Since the unpopular demolition of Auto Club Speedway, fans have been waiting for the planned short track that set to replace it in Southern California to come to fruition. However, it’s yet to happen.
The track hosted Cup races every year from 1997 through 2023, with Kyle Busch winning the final race on the aged two-mile surface.
After its final race in February of 2023, the track was demolished with NASCAR selling 433 of the 522 acres of land previously used for the speedway to build warehouses and an industrial park. As we said, the remaining plot of land still in NASCAR’s possession was supposed to be used for the aforementioned half-mile short track.
During his State of the Sport address on Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell gave a status update on the seemingly frozen project.
NASCAR Chief Executive Officer Steve O’Donnell
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images
“Yeah, I think we keep holding on to it because it’s an important market for us,” said O’Donnell. “It will be a real challenge if we could ever put a racetrack there, just candidly. But we also recognize that Southern California is an important market for us. I don’t have any update beyond that, just that it’s a focus for us to make sure in some capacity we’re there in whatever year we’re racing.
“It’s an important market. There’s a ton of NASCAR fans in California, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got somewhere to race.”
NASCAR has attempted to maintain a foothold in that region after the destruction of the original two-mile speedway, which included three years racing inside the L.A. Memorial Coliseum on a temporary short track.
Reports earlier this year suggested NASCAR was attempting to sell the remaining land, but no sale followed.
Watch: NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell outlines vision for sport’s future
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