TBK-Light.com

LONG POND, Pa. – Texas Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series tried a twist to their night of racing in June when the IndyCar Series ran two points races in one night.

Now the track might want to try it in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

TMS President Eddie Gossage and NASCAR Senior Vice President Steve O’Donnell had an informal discussion during the IndyCar weekend on whether the concept could work for a Nationwide event. Whether it actually happens is far from a certainty, but it is an idea that could shine a spotlight on the series. A typical Texas race has been 300 miles, so it's likely splitting the event would result in two races of 150 miles.

“I haven’t even talked to [NASCAR President] Mike Helton about it,” Gossage said in a phone interview. “Steve O’Donnell and I have had conversations. He was here during our twin IndyCar race. It was really well received by the fans.

“They seemed to like the uniqueness of it all. And so Steve and I sat there and said, ‘What if we did a Nationwide race like this?’ But that’s the extent of it, just casual conversation. We haven’t talked about it seriously for 2012.”

Each of the IndyCar races paid half the points of a normal race, and the only potential shortcoming was that the series relied upon a random draw for starting spots of the second race — which put some of the top drivers in the standings in the front and some in the back. Drivers felt it would have been better to even just invert the field from the first race because at least it was more likely that those drivers competing against each other for the championship would start in the same vicinity.

Gossage said the sanctioning body would dictate how to determine the starting order for the second race.

“That [blind draw] was really the only complaint. … I think everybody understood that it was fun to make it unique and maybe that could be tweaked some to make it a little fairer for the season-long championship,” Gossage said. “We’re open to whatever.”

Describing himself as an old-school racing type of person, Gossage said the concept reminds him of the short tracks that do two 50-lap features in a night or offer double points for a night.

“They’re truly sprint races, not that there’s any laying back these days at all but you had to stand on the gas and go,” Gossage said. “But I think it just makes it unique. It makes it unusual. … There are all kinds of things that you can do to make it interesting.

“But there’s been nothing serious as far as discussions with NASCAR.”

O’Donnell declined to discuss the possibility of the Texas twinbill.

TBK Light's 2013 ARCA pick 'ems champion!

For the second year in a row, OldAsphalt takes the ARCA pick 'ems crown!

At least keep one of their races 500 miles.