NASCAR: Texas race will end a streak that dates back to 2004
By Asher Fair
The NASCAR Cup Series is set to hit the one-quarter mark of the 2024 season this Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, the ninth of 36 races on this year's schedule.
This 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Fort Worth, Texas oval is also set to carry the 26-race regular season past its one-third mark.
And it is also set to end a streak that dates back nearly two decades.
One Texas Cup Series race, and it's not a playoff race
Texas Motor Speedway was added to the schedule in 1997, which was its first season hosting racing of any kind. From 1997 to 2004, it hosted one race per year, either in March or April. In 2005, a late-season November playoff race was added, and from 2005 to 2019, the track's two annual race dates were about as consistent as they come.
The 2020 season ended up seeing the regular season race moved back to July due to COVID-19-related restrictions, but the track still ended up hosting one regular season race and one playoff race. The playoff race was contested in late October for the first time.
The track still hosted two races in 2021 and 2022, but the regular season race was not a points race. Instead, the venue hosted the All-Star Race in both of those seasons, and its playoff race date was moved up to mid-October and late September, respectively.
Then in 2023, the track hosted just one race for the first time since 2004, that being the September playoff race. Now in 2024, the track is once again scheduled to host just one race, but for the first time since 2004, that race is not a playoff race.
It marks just the second time since the playoffs were implemented (2004) that Texas Motor Speedway is not on the playoff schedule.
Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is listed as the favorite to win Sunday's race at FanDuel Sportsbook, which is presently offering fans a $150 bonus for placing any $5 bet, win or lose.
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Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 14 for the live broadcast of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 from Texas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, the winner of this past Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway, is the reigning winner at Texas. If you have yet to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so today and don't miss it!
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