NASCAR Unveils Major Changes to 2020 Cup Series Schedule

For a long while, due to track agreements with NASCAR, it was commonly believed that significant changes to the schedule wouldn’t be possible until 2021. On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR shattered those beliefs by shuffling around the usually stagnant schedule for the 2020 Cup Series season. Headlining the changes was ISM Raceway, where NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton held a press conference announcing that the Avondale, AZ raceway will play host to the 2020 Championship Weekend. This is a first time a track not named Homestead-Miami will host the season finale since 2001 when Atlanta was supposed to be the finale until the race at New Hampshire was postponed until the end of the season due to the September 11th attacks.

Homestead-Miami Speedway has now moved up to March where it will be the 6th race on the schedule, by far the most significant move in terms of number of days compared to its original slot. It will follow the aforementioned Atlanta Motor Speedway which has previously held the 2nd race of the season prior to the “West Coast Swing”. NASCAR will now conduct the 3-race string of West Coast races immediately after the season-opening Daytona 500.

After just 2 years, Indianapolis Motor Speedwaywill no longer host the regular season finale and instead will move to the ever prestigious 4th of July weekend. For the first time since the event started in 1959, the second race at Daytona International Speedway will not be scheduled along with Independence Day. It will now be the regular season finale in hopes to spark excitement for a possible last-ditch effort for a driver to make the playoffs at the wild-card-like event.

The Playoff schedule itself also receives an extensive restructuring for the 2020 season. Still on Labor Day Weekend, Darlington Raceway will kick off the playoffs followed by Richmond and the Bristol night race to close out the first round of the Playoffs. Las Vegas and the Charlotte Roval will still open and close a Playoff Round but it will be the Round of 12 instead of the Round of 16, with Talladega in the middle. The Round of 8, deciding who will move on to the Championship Finale in Phoenix, will be Kansas, Texas, and finally, Martinsville.

Among other changes to the schedule include a doubleheader weekend at Pocono, back-to-back weeks off during the Summer Olympics, and a Martinsville night race during Mother’s Day weekend.

Full 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule: