A maddening crowd: NASCAR's schedule is mired in bumper-to-bumper traffic, to the detriment of traditional tracks such as Darlington

WHILE NASCAR'S SOUTHEASTERN base seems saturated, tracks in other parts of the country are attempting to capitalize on the stock car racing boom by seeking races. It's quite a sticky problem. On the one hand, there's the sport's history and its rustic and beloved old venues. On the other, there's the desire to take NASCAR to new areas and a wider audience.

The Winston schedule is cramped. According to most of the experts, the strain is already showing on teams that must make 38 races (36 official, two all-star exhibitions) in a span of 41 weekends. The travel demands stretch from Loudon, N.H., in the northeast to Fontana, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz., in the southwest. The southeastern quadrant reaches to Homestead, Fla., and the northwestern limit is Sonoma, Calif. Recent years have seen the heartland served by new stops in Fort Worth, Texas; Kansas City, Kan.; Joliet, Ill.; and Indianapolis. NASCAR now races in the mountains and the desert, heartland and by the seas, north and south and east and west.

Yet the schedule is insufficient in that it tails to meet the demands of a bull market. At least six tracks with existing dates--Phoenix, California, Las Vegas, Texas, Chicago, and Kansas City--are seeking second races. At least five tracks without dates--Nashville, Gateway (near St. Louis), Memphis, Pikes Peak (near Colorado Springs), and Kentucky--want one. NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation officials have expressed a desire to build tracks near New York City and/or the Great Northwest.

Furthermore, half of Winston Cup's current races are run in the Southeast, and some of them have been run recently in front of a disquieting number of empty seats. Sellouts are almost automatic in places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Fontana, Calif., Joliet, Ill., and Kansas City, Kan. The same can no longer be said for the familiar tracks in Darlington, S.C., and Rockingham, N.C.

NASCAR's William C. France set off an air-raid siren in January when he said: "What we're talking about is Atlanta--the last fall race--Charlotte, Darlington, and Rockingham."

France's son, Brian--a senior vice president--added: "We're not putting tracks on notice, but if events are more in demand somewhere else, it makes sense to look at a move."

Speculation that Charlotte and Atlanta might lose races--at least, their two official ones--died out fairly quickly. Most now consider Bill France's January threat to be little more than a bit of saber-rattling directed at rival O. Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc., owns the tracks. Not even a chance to antagonize Smith would entice the France family to retreat out of markets as important to the sport as Charlotte and Atlanta.

Having NASCAR pull out of Charlotte would be comparable to having the NFL leave Chicago, but NASCAR pulling out of Darlington, S.C., would be comparable to the NFL forsaking Green Bay.

It happened. Beginning in 2004, Darlington will have its prized possession, the 53-year-old Southern 500, kidnapped and relocated far, far away, to Fontana, Calif. Darlington will keep two races but, lose its traditional Labor Day weekend date. North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham will lose the date that, indirectly, California Speedway would acquire.

Another NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter, says any other such speculation about the schedule is premature. "We've just now started discussing numbers for 2004," he told NASCAR.com in June. "Some folks are throwing out fishing expeditions to figure out next year's schedule. We're not wading into that water."

Until speculation reached print that a Labor Day race might be moved to southern California, the orthodox view had been that perhaps Rockingham and Darlington might both lose dates.

Dover Motorsports Inc., owns the existing Delaware track that has two annual dates, but it also owns the Gateway, Memphis, and Nashville tracks, none of which have any. "I see no reason why, for example, we couldn't have some Wednesday-night races," says Dover president and CEO Denis McGlynn. "They could come in the summer, when TV needs some live programming.

"They used to run 51 races a year [before 1972] and drove to all of them. Now they travel in private jets. I don't see that as a problem."

The great majority of the people in NASCAR garage areas do see it as a problem, however. The changes in the past 30 years have brought with them greater demands on virtually everyone, and the logistics of moving teams around the country is far more complicated than it once was. In fact, says driver Rusty Wallace: "This sport needs to go back to 32 races, but I don't see that happening in the near future."

There is only one area where NASCAR officials--president Mike Helton and CEO William C. France--have been specific in their analysis of the situation. Both have said the schedule is stretched to the limit and that no more races would be added. "It's complicated and difficult," says Brian France.

If NASCAR is to advance and expand into new territories--and its schedule is not to be similarly enlarged--then it must retreat from others. The 2004 season may begin a long-anticipated trend in which tracks currently hosting two races--there are 13 of them--gradually begin a process that sees them scaled back to one.