With Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby on consecutive days, partygoers will have plenty of reasons to celebrate.
So will race fans with the annual #LetsRaceTwo weekend returning to Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, NASCAR’s annual stop in Kansas and the second running of the Miami Grand Prix for Formula 1 among the big events of the May 5-7 racing weekend.
#LetsRaceTwo
Though plagued by rainy weather in recent years, the #LetsRaceTwo weekend at Eldora Speedway has become popular with traveling race fans as it’s the lone chance all season to see the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series on the same card on consecutive nights.
The winged sprint cars and the non-winged sprint cars will share the half-mile dirt track for two nights of racing.
New Tradition
Kansas Speedway will host the NASCAR Cup Series in the first of two visits this season. The 1.5-mile superspeedway will host event No. 12 on the 36-race schedule, marking the one-third point in the season. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will join the card on Saturday.
Wisconsin Invasion
Drivers from 13 different states and Canada have registered to compete in Sunday’s Joe Shear Classic super late model race at Madison Int’l Speedway in Wisconsin. The event marks round two of the ASA STARS National Tour. The series opened at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, with Casey Roderick winning.
Roderick, Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Jacob Gomes and Ty Majeski are among those entered in the event that will be broadcast by SPEED SPORT affiliate MidwestTour.tv.
Night The Stars Come Out
The All Star Circuit of Champions and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series join forces Thursday night for the Night The Stars Come Out promotion at Ohio’s Atomic Speedway.
The All Star sprint cars will be vying for $10,000 to win, while the best super late model racers in the country will take on the three-eighths-mile dirt track with $12,000 earmarked to the feature winner.
Traveling Late Models
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicks off its three-race weekend at Atomic Speedway before visiting a pair of Kentucky tracks in Ponderosa Speedway and Florence Speedway. Meanwhile, the World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Model Series will make a three-night stand at Wisconsin’s Mississippi Thunder Speedway. Saturday’s third annual Dairlyand Showdown will pay $50,000 to win.
Midget Madness
The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series and the Lucas Oil POWRi Midget League are each planning two-race weekends.
The Xtreme series will venture to Kansas with events at Humboldt Speedway on Friday and 81 Speedway on Saturday.
POWRi will be on its home turf, with races at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex on Friday and Lucas Oil Speedway the following evening.
Supercross
The penultimate round of the Monster Energy Supercross campaign takes the series to Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. Eli Tomac, who has won seven of 15 races this season, carries an 18-point lead over Chase Sexton into the final two-race stretch.
Miami Movers
With man-made marinas and some of the best sights and parties in Formula 1 racing, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix will be the first of three visits to the United States this season for the world’s most popular racing series. Two-time world champion Max Verstappen won last year’s inaugural F-1 event in Miami.
Silver Crown
The USAC Silver Crown Series opens the season with a huge field expected for the 20th running of the Sumar Classic at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. The event will start 24 cars and run 100 laps of the famed half-mile dirt track.