NASCAR: The one track not on the new provisional 2020 schedule

NASCAR’s updated short-term schedule for the 2020 Cup Series season is by no means final, which is a plus for one track in particular, a track that would see its lone race date removed, at least for the time being.

NASCAR revealed an updated short-term 2020 Cup Series schedule to teams earlier this week that includes eight races from Sunday, May 17 to Sunday, June 14. No dates beyond the latter were included.

There has not been any action since the Cup Series last races on Sunday, March 8 at Phoenix Raceway, as the coronavirus pandemic brought what was a 36-race season to an unexpected halt after just four races had been contested.

But the focus has shifted to getting back into action as soon as possible, provided that the conditions are safe enough to do so, even if that means fans won’t be allowed in the grandstands for races.

Races without fans seem inevitable if racing is to begin within the next few weeks, as is now planned. A resumption on Sunday, May 17 would mark 10 weeks since the most recent race.

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These eight races include events at six different venues. Two venues are slated to host two races, and there are slated to be three midweek races so that each of these eight races can fit into this 29-day span.

Eight races have already been postponed prior to the release of this tentative schedule, meaning that the race total on the schedule had dropped from 36 to 28. Four races had initially been scheduled to take place during this 29-day span, meaning that the implementation of this new schedule would shoot that total back up from 28 to 32. NASCAR’s goal is still to run 36 races this year.

Of these eight races, four would be make-up races (at Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway) while one (at Charlotte Motor Speedway) would actually still scheduled to take place as planned.

But three races (two at Darlington Raceway and another one at Charlotte Motor Speedway) would be races that had not initially been on the 2020 schedule in any capacity.

Darlington Raceway does have a race date on Sunday, September 6, but that is for the annual Southern 500. Additionally, that race is a playoff race this year. These two new races are scheduled to be 400 miles and 310 miles in length.

Likewise, Charlotte Motor Speedway does have a second race scheduled as well on Sunday, October 11, but that race, also a playoff race, is scheduled to take place at the roval. The new race would be a 310-mile race on the oval to go along with the already-scheduled Coca-Cola 600.

As a result, three additional races that had initially been scheduled to take place during this span and had not been postponed already due to the pandemic would have to be removed or postponed to make this schedule feasible.

Those three races are races at Kansas Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Sonoma Raceway. On the original schedule, their races dates are Sunday, May 31; Sunday, June 7; and Sunday, June 14.

Kansas Speedway is still scheduled to host a playoff race on Sunday, October 18, while Michigan International Speedway is still scheduled to host another regular season race on Sunday, August 16.

Sonoma Raceway, however, does not have another date on the schedule.

This is by no means any kind of indicator that Sonoma Raceway won’t host a race in 2020. As stated, this is a short-term schedule, but it will also have long-term ramifications beyond just Sunday, June 14.

That much has been inevitable from the start, given the situation in which this pandemic has placed the sport. Even if this new schedules goes into effect, it certainly won’t be the only change that NASCAR is forced to make to the 2020 season.

Perhaps most importantly, this schedule is also by no means final, not even from Sunday, May 17 to Sunday, June 14. Nothing has been confirmed.

Kansas Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Sonoma Raceway would join Texas Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Dover International Speedway as tracks seeking replacement dates for their races.

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Either way, if this schedule is put into place, there will be seven tracks vying for four races to get the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season race total back up to 36. But while six of these seven tracks still have race dates on the calendar regardless, Sonoma Raceway does not.

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