NASCAR mulling new track for All-Star Race?

NASCAR could make a change to the location of this year’s All-Star Race, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 15.

The coronavirus pandemic caused multiple changes to be made to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Since before the sport returned with a previously non-scheduled race at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17, NASCAR officials have been working hard to get this year’s schedule back up to the full 36 points-paying races.

It is currently up to 34 races, with the remaining two set to be announced in the near future, likely as weekend doubleheaders given the fact that both venues seeking new dates are already scheduled to host regular season races in August.

One of the races on the initial schedule that was wiped off the calendar due to the pandemic was the All-Star Race. While it is not one of the 36 points-paying events, it has been on the schedule since the 1985 season, and NASCAR included it in the third installment of the return to racing schedule.

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This race, along with the accompanying All-Star Open, was scheduled to have taken place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 16, the weekend prior to the Coca-Cola 600 at the same venue.

The Coca-Cola 600 did end up taking place as planned on Sunday, May 24.

On the updated schedule, the All-Star Open and All-Star Race have been moved to Wednesday, July 15, between the race weekends at Kentucky Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

Those plans are still intact. But the race may not take place at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina as expected.

According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, NASCAR is looking at moving this year’s All-Star Race to Bristol Motor Speedway. That announcement could be made as early as this evening on NASCAR Race Hub on Fox Sports 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET.

The four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee has never hosted an All-Star Race. It did host a regular race back on Sunday, May 31, with that race having been rescheduled from its original Sunday, April 5 date because of the pandemic.

The only track other than Charlotte Motor Speedway to host an All-Star Race is Atlanta Motor Speedway, which hosted it in its second season back in 1986. The event has been contested at Charlotte Motor Speedway in each of the last 33 years.

Irrespective of the venue where it is contested, the All-Star Open is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 15, and the All-Star Race is set to be broadcast live on the same channel after that.