NASCAR to announce three race cancellations for 2020
By Asher Fair
NASCAR is set to announce the cancellations of three races, which was inevitable when three previously unscheduled races were added to the schedule.
Ever since NASCAR added three races, including two at Darlington Raceway and another one at Charlotte Motor Speedway, to the 2020 Cup Series schedule that were not initially on the schedule, race cancellations seemed inevitable in some form.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, which has postponed eight races as of now, NASCAR’s goal is still to run a full 36-race schedule.
Of the three races that were added to bring the projected race total back up to 31 from 28, none were at tracks that have already seen their races postponed.
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As a result, there are effectively five spots remaining open for eight tracks, meaning that three cancellations were bound to happen. Even if all eight of those tracks saw their race dates rescheduled, three other races would have to be axed.
Now we know that three races will indeed end up being canceled.
According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, that announcement is set to come from NASCAR today, and it is believed to include Richmond Raceway, Sonoma Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway.
.@NASCAR today is announcing the three tracks that will lose a Cup Series date this year, with them expected to be Chicagoland, Richmond and Sonoma. pic.twitter.com/cKjDuLbvux
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) May 8, 2020
Of these three tracks, only Richmond Raceway has two races dates. Its second date is Saturday, September 12 in the round of 16 of the playoffs. The other race at the track had been scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 19.
Sonoma Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway, however, do not have additional race dates. The race at the former had been scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 14 while the race at the latter had been scheduled to take place one week later on Sunday, June 21.
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This announcement indicates that NASCAR is indeed planning to run a 36-race schedule in 2020, and the fifth race is still scheduled to take place next Sunday, May 17 at Darlington Raceway, which would mark 10 weeks since the most recent action took place at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 8.