NASCAR fans were shocked when the 2022 Cup Series schedule was released and it featured a race on Easter Sunday, something that had not been true since 1970.
The 1989 season did feature an Easter Sunday race at Richmond Raceway on March 26, but only because it was postponed from its originally scheduled February date due to a snowstorm.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleThe 2022 Easter race was contested at Bristol Motor Speedway, but with the concrete surface covered in dirt for the second consecutive season. That new holiday "tradition" stayed alive for just one more year, before NASCAR moved the Easter Cup race to Richmond for 2024.
In 2025, things changed again. Richmond was given just one date, something that hadn't been true since 1958, save for 2020 when it lost one of its two original race dates due to COVID-19 restriction-related schedule changes.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez replaced Richmond, but in June on Father's Day weekend, as the 2024 Father's Day weekend race at Iowa Speedway was moved back to its early August date, to account for the fact that, unlike in 2024, there was no three-week break due to the NBC's commitment to the Summer Olympics in 2025.
No NASCAR Cup Series Easter race in 2026 either
The Mexico road course was replaced after just one year by a new street course at Naval Base Coronado, and with no date change; the race at the Coronado Street Circuit is scheduled to take place on Father's Day weekend in June.
And once again, there is no Cup Series race on Easter Sunday, something that most fans used to take for granted up until 2022.
Easter weekend marks one of only two total off weekends on the schedule from the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 15 up until the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, November 8.
The other is the first weekend in August, splitting up stretches of 16 consecutive race weekends from Sunday, April 12 to Sunday, July 29 and 14 consecutive race weekends from Sunday, August 9 to Sunday, November 8.
NASCAR Cup Series action is scheduled to resume on Fox Sports 1 with the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Live coverage is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 12, so begin a free trial of FuboTV today!