Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro revealed that the state is in talks about the arrival of a NASCAR race in Philadelphia.
The state government official was at the Pocono Cup Series Race and talked to the media about the state’s sports event coming up.
At the event, he announced that Pocono had sold out for the third straight time on Sunday, selling more than 50,000 tickets to fans.
NASCAR is rumored to have an interest in holding a race at Franklin Field in Philly as one of many potential additions to the schedule.
Shapiro didn’t reveal the exact nature of the talks, but he confirmed that there are conversations about adding a second race stop in Pennsylvania.
“There’s some conversations,” Shapiro said at the press event.
“First and foremost, we don’t want to do anything that undermines Pocono. But as Ben (says), the more NASCAR, the better. The more racing, the better.
“The more we can turn people on in communities that haven’t been to Pocono yet, to get excited about racing, and then make that trip to Pocono next year, the better. I want to see more NASCAR, more racing. I also just want to see more sports in general.”
More than a month ago, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell spoke to the Associated Press about potentially adding a race in Philly.
He made it clear that the race could come down the line, but it is still a way from coming together.
According to O’Donnell, Franklin Field could become an Olympic-sized track like the LA Coliseum.
“When you look at opportunities, one of the places we looked around with the Coliseum was in Philly, Franklin Field. It was one of the only ones that we could put a race track inside of because of the Olympic size track,” O’Donnell said.
“Those are the types of things in a city we’re going to look at because the days of just building a rural track are over.
“If you look at Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and you look at short track racing, there’s a huge, hardcore short track market with a lot of local fans who love racing in general.”
For NASCAR fans in Pennsylvania, the success of Pocono means its future should be secure and that the track will stay on the schedule for the foreseeable future.
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