May 15, 2026 · 39 min · 15 segments
Mike Burch is the COO of Speedway Motorsports, which means he’s heavily involved in everything that goes on and can share great insights. We’re going to start by doing a preview of this weekend’s…
[upbeat rock music] Really excited and thankful to have Mike on the podcast today, and it's perfect timing because we've got three weeks of Speedway Motorsports races coming up.
Let's go back and remind folks of just how this came together with the All-Star Race, getting to move to Dover and doing it there for the first time.
Well, the, I sit down with, uh, the, the folks at, at NASCAR and Ben Kennedy and now Julie Giese, and think about, you know, how do we put together a schedule that just accounts for a lot of different stakeholders.
And, and we think about it, obviously, being in the live event business, first and foremost is, how are the fans going to, to react? And there's, uh, obviously a couple tent pole dates that are pretty easy to fill in.
Uh, but then we also look at, you know, the, the past history and, and where have dates succeeded in terms of fans who have attended.
Where do we have great corporate support? And, uh, we start putting the pieces in place, and then there's always wrinkles.
So, um, and the All-Star Race is, uh, is, is a unique animal and, uh, you know, we, we...
So, uh, what we, we looked at was, "Well, where hasn't it gone before?" And then the other factor, too, is there's only so many racetracks that produce, uh, the interesting All-Star Race, and figuring out, that out, uh, you know, we, we don't think that road courses are probably something that's gonna see an All-Star Race in the future, but kind of that short track or shorter track.
And Dover has always produced great racing, and I grew up about an hour and a half away from, from Dover in Pennsylvania, so I was like, "Man, when I was a kid, young, you know, 8, 10, 12-year-old Mike Burch would've loved to gone to, gone to see the All-Star Race at Dover." So, uh, you know, it, it worked out, and, uh, it's the first time we've ever had all three, uh, events there.
All three series are gonna be part of the All-Star Weekend, so there is going to be a, a ton of racing.
And, uh, the format that, uh, Mike Tatoyan and the, and the NASCAR team came up with, I think, is gonna provide a, an interesting Sunday for everybody who comes out.
And the weather looks great, so that's always a big, a big factor, so a, a perfect day for racing at Dover.
[upbeat rock music] Really excited and thankful to have Mike on the podcast today, and it's perfect timing because we've got three weeks of Speedway Motorsports races coming up.
Let's go back and remind folks of just how this came together with the All-Star Race, getting to move to Dover and doing it there for the first time.
Well, the, I sit down with, uh, the, the folks at, at NASCAR and Ben Kennedy and now Julie Giese, and think about, you know, how do we put together a schedule that just accounts for a lot of different stakeholders.
And, and we think about it, obviously, being in the live event business, first and foremost is, how are the fans going to, to react? And there's, uh, obviously a couple tent pole dates that are pretty easy to fill in.
Uh, but then we also look at, you know, the, the past history and, and where have dates succeeded in terms of fans who have attended.
Where do we have great corporate support? And, uh, we start putting the pieces in place, and then there's always wrinkles.
So, um, and the All-Star Race is, uh, is, is a unique animal and, uh, you know, we, we...
So, uh, what we, we looked at was, "Well, where hasn't it gone before?" And then the other factor, too, is there's only so many racetracks that produce, uh, the interesting All-Star Race, and figuring out, that out, uh, you know, we, we don't think that road courses are probably something that's gonna see an All-Star Race in the future, but kind of that short track or shorter track.
And Dover has always produced great racing, and I grew up about an hour and a half away from, from Dover in Pennsylvania, so I was like, "Man, when I was a kid, young, you know, 8, 10, 12-year-old Mike Burch would've loved to gone to, gone to see the All-Star Race at Dover." So, uh, you know, it, it worked out, and, uh, it's the first time we've ever had all three, uh, events there.
All three series are gonna be part of the All-Star Weekend, so there is going to be a, a ton of racing.
And, uh, the format that, uh, Mike Tatoyan and the, and the NASCAR team came up with, I think, is gonna provide a, an interesting Sunday for everybody who comes out.
And the weather looks great, so that's always a big, a big factor, so a, a perfect day for racing at Dover.
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