The lights will go on again Saturday night for Winston Cup racing.

The Monte Carlo 400 at Richmond International Speedway is the final scheduled night race of the 2002 season, the fifth points race under the lights this year. The Winston all-star race at Charlotte’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway is also a nighttime event.

Richmond International Raceway will play host to the final scheduled night race of the 2002 season, the Monte Carlo 400, on Saturday.

One more event, Charlotte’s October race, is scheduled to be added to the nocturnal calendar for 2003, and there’s talk of adding lights at Darlington Raceway in time to move the 2004 Southern 500 to Saturday or Sunday night of Labor Day weekend.

Weather also has pushed races at Atlanta which will use its lights to stage qualifying for its Oct. 27 race this season and Texas back into darkness.

Are these signs of a trend toward more night racing in NASCAR’s top series?

There clearly is capacity for more in the sport. Like Atlanta and Texas, Las Vegas also has lights in place. The Grand National series runs nighttime events at Nashville, Kentucky and Gateway venues that all covet a Winston Cup date. And the lights that allow Daytona to now hold its annual July race at night show that such projects are feasible at virtually any oval track NASCAR visits.

“I think realistically there are some events that make sense going to night races and some that don’t,” said Jim Hunter, the NASCAR vice president for corporate communications who, when he was president of Darlington Raceway, championed the idea of adding lights to the sport’s oldest superspeedway.

“I think the Southern 500, in my opinion, is one race that running it at night would just take it to the next level,” Hunter said. “It makes sense at Charlotte in October because of everything else that’s going on during a Sunday afternoon at that time of the year. But I don’t see a wholesale switchover to night racing.”

Charlotte’s switch for 2003 is at least partially in response to scheduling conflicts with that city’s NFL team. The Carolina Panthers played at home last year on the same Sunday as the UAW-GM 500. The same situation will occur this year on Sept. 29, when the Kansas City Chiefs play a home game on the same day as the Protection One 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Competition with NFL telecasts also are a factor in what Turner Sports president Mark Lazarus termed TNT’s interest in exploring more night races in the second half of the Winston Cup schedule.

“If we’re going to continue to grow the audience for the sport, there is an opportunity to expose it to a potentially larger audience watching in prime time than on Sunday afternoon,” Lazarus said.

TNT’s ratings for its past two broadcasts at Michigan and Bristol were both up from last year, but the rating for Michigan on Sunday was higher than the one for Bristol on Saturday night. Lazarus believes that, over time, that could change.

“Saturday night is the lowest rated evening for all television networks,” Lazarus said. “It’s hard to say ratings would be X percent larger or smaller at night, but in the history of sports television, night ratings tend to be larger.”

The Bristol night race, of course, is one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated events, and the move of Daytona’s summer race from day to night also has been well received.

“There’s something about those cars under the lights,” said Andrew Gurtis, president of Darlington Raceway. “I was part of the first night race at Daytona, the 1998 Pepsi 400, and those cars are just electric. NASCAR wants to be and will forever be known as a Sunday afternoon sport, but for a select few races we’ve seen them go to nighttime and enjoy great success.”

Gurtis said his track has had “substantive talks” with NASCAR and TNT about moving the Southern 500 to a night race.

“Operationally it’s a challenge,” Gurtis said of a night race. “But it’s worthwhile, though, for the increased exposure and increased attendance. TV likes it because it gets it into prime time and gets their ratings up. There are a lot of advantages that far outweigh the negatives.”

Night racing would be nothing new for drivers and crews, of course.

“Everybody in this garage area knows the sport stemmed from night racing,” Kenny Wallace said of the sport’s short-track roots. “When I went ASA racing, and Winston Cup and Grand National, I always thought it was odd to race in the daytime.”

Saturday night races are a popular idea with some teams because they give crew members at least part of a day on Sunday to be away from the shop and the racetrack.

“When we back the whole thing up a day, it does a lot more for the sport than just making it cooler for the races,” Wallace said. “It gives people a chance to be with their families on Sundays. NASCAR has the schedule packed so tightly these days, one day can go a long way.”