NASCAR makes major changes to 2020 Cup Series schedule, including a new championship track

After repeated cries from fans and drivers alike for a revamped schedule, NASCAR finally has made substantial changes.

NASCAR made its most significant changes in years when the sanctioning body unveiled its 2020 Cup Series lineup Tuesday. Chief among the changes is moving the championship race from Homestead-Miami Speedway to the recently renovated ISM Raceway outside Phoenix. Homestead’s lone race will move to March 22.

“We think it’s time to rotate the championship,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing officer, during a live unveiling of the new schedule. He later said during a media teleconference that NASCAR’s hope is to “stay there for a little while,” rather than rotating the championship track every year.

But that is far from the only major scheduling shakeup. Other notable changes include:

▪ NASCAR’s West Coast swing — Las Vegas, Fontana and Phoenix — moves up a weekend. Those three races will now immediately follow the Daytona 500.

▪ Consequentially, Atlanta Motor Speedway’s spring race, usually held the second weekend of the season, moves to the middle of March.

▪ Daytona International Speedway’s summer race — typically 4th of July weekend — switches with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which previously was the final regular-season race. The summer Daytona race will now serve as the regular-season finale.

▪ Darlington Raceway’s Labor Day weekend race will now be the first race of the playoffs rather than the penultimate weekend of the regular season.

▪ NASCAR will attempt a Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono Raceway, with Cup events on both Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend.

▪ Two consecutive off weekends in July and August during the Summer Olympics.

▪ The playoff cutoff races move to Bristol, the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and then Martinsville, respectively. Martinsville also sees its spring date pushed back to Mother’s Day weekend, and that Saturday race will now be under the lights for the first time.

These changes are the result of collaboration between NASCAR and the sport’s two major track operators, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. and International Speedway Corporation. NASCAR signed a five-year agreement with ISC and SMI in 2015 that mandated the physical venues for the Cup schedule. That means for 2020, NASCAR could only shuffle the order of its races rather than opting to replace or depart from previous tracks.

Those changes, though, could come as early as the 2021 schedule, when NASCAR will need to renegotiate its events.

“We could continue to wait, but I think the tracks were willing to make a move. Our TV partners certainly helped push us along, as well,” O’Donnell said. “It was one of those things that the timing was right from an industry standpoint to try some things, knowing that these may not be the be-all end-all for 2021 and beyond, but we could have some good learning for 2020 and hopefully build on some of the things we thought worked for the fans.”

O’Donnell brought up several other key points during his teleconference, including ones that relate to Charlotte Motor Speedway, an SMI track. He said NASCAR has floated the preliminary idea of rotating the All-Star Race each season, but due to preexisting contracts, that event couldn’t be moved away from Charlotte until the 2021 season at the earliest.

“NASCAR’s 2020 schedule is a product of unprecedented collaboration from so many stakeholders in our sport, but the most important were our fans,” Marcus Smith, SMI president and CEO, said in a statement. “We’ve taken a tremendous amount of fan feedback to create a schedule that maintains the tradition of NASCAR’s biggest weekends in our sport, while also adding some wrinkles the fans will love, particularly as we look ahead to the playoffs.”

O’Donnell also mentioned that NASCAR didn’t condense its schedule by more than a week because it wanted to cooperate with a request from NBC that the season end on Veterans Day. With NASCAR’s strong military ties, condensing the schedule by more than just a week would have made that request impossible.

More changes may come in the 2021 season, but the new 2020 schedule already marks a stark contrast from anything NASCAR has done in recent history.

“In my 25 years in NASCAR,” O’Donnell said, “this is the biggest change we’ve had in the schedule that I can remember.”

NASCAR Cup Series 2020 Schedule

Sunday, Feb. 9	The Clash (exhibition)
Thursday, Feb. 13	Duels at Daytona
Sunday, Feb. 16	Daytona
Sunday, Feb. 23	Las Vegas
Sunday, March 1	California
Sunday, March 8	Phoenix
Sunday, March 15	Atlanta
Sunday, March 22	Homestead-Miami
Sunday, March 29	Texas
Sunday, April 5	Bristol
Sunday, April 12	OFF
Sunday, April 19	Richmond
Sunday, April 26	Talladega
Sunday, May 3	Dover
Saturday, May 9	Martinsville
Saturday, May 16	All-Star Race (Charlotte)
Sunday, May 24	Charlotte
Sunday, May 31	Kansas
Sunday, June 7	Michigan
Sunday, June 14	Sonoma
Sunday, June 21	Chicagoland
Saturday, June 27	Pocono
Sunday, June 28	Pocono
Sunday, July 5	Indianapolis
Saturday, July 11	Kentucky
Sunday, July 19	New Hampshire
Sunday, July 26	OFF
Sunday, Aug. 2	OFF
Sunday, Aug. 9	Michigan
Sunday, Aug. 16	Watkins Glen
Sunday, Aug. 23	Dover
Saturday, Aug. 29	Daytona
Sunday, Sept. 6	Darlington*
Saturday, Sept. 12	Richmond *
Saturday, Sept. 19	Bristol *
Sunday, Sept. 27	Las Vegas *
Sunday, Oct. 4	Talladega*
Sunday, Oct. 11	Charlotte*
Sunday, Oct. 18	Kansas *
Sunday, Oct. 25	Texas *
Sunday, Nov. 1	Martinsville *
Sunday, Nov. 8	Phoenix*

*Playoff race

This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 4:35 PM with the headline "NASCAR makes major changes to 2020 Cup Series schedule, including a new championship track."

Brendan Marks

The Charlotte Observer

704-358-5889

Brendan Marks is a general assignment sports reporter for the Charlotte Observer covering the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, NASCAR and more. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has worked for the Observer since August 2017. Support my work with a digital subscription