Winston Cup gives signs of schedule shake-up

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- A change to next year's NASCAR Winston Cup schedule is expected to be announced Friday during simultaneous news conferences at Michigan International Speedway, California Speedway and Darlington Raceway.

International Speedway Corporation, which owns all the tracks involved, is expected to eliminate the fall race at North Carolina International Speedway in Rockingham to give the Fontana, Calif., track a second Cup event on the packed 36-race schedule.

An advisory sent to the media Tuesday regarding the news conference at the California track said it was "to announce a major addition to California Speedway's 2004 racing schedule."

The announcement Tuesday from Darlington said the 2004 schedules for both Darlington and Rockingham would be released at its news conference.

A news conference is also being held at MIS, where the Winston Cup cars will race Sunday and where most of the NASCAR officials will be.

NASCAR and track representatives either declined to comment or could not be reached.

Rumors have been circulating for months that a second California race would be added to the schedule and run on Labor Day weekend. The Southern 500 at Darlington, NASCAR's oldest superspeedway race and traditionally run on the holiday weekend, would apparently be moved to the North Carolina track's fall date, but would remain the Southern 500.

Darlington, which has also been the subject of speculation about losing a race, is expected to keep two races in 2004.

NASCAR announced earlier this year a plan to realign the Cup schedule, moving races out of the crowded Southeast and into larger markets where it can draw bigger crowds and make new fans.

NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. targeted Darlington, North Carolina Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway as tracks that might lose one of their two annual races.

Darlington and Rockingham, both with a capacity of about 60,000, have both struggled in recent years to fill the seats. California and some of the other newer tracks attempting to get a second Winston Cup date -- including Texas Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- all have more than 120,000 seats and have been selling out.

ISC is run by the France family, which also runs NASCAR. Chris Browning, general manager of the Rockingham track, told The Associated Press in a recent interview, "We haven't been selling out and we sit in the middle of a saturated market."

"So, if moving one of our dates to another market could sell tickets and give fans a chance to see racing in other parts of the country, it's hard for me to say that's not good for the sport," he said. "That's just the way we have to look at it."

Atlanta and Lowe's, the other two tracks targeted by France, are owned by France rival Bruton Smith and his Speedway Motorsports Inc. SMI also owns the Texas and Las Vegas tracks, as well as tracks in Bristol and Sonoma, Calif.

Under France's proposal, Smith can get a second date for Texas or Las Vegas if he moves a race from another SMI track.

Smith has said there was "zero chance" of that happening.

Petty Enterprises releases Andretti, turns to Fittipaldi

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- John Andretti was fired Tuesday by Petty Enterprises, where he has driven the famed No. 43 car since 1998.

Christian Fittipaldi will replace him beginning with this weekend's race at Michigan Speedway.

Kyle Petty said the decision was made this week and the team informed sponsor General Mills.

Andretti is in his second stint with the Pettys. He drove 11 races for them in 1994, then returned to the team in 1998 to take over the car Richard Petty made famous en route to seven Winston Cup championships.

Andretti's contract expired at the end of last season, but the Pettys made every effort to keep him -- even agreeing to let him run in the Indianapolis 500 this season.

In four-plus seasons with the Pettys, Andretti won one race and two poles. His highest finish in the point standings was 11th in 1999. He was 31st last year, and this year is 33rd with one top 10 finish in 14 starts.

-- From wire reports