It’s funny to listen to people try to come up with a good reason to move The Winston from Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

This will be the 18th time in the event’s 19-year history that it’s run at that track, and there’s no way Winston Cup’s all-star event should be run anywhere else. But as long as the track and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco sign only one-year contracts, the topic won’t go away.

The only motive to move the race that makes any sense is the profit motive. If NASCAR moves The Winston to a track owned by International Speedway Corp., it will be to fill the coffers of its sister company.

The idea of moving The Winston from track to track on a rotating basis because it would give more fans a chance to see the event in person sounds good at first blush. But every time fans are polled on the question, a majority says to leave it where it is.

Where else would the race go?

Darlington or Rockingham would be an easy trip for drivers and teams, one of the big appeals of having it where it’s been for so long. But you’d have to sell out two races at Darlington and one at Rockingham to match the crowd of 150,000 expected in Charlotte, N.C., next month.

Bristol, Texas, Las Vegas and Atlanta are owned by the wrong company.

Driver Jeremy Mayfield's crew is introduced before The Winston in 2002.

Martinsville doesn’t have lights yet, and you shouldn’t have an all-star race at a track where the winner’s the guy with the best brakes anyway.

Indianapolis doesn’t want another NASCAR race. Watkins Glen and Sonoma shouldn’t have the ones they’ve got. The problem with racing at Dover is that you have to go to Dover. Pocono? Right. New Hampshire? Right. Homestead? You have to be kidding.

Some folks say they should run the all-star event at Daytona or Talladega and take off the restrictor plates, which would be a good idea if you wanted to see how many spectators had enough of a death wish to buy tickets in the first 70 rows of the stands.

That leaves Michigan, California, Kansas and Chicagoland — all basically the same track — along with Phoenix — too far — and Richmond.

And guess who owns Richmond?