ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The expansion of CBS Sports' coverage of NASCAR will help a new addition to the schedule become one of the richest races in the Winston Cup series.
CBS and Texas Motor Speedway announced a multiyear contract Wednesday for the Texas 500. The first race at the new speedway will be run April 6, 1997, in an afternoon time slot. The race replaces one of the two North Wilkesboro events on the Winston Cup schedule, after Texas track owner Bruton Smith purchased a 50 percent stake in the North Carolina oval.
CBS and Smith would not reveal the length of the contract nor the terms, but the telecast rights fee for the first Texas 500 is believed to be in excess of $3 million. It will be the fourth Winston Cup race on the CBS schedule, highlighted by the Daytona 500.
Smith said the purse for the first Texas 500 will be ``$4 million or better,'' putting it in the range of Daytona and the Brickyard 400 as the richest events in NASCAR's glamour series.
This year, the CBS racing schedule includes three Winston Cup stops, three Busch Grand National series races and five NASCAR truck races.
CBS Sports' president, David Kenin, said he and Smith have discussed the potential for a prime-time Winston Cup race on the network in the third quarter of the year (July through September), ``and it's a plan of ours to make it happen.''
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB