NASCAR changing the 2021 schedule already?

One month into the offseason between the 2020 and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series seasons, NASCAR is already expected to announced a schedule change.

NASCAR is coming off a season that saw all 36 Cup Series races contested successfully, but not before a 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic led to several cancellations, postponements, doubleheaders, midweek races and even a new venue.

Just one month into the offseason between the 2020 and 2021 seasons, one which got underway with the sport seeing its most popular champion in 32 years with Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, NASCAR is already expected to announced a schedule change for next year.

Auto Club Speedway was initially on the 36-race 2021 schedule as the third race, scheduled for Sunday, February 28.

However, multiple sources have confirmed that this expected to change.

More from NASCAR

• NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
• NASCAR: Will Kevin Harvick’s major record ever be broken?
• NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
• NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
• NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago

NASCAR is expected to move the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, currently scheduled for Sunday, February 21, to Sunday, February 28, while replacing the race at Auto Club Speedway with a race at the Daytona International Speedway road course.

The Daytona International Speedway road course was the new venue added to the 2020 schedule as a result of the late cancellation of the race at Watkins Glen International. Elliott, the two-time reigning winner at Watkins Glen, won the new race at Daytona.

Adding a race at the Daytona International Speedway road course would make the first two events of the season at Daytona International Speedway, as the 63rd annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the season underway on Sunday, February 14.

This move would allow the sport to open up the season with three straight points-paying events in the state of Florida before traveling west for the annual West Coast Swing, albeit without Auto Club Speedway on the schedule this year.

The 2021 race at Auto Club Speedway would have been the final race at the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) oval in Fontana, California, as the track is slated to be turned into a four-turn, 0.5-mile (0.805-kilometer) oval for 2022.

This change is expected to be confirmed later today. The Xfinity Series is also currently scheduled to race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, February 20 and Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, February 27, so that schedule would be expected to shift as well. The Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway is scheduled for Friday, February 19.