HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) – NASCAR’s next champion will be crowned under the lights at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Saying it was a move fans wanted, track officials announced a plan Tuesday to install lights at the facility. The project should be completed in time for this year’s Nextel Cup finale in November.

“When one thinks of the greatest championship sporting events around the world, one thinks of prime-time, electric atmospheres,” track president Curtis Gray said. “The championship finales for NASCAR’s three elite series will now all take place in an unparalleled setting under the lights.”

The Craftsman Truck series Ford 200 will start at 8 p.m. Nov. 18. The Busch series Ford 300 will be Nov. 19 at a still-undetermined time, and season-ending Nextel Cup event, the Ford 400, will begin at 4 p.m. Nov. 20.

Work on the new lighting project will begin immediately, track officials said. The plan calls for installing 1,482 lamps on 509 poles, stringing 300 miles of wire and pouring more than 1.2 million pounds of concrete.

It’s the second major project at Homestead in the last two years. The turns on the 11/2-mile oval were reconfigured in 2003.

“This is the next step in making our events even more exciting,” Gray said.

AP-ES-04-12-05 2030EDT