

Elsewhere on the Web • Winston Cup Schedule • BGN Schedule

Dateline: September 17, 2001

The 2002 season promises to be a brutal one for overworked teams. From the Bud Shootout on February 10th down through the final race of the year in Homestead on November 17th there are only three off weekends. This grueling schedule includes a non-stop marathon from the July 6th race in Daytona though the end of the season without a break.

This means that if any weekend in July, August, September, October or November gets rain for a couple of days in-a-row then NASCAR is in a bind again. This year the terrorist attacks forced NASCAR to move the second New Hampshire race to after the end of the season because there were no free weekends left on the schedule. So, instead of learning their lesson and leaving an opening, they have again packed the second half of the season full of nonstop racing.

I'm betting that in 2002 that the last race will not end up being in Homestead because NASCAR is bound to get a rainout or some other delay and will have to use the November 24th date.

The official 2002 Winston Cup schedule as announced: