The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series is officially back on schedule

It took over three months, but the NASCAR Cup Series is officially back on schedule following the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

When Team Penske’s Joey Logano took the checkered flag in front of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch at Phoenix Raceway at Phoenix Raceway back on Sunday, March 8, nobody expected that this would be the final NASCAR Cup Series action for over two months.

From then until Sunday, May 17, there had been eight points-paying races on the schedule, as well as the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 36-race season was slated to be one-third of the way over, with 12 races in the books.

Instead, just before things were able to get rolling the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the fifth race of the season, the coronavirus pandemic brought the sport to a screeching halt, and all action was suspended for the foreseeable future.

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A 10-week hiatus ended up being what NASCAR endured before the Cup Series got back into action on Sunday, May 17 with a previously non-scheduled race at Darlington Raceway.

NASCAR has been forced to make numerous schedule changes as a result of the pandemic, including adding several midweek races, adding a couple doubleheaders and relocating numerous races, thus unfortunately removing quite a few venues from this year’s calendar.

Today’s race at Dover International Speedway was rescheduled from Sunday, May 3, and it turned this weekend into a doubleheader, given that the Monster Mile was already slated to host a race tomorrow afternoon as well.

Following this race, there are 24 races in the books and 12 remaining on this year’s schedule.

For the first time since Sunday, March 8 — and 97 days after the sport returned to action following the 70-day break — the Cup Series is back on schedule.

Without the pandemic and with all other things remaining consistent, the 2020 season would also have 12 races remaining right now, and they would be the exact 12 races at the same 12 tracks that are left on the calendar. These 12 races include two regular season races and 10 playoff races.

NASCAR was able to run 20 Cup Series races during a span when only 12 were slated to be held, and that has put the sport’s top level of competition back on track to complete a 36-race season by Sunday, November 8.

Tune in to NBC Sports Network tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET for the second Drydene 311 from Dover International Speedway, the penultimate race of the regular season.