Catchfence

Nashville’s loss might be Alabama’s gain.

When Nashville Superspeedway informed NASCAR this week that it would no longer host any NASCAR Nationwide or Truck Series races it blew a big hole in the 2012 NASCAR schedule.

Rick Crawford, who took over operations at Mobile International Speedway this year, is hoping to step in to fill one of those slots by bringing the Truck Series to South Alabama.

“Absolutely, there’s nothing I would like more than to have the trucks at my home track,” said Crawford, who drove a Ford in the Truck Series for years.

Rick Crawford gives a trophy to Kyle Benjamin, a recent late model race winner at Mobile International Speedway. Crawford said he’d likely have to make some improvements to the track, including possibly doubling its seating capacity.

Mobile seats about 9,000 in the grandstands and can hold more in the infield. That’s smaller than the typical venue the trucks race at today, but most venues have acres of empty seats for a series that started out in the 1990s racing at much smaller tracks.

- al.com