NASCAR: The two tracks not factored into the new schedule

By Asher Fair | May 7, 2020

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

Two tracks were not factored into NASCAR’s first new updated schedule for the 2020 Cup Series season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

While nothing is certain moving forward as far as the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is concerned due to the coronavirus pandemic, two tracks in particular will be watching how things play out very closely given what the schedule looks like right now.

NASCAR recently released an updated schedule that spans only from Sunday, May 17 to Wednesday, May 27. During this 11-day span, there are now four races on the schedule, the first four races since the season’s fourth race at Phoenix Raceway took place all the way back on Sunday, March 8.

There was originally only one race scheduled to take place during this 11-day span. The one race that had been on the schedule, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, still is, and on the same date, Sunday, May 24. But all three of the other races were not on the original 36-race schedule in any capacity.

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Two of these races, the first two, are scheduled to take place at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17 and Wednesday, May 20 while the other one is also set to take place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday, May 27.

This means that so far, none of the eight tracks that saw their races postponed as a result of the pandemic have seen their races rescheduled. Given NASCAR’s initial approach of releasing only a short schedule through the end of May, this is obviously likely to change.

However, given the fact that the goal is still to run 36 races and three new races have been added to the schedule, this inevitably means that at least three races which were initially scheduled will end up being canceled altogether.

The eight tracks that have seen their races postponed already are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Dover International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Dover International Speedway and Martinsville Speedway all have second race dates later in the year already which have not been affected by the pandemic.

Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, however, do not, meaning that as of now, they are no longer on the 2020 schedule.

However, this is still subject to change, and this is not to say that they won’t host races in 2020. Given the fact that at least three races will likely be axed, it makes sense to try to fit in as many of the 23 initially scheduled venues as possible and eliminate races at repeat tracks instead of one-race tracks if need be.

In fact, it is likely that both of these tracks will host races this year. Before NASCAR released this updated four-race schedule, they released a provisional eight-race schedule to teams that spanned from Sunday, May 17 to Sunday, June 14.

Both Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway were included on this schedule. While this schedule wasn’t confirmed, the four races which have now been confirmed were also on this eight-race schedule, so it appears as though the sport is heading in this direction.

If the remainder of this eight-race schedule is confirmed, however, that would cause additional postponements at tracks which were not initially affected by the pandemic, and it would also wipe one track completely off the schedule — temporarily, at least.

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The bottom line is that nobody knows what the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will end up looking like, especially given NASCAR’s approach of taking it little by little.

But the best-case scenario, given that cancellations appear inevitable, is that all 23 venues on the initial schedule will get to host at least one race, so keep an eye on what happens to the races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway in the near future.

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