AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — State lawmakers have given Texas Motor Speedway a big helping hand if the state’s premier stock-car track wants to lobby for NASCAR’s All-Star race and season-ending championship.
The Texas Legislature approved a bill Thursday that makes those two races eligible for the state’s Major Events Reimbursement Program, the same fund that’s used to help attract big events such as the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four and Formula One’s U.S. Grand Prix. The two NASCAR events would fit right in, too.
NASCAR has already set its 2018 schedule with the All-Star race in May in Charlotte and the championship finale set for Homestead, Florida, in November. NASCAR has held the All-Star race in Charlotte almost every year since it was created in 1985, the lone exception a race in Atlanta in 1986. Moving it would mean uprooting the race from an area most NASCAR teams call home.
Still, some drivers have said they'd like to move those events out of their traditional spots.
Cup Series leader Kyle Larson, who finished second in the All-Star race last week, has suggested moving both to generate driver and fan interest. Other big leagues do it and so should NASCAR, he said.
Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage declined comment, but previous moves by track officials point to TMS pursuing at least one of those events if the bill gets signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, whose office oversees the fund.
In a short presentation to House lawmakers in April, TMS general counsel Rob Ramage focused on luring the All-Star race, which he called a “significant event.”
Ramage told lawmakers that Texas Motor Speedway envisions three to five days of events in cities across Texas, including Houston, Dallas, El Paso and Amarillo. He didn’t provide any details and Gossage declined AP’s request to detail the pitch Ramage made to lawmakers.
The Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Craig Estes, said he wasn’t aware of the track’s plans but wants to bring the races to Texas for the NASCAR fans in his state.
The Major Events Reimbursement Fund is controlled by the governor’s office and eligibility is limited to events specifically noted in state law. For those events, it can be a pot of tens of millions of dollars that can be used to offset expenses of hosting, drastically limiting organizers’ financial liability.