NASCAR at Bristol produces situation not seen since 2001

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway was the first race to be moved to a completely different weekend in nearly two decades.

NASCAR has officially been back in action following a 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic for two whole weeks. Five Cup Series races have been contested since the sport’s return, bringing the 2020 season race total to nine of the planned 36 events.

NASCAR returned with two races at Darlington Raceway which previously weren’t on the schedule. After that, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted two races, one which was originally scheduled and one which wasn’t.

This past Sunday, Bristol Motor Speedway hosted a race which was supposed to have taken place earlier in the season but could not be contested due to the pandemic. This race was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 5, but it couldn’t take place until Sunday, May 31.

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We’ve seen races get postponed before due to weather, sometimes by more than one day. But the complete shift of a race date on the schedule? That is something which is extremely rare in NASCAR, as you might expect.

Before this weekend, it hadn’t happened since 9/11.

There was a race scheduled to take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 16, 2001. But because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, this race was shifted to the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 23. It became the new season finale.

Before that, there was a race scheduled to take place at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, July 4, 1998. But wildfires in the Daytona Beach area caused the race to be postponed to Saturday, October 17.

However, while Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway may be rare from a historical perspective, the unprecedented situation with which we are currently faced has rendered it quite common for 2020.

Races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway have already been postponed and rescheduled this season.

Officially, the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was the first of the season to be moved to a completely new weekend, as it was scheduled to host the next race on the schedule when the pandemic caused the season to be indefinitely suspended. The race at Bristol Motor Speedway was simply the first of the season to be run on a completely new weekend.

Meanwhile, races at Texas Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Michigan International Speedway also lost previously scheduled race dates and are expected to see their races find new dates in the near future.

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NASCAR has already cancelled races at Richmond Raceway, Sonoma Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway, replacing those events with the three previously non-scheduled races at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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