NASCAR declared the first Camping World-Xfinity series doubleheader at Iowa Speedway as a resounding success, but the short track still isn’t necessarily in line for a Sprint Cup race.
“We’re happy with the status right now at Iowa,” NASCAR chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said Monday during his weekly interview on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. “We’ve signed multiple-year sanctions with the tracks. Could (a Sprint Cup race at Iowa) happen via the realignment process? Perhaps. But I see our schedule pretty tied up in terms of the Sprint Cup Series and for the foreseeable future.”
The 0.875-mile track had played host to 12 previous Xfinity races and nine prior truck events, but they all had been held separately prior to last weekend.
With NASCAR trending away from standalone Xfinity-truck doubleheader events – there are only five standalone Xfinity races this season, and Iowa has the only Xfinity-Truck weekend – O’Donnell said the oval in Newton, Iowa, occupies an important and unique place on the schedule.
“We believe that’s a unique part of each series,” he said. “Iowa certainly delivered for us. This is new with the combination Camping World-Xfinity package this weekend, which we thought was a success.”
Iowa Speedway held its first Xfinity and truck races in 2009. The track was bought by NASCAR in December 2013.
