NASCAR: Why no more races until the middle of August?
By Asher Fair
The NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series both raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend, marking the first NASCAR action on the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval since 2020 (and first since 2019 with fans), and the NASCAR Truck Series was in action at nearby Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
But none of the three national series are in action this weekend, and none of them are scheduled to be in action next weekend either.
The next NASCAR national series race on the schedule is the Clean Harbors 250, a Truck Series race, at Richmond Raceway on the evening of Saturday, August 10. Then on the evening of Sunday, August 11, the Cup Series is scheduled to run the Cook Out 400 at the same four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) Richmond, Virginia oval.
From that point forward, there are no more off weekends on the Cup Series schedule this year.
The Xfinity Series is not scheduled to run another race until the afternoon of Saturday, August 17, when the Cabo Wabo 250 is scheduled to take place at Michigan International Speedway.
From that point forward, there are no more off weekends on the Xfinity Series schedule this year.
The Cup Series is also set to be in action at the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Brooklyn, Michigan oval that weekend, with the FireKeepers Casino 400 scheduled to take place on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18.
Why is there such a lengthy break in the action as the playoff battles are heating up?
The primary reason for the break is the Summer Olympics in Paris, France. NBC is responsible for covering the Olympic Games, and NASCAR is currently in the NBC portion of the broadcast schedule for both the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series.
The switch over from Fox occurred in June, between the race weekends at Sonoma Raceway and Iowa Speedway. The 2024 season is the 10th and final season of the current media rights deal, with a new seven-year deal, one which also includes Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports, set to go into effect in 2025.
All Truck Series races are still shown on either Fox, Fox Sports 1, or Fox Sports 2, not NBC or the NBCUniversal-owned USA Network, but with race weekend locations oftentimes aligning with the other two national series, it was better to keep things simple.
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