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NASCAR Cup Series: The end of an era

By Asher Fair

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 4: Slick Johnson drives the #40 Buick Regal ahead of Geoff Bodine in the #50 Pontiac Lemans, Terry Labonte in the #44 Buick Regal, and Cale Yarborough in the #27 Buick Regal during the Firecracker 400 NASCAR race, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach , FL, July 4,1982. (Photo by Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 4: Slick Johnson drives the #40 Buick Regal ahead of Geoff Bodine in the #50 Pontiac Lemans, Terry Labonte in the #44 Buick Regal, and Cale Yarborough in the #27 Buick Regal during the Firecracker 400 NASCAR race, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach , FL, July 4,1982. (Photo by Brian Cleary/Getty Images) /
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For the last six-plus decades, July 4th weekend has featured a NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway. But not anymore.

Along with the Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway has also hosted a July NASCAR Cup Series race each year since it opened back in 1959. This race started as a 250-mile race but became a 400-mile race beginning in 1963.

The Daytona 500 has been held in February each year, and the Coke Zero Sugar 400, first known as the Firecracker 250/400, has been contested on Independence Day (July 4th) weekend.

The only exception was in 1998, when widespread wildfires in central Florida forced the race that had been initially scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 4 to be pushed back until Saturday, October 17.

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But this Independence Day weekend, there will be no Cup Series race at the “World Center of Racing”.

Instead, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is slated to host the annual Brickyard 400, officially known as the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400.

This was one of many changes that were announced back in March of 2019 for the 2020 schedule. The summer race at Daytona International Speedway is still scheduled to happen, but not until late August.

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 29, and it is set to bring the regular season to a close and set the 16-driver field for the ensuing four-round, 10-race playoffs.

The Brickyard 400 had been the regular season finale for the last two seasons after moving from its usual slot in late July/early August, when it had been held every year since it was added to the schedule back in 1994.

With Daytona International Speedway being a superspeedway track where most drivers in the field have a similar chance of winning as a result of the pack racing and the high likelihood of the “Big One” occurring late and knocking out several of the usual frontrunners, the fact that it now hosts the regular season finale will only add to the intensity.

But unfortunately that intensity will come at the expense of a tradition that began in the early days of NASCAR and lasted for more than six decades.

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Tune in to NBC at 4:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 5 for the live broadcast of the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and be sure not to miss the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to wrap up the 2020 regular season on Saturday, August 29. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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