NASCAR: Second installment of racing return begins, but what’s next?

The second installment of NASCAR’s return to racing schedule is set to get underway this afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. What comes next?

NASCAR successfully completed the first installment of the return to racing schedule this past week at Charlotte Motor Speedway amid the coronavirus pandemic, albeit one day late because of the fact that the second Cup Series race at the track was postponed by one night due to rain.

In a 12-day span, NASCAR successfully ran four Cup Series races, two Xfinity Series races and one Truck Series race, with two Cup Series races at Darlington Raceway and two at Charlotte Motor Speedway, one Xfinity Series race at each track and one Truck Series race at the latter.

Now NASCAR is slated to move into the second installment of the return to racing schedule, which was established just three days before the 10-week hiatus came to an end at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17.

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This second installment, for which the start was delayed by one day because the rainout at Charlotte Motor Speedway forced a schedule change, includes five Cup Series races, five Xfinity Series races and two Truck Series races from today through Sunday, June 21.

Bristol Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway are each set to host one Cup Series race during this 22-day span.

Homestead-Miami Speedway is set to host two Xfinity Series races while Martinsville Speedway won’t host any and the other three tracks are set to host one each, while Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway are each set to host one Truck Series race.

NASCAR has yet to confirm what comes next, however, after this portion of the schedule is completed.

The completion of this schedule would bring the Cup Series race total to 13, the Xfinity Series race total to 11, and the Truck Series race total to five. There were originally 36, 33 and 23 races on the schedules for these three series, respectively.

NASCAR has said multiple times that they are “close” to revealing more of the 2020 schedule, even going as far as saying that the revealing of a full schedule may not be too far away.

All three series are scheduled to move to Pocono Raceway on the final weekend in June. But Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) was the lone governor who did not give NASCAR permission to return to his state amid the pandemic, even without fans in attendance.

Perhaps most importantly, it is worth noting that the Cup Series is scheduled to race twice at Pocono Raceway that weekend already, so an alteration to that schedule could complicate things in a big way moving forward.

It is also worth noting that finishing the season as originally scheduled from now would only yield 32 Cup Series races, and NASCAR has maintained that the goal is to run a full schedule of 36 events, despite the 10-week hiatus.

Texas Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Michigan International Speedway are all still seeking replacement dates after being knocked off the schedule.

The first two tracks were knocked off the schedule due to the original fallout from the pandemic while the second two were knocked off the schedule due to the rescheduling that has already taken place.

Races at these four tracks, in order, were scheduled to have taken place on Sunday, March 29 (no race), Sunday, May 3 (no race), Sunday, May 31 (today — given to Bristol Motor Speedway) and Sunday, June 7 (given to Atlanta Motor Speedway).

Will we see more midweek races? Will Pocono Raceway stay on the schedule? Will Dover International Speedway and/or Michigan International Speedway land a doubleheader later in the regular season, when both tracks are already scheduled to host other races? When will fans return?

These questions and more should be answered in the not too distant future, as NASCAR has reportedly already released a new schedule to the teams which they plan to reveal to the public this week.