The new SuperMotocross World Championship announced the venue lineup for its inaugural playoff, which will feature the reopening of Chicagoland Speedway and the dirt bike debut of zMax Dragway.
The three-round playoff to determine the first SuperMotocross world champion will open Saturday, Sept. 9 at zMax Dragway (which is adjacent to Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina) and then will move Saturday, Sept. 23 to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. The final will occur Oct. 14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The announcement of the SuperMotocross World Championship was made Friday during a news conference ahead of Supercross’ season opener Saturday night in Anaheim, California.
SUPERCROSS 2023 OPENER: How to watch Anaheim I on USA, Peacock
“The design from the get-go was to make sure that each part of the country was represented so fans would have an opportunity to experience SuperMotocross firsthand,” Dave Prater, vice president of Supercross, Feld Motor Sports, said in a release. “It was important to have one playoff in the East, a second in the Midwest, and then the final on the West Coast making each round easily accessible to each region. zMAX Dragway, Chicagoland Speedway and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum all provide the perfect footprint to create world-class SuperMotocross tracks and a one-of-a-kind fan experience that will blend elements from both Supercross and Pro Motocross.”
Check out the Track Map for the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff Round 2 at @chicagolndSpdwy on September 23rd#SMX #SuperMotocross #SupercrossLIVE #ProMotocross #Yamaha #YamahaMotorUSA pic.twitter.com/cCcPPovYWA
— SuperMotocross (@supermotocross) January 6, 2023
It’ll be the first major racing event at Chicagoland Speedway, which opened in 2001 has sat dormant since its most recent NASCAR Cup Series race June 30, 2019 (which marked the first career victory for Alex Bowman).
Chicagoland’s Cup race in 2020 was moved elsewhere because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 1.5-mile speedway has sat unused since then while questions loomed about its future. NASCAR will race on the streets of Chicago this year but has given no indication of returning to the Joliet track that also played host to IndyCar from 2001-10.
SuperMotocross World Championship officials were intrigued by Chicagoland’s 900 acres (a larger footprint because the track isn’t holding NASCAR races) that will allow creative track layouts. The Supercross layout will cover much of the frontstretch grass down through Turn 1 of the oval.
With the addition of Atlanta Motor Speedway to the Supercross schedule two years ago joining longtime prestigious venue Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR-oriented tracks have proved suited to dirt-bike racing.
“As a proud partner of Supercross at Daytona International Speedway for over 50 years, we look forward to welcoming the first-ever SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs to the Midwest at Chicagoland Speedway,” NASCAR senior vice president and chief track properties officer Chip Wile said in a release. “With a thrilling season of motorsports ahead, we are excited to see riders return to Daytona and Chicagoland for intense two-wheel action this season.”
Check out the Track Map for the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff Round 1 at @zMAXDragway on September 9th. #SMX #SuperMotocross #SupercrossLIVE #ProMotocross #Yamaha #YamahaMotorUSA pic.twitter.com/Zo90GyrFSo
— SuperMotocross (@supermotocross) January 6, 2023
The zMax Dragway event will be designed to have a Pro Motocross vibe, situating fans to be able to “line the fence” or watch from above because of the venue’s grandstand and suite layout.
“Innovation and entertainment are at the core of everything we do, so adding a SuperMotocross event to our portfolio at zMAX Dragway just makes sense,” Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive vice president and general manager Greg Walter said in a release. “Fans who visit us expect big action and big fun, and that’s exactly what SuperMotocross provides. We couldn’t be more excited to make some playoff history in September.”
Over 19 seasons of playing host to NASCAR, Chicagoland Speedway delivered some memorable moments — namely the famous “Slide Job” that Kyle Larson tried to pull on Kyle Busch to win the 2018 race. There also were memorable skirmishes between Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.
The SuperMotocross World Championship will begin its inaugural 31-event season Saturday night in Anaheim, California. Click here for how to watch the season on NBC Sports and Peacock.
The final 2023 entry list for the Roar before the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona was released with 61 cars slated on the Daytona International Speedway road course.
After a preliminary entry list last month that featured teams, numbers, and cars, the Jan. 11 entry list featured the full driver lineups for the cars that will be testing and qualifying Jan. 20-22 for the 24-hour endurance race classic, which will take place Jan. 28-29.
Though most of the team combinations already had been announced, the finalized entry list confirmed some diver pairings that had been hazy such as the lineups for BMW M Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s new LMDh cars.
Colton Herta was listed as the fourth driver for both BMW entries. The IndyCar star will be teamed with Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 and also will be in the No. 25 LMDh with Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Sheldon van der Linde.
ENTRY LIST: Click here for driver lineups in the Roar Before the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona
Some driver slots remain TBD on the newest entry list for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, though the teams have confirmed their plans (such as the No. 51 of Rick Ware Racing in LMP2).
Qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona will take place at 1:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 22 and be streamed live on Peacock.
TV COVERAGE: How to watch the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 2023 IMSA season
The green flag will fly on the 61st Rolex 24 At Daytona shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 28 with live NBC network TV coverage carrying the start as well as the race’s conclusion beginning at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 29. Additional portions of the race will be televised live on USA Network with flag-to-flag streaming available on Peacock.
The field for the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona was capped at 61 cars because of the LMDh cars of the new premier Grand Touring Prototype class will require larger garage and pit stalls. IMSA officials have said at least 70 entry applications were submitted.
The class breakdown is nine cars in the new GTP; 10 in Le Mans Prototype (LMP2), nine in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), eight in GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) and 25 in GT Daytona (GTD).
There are 11 active full-time IndyCar drivers in the field, including defending series champion Will Power making his IMSA sports car debut. Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin will be making their first Rolex 24 starts, too.
Defending Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric returns as the lone active NASCAR Cup Series driver in the field.
There are four manufacturers (Acura ARX-06, BMW M Hybrid V8, Cadillac V-LMDh and Porsche 963) represented in GTP, and each automaker has at least one past Rolex 24 winner in the fold.
According to IMSA, more than 230 drivers are expected to be behind the wheel during the race. At least 62 have an overall or class win in the Rolex 24 (led by GTD’s Andy Lally with five).
