This time one year ago, New Smyrna Speedway officials announced that they were planning to repave the high-banked half-mile oval for the first time since 2007 at the conclusion of the 2023 season. Now that their racing season is over, those plans have been put on hold. New Smyrna Speedway will not be repaved until at least after February’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.

“It has been postponed,” Rusty Marcus, New Smyrna Speedway’s general manager told FloRacing on Tuesday. “It will not be before World Series. And we haven’t set a date for it. There’s problems with asphalt, so it’s been postponed. And here’s the thing, the overall response to that has been good.”

Initially, plans were made to repave the facility after Hurricane Ian dropped 19 inches of rain on the track in late 2022. But now, after having run another full season on the surface, Marcus said it is still in good condition. Between that and the difficulty of finding a granite-mix asphalt in the Florida area, the decision was made to postpone the resurfacing indefinitely.

“Even our asphalt guy said the surface is really good, and if you look at other race tracks it’s way better than other race tracks,” Marcus said. “The asphalt guy did tell us that asphalt in this area isn’t very plentiful and they’re having to get it as far away as Arkansas.”

VIDEO: The 602 Modifieds put on a show last year at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.

Marcus admitted that he’s not upset about having to postpone the resurfacing, mainly because of the short turnaround window for the track and for Hoosier Racing Tires to be able to get ready for nine nights of racing with multiple divisions in February.

“I’m kind of happy that it’s not getting done because it would be a tight turnaround to put everyone on a new surface for World Series and break it in that way. I’d rather have some time before we start beating the hell out of it. 

“Let’s say we did it the day after Governor’s Cup. If it takes a week or two to do, then it has to set for two to four weeks, then you’re looking at the middle of December. Then Hoosier has to do a tire test on it, then they have to start making whatever tires they’re going to use.”

New Smyrna Speedway is set to be back in action on January 6th with the running of the annual Red Eye 50/50, which will see Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Sportsman, Bombers, and 602 Modifieds take to the track.

Then after that, the 58th Annual World Series of Asphalt will take place February 9 through February 17.

“Everybody can expect the same great surface that they’ve had for several years,” said Marcus. “And then we’ll let people know when we’re finally going to do this.”

All nine nights of February’s World Series of Asphalt, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s season opener and the ASA STARS National Tour’s season opener, will be broadcast live on FloRacing to FloRacing subscribers. To become a FloRacing subscriber, click here.