It looks like the biggest NASCAR race of the year might be getting a date change. For the past 25 years, NASCAR has led off the season in Daytona Beach, FL with the sports biggest race, the Daytona 500.

Daytona's famous "SPEEDWEEKS" is a two week blitzkrieg of motor sports that begins in early February and runs through the Daytona 500 on President's Day weekend. Known as the "Great American Race", the Daytona 500 has been a staple of American sports and American culture for nearly fifty years.

This week, sources within NASCAR told me there has been closed door discussions to move the date of the Daytona 500, to November.

Apparently, NASCAR is intrigued by the idea of switching the dates of the season ending Homestead race with the season opening Daytona 500. The allure of ending the NASCAR season and crowning a new Nextel Cup champion at the sports biggest race is something the France family is strongly considering.

NASCAR and the International Speedway Corporation own both tracks so a change of date would be easy to accomplish.

In 2008, NASCAR will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500 on February 17th for what may be the final time ever in the month of February.

If NASCAR does choose to move the Daytona 500 to the final race of the season, the potential drama for race fans could be overwhelming, or it could be a bust.

For the drivers, the perfect end to a future NASCAR season would be a victory in the Daytona 500 and a clinching of the Nextel Championship on the same day.

But, imagine a season ending Daytona 500 with the champion having been decided the week before and the 40th driver in the Nextel Cup standings takes the checkered flag. The championship would be a bust and so would the race.

The idea of holding the "Superbowl" of your sport as the last event of your season is the "norm" in most sports, but this is NASCAR and NASCAR is about tradition.Not to mention there is no "norm" in NASCAR.

There is no player union, the rule book is flexible, NASCAR makes rules up as they go along, they introduce new race cars in a whim, and...they move race dates with the stroke of a pen.

Sources said the late Bill France Jr. was very much against moving the Daytona 500 and felt that it would hurt the integrity of the sport.

But, with the old school traditions going by the wayside year after year, the new brass of NASCAR is more willing than ever to make some major changes.

NASCAR does not intend to have a final decision regarding the date change until the end of the 2007 season, but don't be surprised if your 2009 Florida vacation takes place in November instead of February. - John "Captain Thunder" Nevins for captainthunderracing.com