Has Summer Daytona Lost Its Luster?

1. Has the 400-mile Daytona race lost its luster?

The mid-summer race at Daytona International Speedway was never a crown jewel by any means, but it was one of NASCAR’s longest-standing traditions.

Every Fourth of July weekend, NASCAR’s biggest stars headed to the World Center of Racing for 400 miles under the Saturday night lights. What more is there to ask for?

That tradition dating back to the early 1960s came to a halt in 2020, as for the first time ever, Daytona’s summer race was moved to mid-August to serve as the regular season finale.

Daytona no longer has the coveted Fourth of July spot, but its new date still served an important purpose as the gateway to the playoffs. That’s not the case this year, as the Paris Olympics shifted the schedule back an additional week. Daytona now serves as the penultimate race of the regular season, and for perhaps the first time ever, it feels like any other date on the schedule.

There’s no holiday that makes this weekend special. The excitement provided by having drivers fight tooth and nail to keep their championship hopes alive isn’t as intense when Darlington is the true end of the line. And whether it’s the persistent rain that impedes Daytona in the summer or some malaise from the frequent copy-and-paste overtime marathons at superspeedways, the 400-mile race at Daytona seems to have lost some of the luster from its Fourth of July past.

It’s one thing if NASCAR has found a new permanent home for Fourth of July weekend, but it hasn’t. The Brickyard 400 was moved to the first weekend of July in 2020 to help ratings, but that flopped and was scrapped immediately. Fourth of July weekend then moved to Road America with enormous, packed crowds lining the 4.048-mile road course, but the track got the unceremonious rug pull from the Cup schedule after two events. The Chicago Street Race has shown promise the last two years (and is all but expected to be back for a third), but as a temporary street circuit, it’s a track that lacks the permanent stability that holiday weekends thrive on.

The Southern 500 was a Labor Day weekend tradition for more than a half century until it was moved away for 2004, and it was returned to its traditional weekend in 2015, where it has remained ever since.

Could Daytona make a similar return to Fourth of July weekend down the road? Only time will tell.

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