NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season & Playoffs

If you're unfamiliar with NASCAR, you might think that the rac­ing season never ends. After all, NASCAR is all over the air waves on Saturdays and Sundays, not to mention throughout the week on ESPN and the SPEED network. To the casual observer, NASCAR racing may seem like a perpetual sport with no end in sight.

Actually, NASCAR does have a defined season, albeit a long one -- 38 races spanning 10 months. The race season starts in February and ends in November every year. And you thought Major League Baseball (MLB) had a long season -- baseball season is only seven months long.

Amazingly, a 10-month, 36-race schedule (not counting the All-Star race and Bud Shootout) pales in comparison to what NASCAR drivers ran in years past. In the 1964 Grand National Series, now known as the Sprint Cup Series, drivers competed in 62 races that, oddly enough, ran from November 10, 1963 to November 8, 1964. Now that's a long season. Of course, times have changed and the NASCAR series (and its schedule) has continued to evolve.

NASCAR races on privately owned race tracks -- all of which are asphalt or concrete. In the early days, NASCAR drivers had to race on a variety of surfaces, including dirt, asphalt and even a sandy beach. Drivers in the series towed their cars from race to race, slept in seedy motels or camped out in their trucks -- they definitely didn't live the high-profile lifestyle that modern drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart enjoy. One thing that hasn't changed over the years is the fact that the drivers focus on competing in as many races as possible in order to earn as much money as possible. Consider this; the 1964 NASCAR champion earned $114,771 in race winnings, Today, that amount equates to around $801,816 according to the consumer price index (CPI). While that isn't bad, that amount doesn't even come close to the $15,313,920 Jimmie Johnson, took home as the 2007 champion.

The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in the NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015.

Realignment 2004
"Realignment 2004" was announced in June 2003 at the Winston Cup race weekend at the Michigan International Speedway. While there were only a few changes, they were major. In June 1997, Auto Club Speedway began hosting a Winston Cup race. The track is located in Fontana, California, just outside Los Angeles, and so many fans flocked to the first race, and very quickly, the Los Angeles area became NASCAR's largest market. So, it was announced that Darlington's Mountain Dew Southern 500, held on Labor Day weekend for 54 years, would be moved to November for 2004, alienating the fan base of long time NASCAR fans. In the process, Rockingham's November date, the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400, would move to Fontana, become the Pop Secret 500, and be run from the late evening into the night on the West Coast on the day before Labor Day, while also being shown live on NBC in primetime. The move of the race to September left Rockingham with just one race to run in 2004—its February date, the Subway 400.

Realignment 2005
"Realignment 2004" was unpopular with many, but unlike "realignment 2005", the previous realignment in the schedule was not tied in with a lawsuit. In April 1997 the Winston Cup Series began racing at the newly built Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (which also oversees operations of tracks in Bristol, Tennessee, Hampton, Georgia, Loudon, New Hampshire, and Concord, North Carolina, all of which have two race dates a year) thought that the first race at Texas was popular enough to warrant another date. Soon, the company began pressing NASCAR to give them another date, but NASCAR refused to grant the track a second race.

Early in the 2000s, SMI shareholder Francis Ferko filed a lawsuit against NASCAR, saying that it failed to come through on a promise to give Texas a second date. NASCAR denied making any promise of any kind. (Ferko filed the suit on his own; Smith did not want any part of the it.) The second track to lose a race was Darlington, whose slot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup was given to Texas. Darlington was then left with its spring date, which was moved to Mother's Day weekend (a traditional off-weekend for the Cup Series) and lengthened to 500 miles.

In addition to Texas gaining a second race, for the first time since its debut on the Cup schedule in 1988 Phoenix was granted a second date, this one in an early season slot following the spring race at Texas.

NASCAR also moved the Auto Club 500, the spring race at Fontana, into Rockingham's slot on the schedule (the race immediately following the Daytona 500.)

Realignment 2009–10
The 2009 season, announced on August 19, 2008, went under a realignment once again after a long break. The fall race at Talladega Superspeedway was moved to a later date on the schedule around Halloween (the first Sunday in November or the final Sunday in October), one previously occupied by Atlanta Motor Speedway's fall event. That race was moved to Labor Day weekend, where California Speedway's inherited autumn event from Darlington had been, and that date was switched to Talladega's old date on the first weekend of October.

Realignment 2011

 * Atlanta Motor Speedway's spring date was discontinued in favor of the Labor Day weekend date.
 * Kentucky Speedway hosted its first Sprint Cup Series race, the Quaker State 400, with room being made for it by dropping the spring Atlanta race. The formal announcement was made on August 10, 2010 and the race took the post-Coke Zero 400 slot held by Chicagoland Speedway.
 * Chicagoland became the opening race to the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
 * New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosted the second race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, as the Sylvania 300 was moved back one week due to Chicagoland gaining the opening Chase race.
 * Kansas Speedway gained a spring race date. The race was run in early June immediately following the Coca-Cola 600.
 * Auto Club Speedway lost its fall race and Chase for the Sprint Cup date, the Pepsi Max 400. The spring race, the Auto Club 500, was moved from February to March and shortened to 400 miles/200 laps.
 * The spring race at Texas Motor Speedway was run on Saturday night, after having been a Sunday afternoon race.
 * The Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway was moved to the second week of the season and returned to its previous distance, and is run during the day for the first time (the awarding of the second race date to Phoenix coincided with the installation of lights at the track and resulted in the race being run at night from its debut).
 * Dover International Speedway maintained both of its Sprint Cup weekends and with the move of Chicagoland to the Chase, Dover's Chase race moved back one week.

Realignment 2012–2014

 * NASCAR announced on September 29, 2011 that some schedule realigning would take place for the 2012 season. Although the realignment was not as drastic as past years, both of the Kansas races were affected. The spring race, which was added to the schedule for the 2011 campaign, was moved from June to April, and the spring race at Dover International Speedway returned to its traditional early June date. Kansas's fall race, a part of the Chase for the Cup, was switched with Talladega's Chase date and moved to late October. NASCAR said this realignment was due to a repaving project at the track which was scheduled to begin following the race.
 * In addition, the race at Kentucky Speedway moved to June preceding the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

The 2013 realignment did not see any significant changes, other than switching back the Talladega and Kansas Chase races to their original dates.

The 2014 realignment also had few changes. The dates were swapped for the spring races at Darlington and Kansas, turning Kansas's spring race into a night race. The spring race at Texas Motor Speedway was moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon so as not to interfere with the NCAA Men's Tournament, which began the same weekend in nearby AT&T Stadium. Texas and Martinsville were moved up a week. The Darlington date moved to Texas's original spot on the schedule. The Easter off-week moved to Kansas's original date.

Realignment 2015
The 2015 alignment saw several drastic changes:
 * Once again, Darlington was moved, this time returning to its original Labor Day weekend for the first time in 12 years.
 * The Food City 500, Bristol's spring race, was moved to Darlington's 2014 position on the schedule, in hopes of running it in warmer weather conditions as opposed to the cold and sometimes rainy conditions that had plagued the mid-March date.
 * Atlanta's race was moved to the post-Daytona 500 date.
 * The spring Phoenix race was moved to what had been Bristol's spring date. Because Las Vegas and Auto Club stayed in their original positions, the series now had an uninterrupted streak of three races on the West Coast, nicknamed the "West Coast swing". This was done not only to please the fans, but it also meant that drivers and their teams would not have to make as many cross-country treks back to their shops in Charlotte.
 * The off-weeks were relocated: the traditional Easter off-weekend now fell between Martinsville and Texas, and the summer off-week that originally took place between New Hampshire and the Brickyard 400 was repositioned to the week between Michigan's Quicken Loans 400 and Sonoma's Toyota/Save Mart 350.
 * Sonoma took Kentucky's original date, and Kentucky took New Hampshire's July date. New Hampshire's summer date was moved to the original summer off-weekend. Due to 2015 being the first year of a new broadcasting contract between NASCAR, Fox and NBC, these changes to the summer schedule were done so that both networks started their coverage of the NASCAR season with a Daytona race, with FOX getting the Daytona 500 and NBC getting the Coke Zero 400. Additionally, for 2015 only, the Coke Zero 400 was run as a Sunday night race, since July 4 was on a Saturday when many NBC affiliate networks broadcast fireworks displays.
 * The season also received an additional off-weekend on the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend, making the regular season 40 weeks long (with three off-weekends and the off-weekend for the All-Star race).
 * The Chase dates at Charlotte and Kansas were flipped, with Charlotte becoming the opening race in the Contender Round of the Chase.

Realignment 2016
The 2016 alignment saw some changes to the schedule:
 * The Easter off-week is placed late-March between Fontana and Martinsville.
 * The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona will return to its usual Saturday night date.
 * Michigan and Bristol swap their August race dates.
 * The third off-week was moved to mid-August between Watkins Glen and Bristol, instead of the late-August break between Bristol and Darlington. This was done to avoid a scheduling conflict with the 2016 Summer Olympics being hosted on NBC. The aforementioned Olympics conflict forced the race at Watkins Glen to be moved to USA Network
 * The first race at Dover and the Memorial Day week swapped dates, so the last race before the All-Star Race was Dover instead of Kansas, because of Memorial Day being very late similar to 2011.

Realignment 2017
The final calendar for the 2017 season was released on May 5, 2016. Key changes from 2016 include:
 * The Daytona 500 was moved back a week.
 * The Texas spring race was moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.
 * Dover's spring race was moved back to the slot between the Coca-Cola 600 and the June Pocono race.
 * Bristol and Michigan swapped back their August race dates.
 * Talladega and Kansas swapped their October race dates, making Talladega the second race in the Round of 12 and turning Kansas into an elimination race.
 * The summer off week moves back between Bristol and Darlington.
 * The start times for several races, including the Daytona 500, were adjusted so as to have the event end during primetime.

Realignment 2018
The 2018 Cup Series season schedule was released on May 23, 2017 and saw some notable changes, which were how:


 * The Advance Auto Parts Clash was moved back to Sunday afternoon (a week before the Daytona 500 after being held on the Saturday night before that for many years.
 * The 60th running of the Daytona 500 would be moved one week earlier to be held on President's Day weekend (in 2018, falling on Sunday, February 18), how it was until after 2011 and many years before that.
 * Dover International Speedway's spring race, was moved one month early to precede the KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 * There was an additional off-week for the Cup Series in the schedule for 2018 on the Father's Day weekend. That provided some flexibility for Fox so they could broadcast the U. S. Open and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The other off weekends remained being on Easter weekend (as it always has been) and in late-summer between the Bristol night race and the race at Darlington on Labor Day weekend.
 * The race at Chicagoland was moved off of the playoffs and back to early in the summertime before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (how it was like until after 2010). This change resulted in NBC's portion of the TV schedule beginning at Chicago and not Daytona.
 * The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway moved to September to become the final race of the regular season after years of being in late July or early August.
 * New Hampshire Motor Speedway's fall race was eliminated and replaced with a new second race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the South Point 400, replaced on the schedule and will be the playoffs opener.
 * The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway moved from being the final race of the regular season to the second race in the playoffs, replacing the New Hampshire/Las Vegas race, which was bumped back a week to become the first race of the playoffs.
 * Charlotte Motor Speedway's fall race moved a week earlier into late September from early October and for the first time utilized the track's road course layout instead of its quad-oval, becoming the Bank of America Roval 400, and it also became the closing race to the Round of 16 in the playoffs.
 * The fall race at Dover was moved one week later in the season to become the first race of the Round of 12 in the playoffs, flip-flopping places with Charlotte.

Realignment 2020
The 2020 schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series will undergo a series of significant changes.
 * The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will move behind the West Coast swing to March 15, 2020, returning to its pre-2010 date of mid-March.
 * The Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway will no longer serve as the final race of the season ending a tradition that dated back to 2002 and bringing an end to Ford Championship Weekend. The race date will move to March 22, 2020, following the race at Atlanta.
 * After 21 years of being NASCAR's Fourth of July weekend event (and 60 of 61 years overall), the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will move to August and become the final race of NASCAR's "regular season". The Brickyard 400, run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will switch race weekends with Daytona.
 * The Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be run under the lights for the first time on May 9, Mother's Day Weekend.
 * Kansas Speedway's spring race, the Digital Ally 400 that has been run under the lights on Mother's Day Weekend will move from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon and be held on May 31, 2020, after the Coca-Cola 600.
 * Both events at Pocono Raceway will be run on consecutive days the weekend of June 27–28.
 * Dover International Speedway's second date moves to late August, marking the first time the race has not been in NASCAR's postseason.
 * The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will both become Playoff races in place of Dover and Homestead. This will mark the first time since the inaugural Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in 2004 that Darlington will host a postseason event (that race was given to Texas in the Ferko lawsuit in 2005) and the first postseason race of any kind for Bristol.
 * The Championship Round of the Playoffs will be conducted at Phoenix Raceway on November 8. This will be the first Phoenix race to close out the season. Due to this and the consolidation of the Pocono doubleheader, the 2020 season will actually end one week earlier than in the past. Usually the season finale is held on third weekend in November. Those dates being anywhere from November 16th-November 22nd.
 * The Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond will move back to Sunday afternoon, similar to 2015-2017 when it was run on a Sunday afternoon. This was done because the two Martinsville Speedway races will be night races in 2020, as both races will start in the day and end at night.
 * There will be two off weeks between Loudon and Michigan to accommodate the NBC networks coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meaning the off week for the U.S. Open Golf Championship that Fox instituted will be removed. This prevents a conflict that happened at the 2016 Olympics, when NBC moved the Watkins Glen race to their USA Network.  NBC's half starts on the weekend of that golf championship.

2020 coronavirus pandemic changes

 * The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway were originally announced on March 12, 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to take place without fans in attendance, but one day later on March 13, 2020, NASCAR announced that the two Cup races (including support races) would be postponed.
 * On March 16, 2020, NASCAR announced all race events through May 3 have been postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
 * On April 17, 2020, NASCAR announced that Martinsville Speedway race weekend on May 8–9 had been postponed, although the sanctioning body affirmed its commitment to running a full 36-race schedule.
 * On April 30, 2020, NASCAR announced a revised schedule for the month of May, with two Cup races at Darlington Raceway and two points-paying races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including the Coca-Cola 600 that will be run with no fans in the stands.
 * On May 8, 2020, NASCAR announced that Sonoma Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway would not host Cup races in 2020, and that Richmond Raceway's postponed spring date would not be rescheduled.
 * On May 14, 2020, NASCAR announced another revised schedule, this time to show the races planned for the end of May through June 21. These tracks include Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR also announced a continuation of its empty stands policy for those races.
 * With the exception of the Coca-Cola 600, all races starting with NASCAR's return at Darlington through the Homestead race at minimum will feature no practice or qualifying. Teams will unload, have cars inspected, and race. The Coca-Cola 600 will feature qualifying only a few hours before the race but no practice.

Cup Series

 * The Busch Clash will be moved from the Sunday before the Daytona 500 to the Tuesday before (on February 9), in an effort to condense Speedweeks down to one week and also because of Super Bowl LV scheduling in nearby Tampa. The race will also be moved from the oval to the infield road course for the first time. The original intent of the change was a cost savings move to allow sixth-generation chassis for road course events to be used. NASCAR had intended to launch the new seventh-generation chassis from Technique at the Daytona 500, and with an insufficient number of chassis available, teams would use the sixth-generation chassis for the Daytona race.  However, because of the pandemic, the release of the new chassis will be delayed to 2022, but the use of a road course chassis would save costs.  For reference, there was one crash-related safety car at the Daytona road course round, while at the 2020 Busch Clash, four incidents occurred, each between 3 and 11 cars involved during the event.  The Daytona 500 will be held on Sunday, February 14.
 * Phoenix Raceway will host Cup races on March 7 and November 7, the latter being the championship date.
 * Nashville Superspeedway will host a Cup race, scheduled for Sunday, June 20 (Father's Day). It will be the first time the speedway will host a NASCAR Cup Series event, and the first time the track has hosted any NASCAR events since 2011. In order to put the track on the schedule, its owner, Dover Motorsports, moved one of their two Cup races at Dover (a track which they also own) to Nashville.
 * On September 29, it was reported that Kentucky Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway would not be on the 2021 schedule,
 * On September 30, NASCAR announced that Atlanta Motor Speedway would expand to two races, picking up the Quaker State 400 from Kentucky.
 * On the same day, Road America was added back to the schedule for the first time since a Grand National race 65 years prior. The race is scheduled for July 4, replacing the race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 * With the release of the 2021 schedule, NASCAR announced that its race at Indianapolis would be run on the track's road course configuration.
 * The Cup Series will also race on dirt for the first time since 1970 as the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway will have the concrete half-mile covered in dirt.
 * The All-Star Weekend, traditionally held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, moves to Texas Motor Speedway and becomes the last race weekend telecast by NASCAR on Fox. The open weekend has its slot filled by a new race at Circuit of the Americas. As a consequence of gaining the All-Star race, Texas goes down to one points race.

Exhibition races: