NASCAR: The best and worst changes to the 2021 schedule

The NASCAR Cup Series is just a few weeks out from beginning its 73rd season of competition, and significant schedule changes have occurred.

Suppose you’ve been living under a rock these past few months. In that case, here’s a quick overview. The significant realignments to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for the 2021 season include increasing the number of road courses from three to six.

That six turned into seven when Auto Club Speedway couldn’t host their race due to the COVID-19 pandemic worsening in California. As a result, it was replaced by the Daytona International Speedway road course.

The other six road course races are scheduled to take place at Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, as well as the new locations Circuit of the Americas, Road America, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway race moving from the oval to the road course.

Other new configurations include Nashville Superspeedway and Bristol Motor Speedway as a dirt track.

Atlanta Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway added one race each while Dover International Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway all lost a race. Kentucky Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and the aforementioned Auto Club Speedway will not host any Cup Series races in 2021.

In this article, we look at the best and worst changes to the 2021 schedule.