NASCAR Cup Series set for busiest month since 1971

There are seven races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for August, marking the first seven-race month since August of 1971.

Due to the 10-week hiatus caused by the coronvirus pandemic, NASCAR was forced to condense the races on the 2020 schedule in order to be able to produce a full 36-race Cup Series season, which remained their goal despite having to postpone and cancel so many events.

NASCAR successfully confirmed a full 36-race schedule last month after adding the only two races that were still seeking to be rescheduled.

As a result, there are a whopping seven races on the schedule for August, the final seven races of the 26-race regular season.

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There were originally just four.

The action is scheduled to kick off today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This race was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 19 but was replaced by a race at Texas Motor Speedway which was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 29.

There were not originally any races scheduled to take place today due to NBC being set to broadcast the 2020 Summer Olympics from Tokyo, Japan. However, the Olympics have been postponed to next summer.

The first race that was initially scheduled to take place in August was scheduled to take place next Sunday, August 9 at Michigan International Speedway. This race is still scheduled to take place on that date, but it is now scheduled to be the second of two races of a doubleheader at the track.

Michigan International Speedway was also scheduled to host a race on Sunday, June 7, but that race was rescheduled to Saturday, August 8.

Two weeks from now, the Daytona International Speedway road course is scheduled to host its first ever Cup Series race on Sunday, August 16. Watkins Glen International was initially scheduled to host a race on this date but was removed from the calendar due to New York state restrictions.

Dover International Speedway was in a position similar to that of Michigan International Speedway. It was scheduled to host a race on Sunday, May 3, which did not happen, and a race on Sunday, August 23.

The May race was rescheduled to Saturday, August 22, creating a doubleheader weekend. Finally, the Cup Series is set to conclude the regular season on Saturday, August 29 at the Daytona International Speedway oval, as originally planned, in what is set to be just the second time this particular race has been run outside of July 4th weekend in its 62-year history.

This makes August the busiest month in nearly five decades.

You could make a case that this May was arguably the busiest month the Cup Series has ever seen, since it included five races in a two-week span that only began when the sport returned to action on Sunday, May 17.

But as far as total races are concerned, seven have not been run in a single month by the Cup Series since August of 1971.

Richard Petty won the race at Atlanta International Raceway (today’s Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Sunday, August 1 before Bobby Allison won the race at Bowman Gray Stadium on Friday, August 6. Petty then won again at International Raceway Park on Sunday, August 8 before Allison won again at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, August 15.

Allison won yet again at Alabama International Motor Speedway (today’s Talladega Superspeedway) on Sunday, August 22 before Petty won yet again at Columbia Speedway on Friday, August 27. Tiny Lund wrapped up the month with a win at Hickory Speedway on Saturday, August 28.

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Tune in to NBC Sports Network this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway to watch the historically busy month of August get underway.

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