After hosting a single NASCAR Cup Series points race in 1969 and 1970, its first two years of operation, Dover Motor Speedway hosted two events per year for the next 50 years. The 2020 event was a doubleheader due to COVID-19 restriction-related schedule changes, but the track had hosted two race weekends per year each year from 1971 to 2019.
The four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) "Monster Mile" oval in Dover, Delaware still hosted one race each year from 2021 to 2025, but the track was removed from the 36-race championship calendar entirely for the 2026 season.
The high-banked oval instead hosted May's exhibition All-Star Race for the first time, making it the fifth different venue to host the event since 2019. North Wilkesboro Speedway, which hosted the All-Star Race each year from 2023 to 2025 after having been off the calendar entirely since 1996, replaced Dover on the 36-race schedule and hosted its first points race in three decades.
But that change was short-lived, as NASCAR is reverting back to 2025 in that regard for the 2027 season.
Dover back where it belongs after 2026 All-Star appearance
Dover is once again set to host its Cup Series race on the third Sunday in May, but because of when Memorial Day Weekend falls, this change slots it in one week before the All-Star Race. Dover is set to host its points race on Sunday, May 16, while North Wilkesboro is set to host the All-Star Race on Sunday, May 23, one week before the annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 30.
After this year's All-Star format was much-maligned for being needlessly confusing, NASCAR has yet to determine what the format will be for the 2027 return to North Wilkesboro.
The North Wilkesboro return is set to mark the fifth All-Star Race track change this decade alone. Charlotte, which hosted the race each year from 1987 to 2019, was supposed to host it again in 2020, but COVID-19-related restrictions resulted in multiple schedule changes that sent it to Bristol Motor Speedway.
The race was held at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021 and 2022 before the return to North Wilkesboro in 2023. Whether North Wilkesboro also returns to host the event in 2028 or NASCAR continues to switch things up remains to be seen.
NASCAR has yet to solidify the full 2027 Cup Series schedule, with bits and pieces continuing to come together to fill in the remaining blanks. The full schedule reveal is expected to happen within the next few weeks.
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