The 54th-annual AdvoCare 500 on Sunday night, Sept. 1 will highlight the yearly stop at the 1.54-mile speedway for NASCAR’s top two series during the Labor Day weekend. Kicking off the biggest Labor Day Party in the USA will be NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pole Qualifying on Friday night, Aug. 30, in addition to a United Sprint Car Series race that evening. This will be the first time that the lightning-fast Sprint Cars will race at the speedway. Saturday night, Aug. 31 will feature 300 miles of racing from the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
“We are excited to host another year of great racing here at Atlanta Motor Speedway,” said Ed Clark, Atlanta Motor Speedway President and General Manager.
The Thursday Thunder Legends racing series returns with eight weeks of action on the quarter-mile “Thunder Ring.” The series will run each Thursday night from June 6-July 25.
The popular Friday Night Drags & Show-N-Shine season will begin on April 26 and run Friday nights through Aug. 16. There will be no racing on May 24 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The series will resume for a two week Fall Stampede on Sept. 13 and Sept. 20.
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GOLF GUARDIANS MOVE TO BAN ANCHORING:
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Brace yourself — just not your putter. In a proposal that would affect major champions as well as amateurs at their local clubs, the guardians of the 600-year-old sport want to write a new rule that would outlaw a putting stroke they fear is taking too much skill out of the game.
The U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club said Wednesday they are not banning the belly putter or the longer “broom-handle” putters — only the way they are used. The proposed rule would prohibit golfers at all levels from anchoring a club against their bodies while making a stroke.
The rule would not take effect until 2016.
“We believe a player should hold the club away from his body and swing it freely,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said. “Golf is a game of skill and challenge, and we think that’s an important part of it.”
Three of the last five major champions, starting with Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship, used a belly putter.
What concerned the governing bodies, however, was an increasing number of players who were turning to the long putters because they saw it as an advantage, not as a last resort to cure their putting woes.
“Anchored strokes have very rapidly become the preferred option for a growing number of players, and this has caused us to review these strokes and their impact on the game,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. “Our conclusion is that anchored strokes threaten to supplant traditional strokes, which with all their frailties are integral to the longstanding character of our sport.”
Players could still use a broom-handle or belly putter — as long as it not pressed against their body to create the effect of a hinge.
The R&A and USGA now offer a three-month period for open comment on the proposal before they approve it.
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