DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2009) – NASCAR announced today the 2010 schedules for its three national series, which will open their seasons at Daytona International Speedway on the weekend of Feb. 12-14, and conclude at Homestead-Miami Speedway on the weekend of Nov. 19-21.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will again have a 36-race schedule starting with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14, plus two “non-point” events – the Feb. 6 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona and the May 22 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Other key dates for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series include:
June 27 and Sept. 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the respective openers in the “Race to the Chase” and the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup”; the Coca-Cola 600 on May 30 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25; and the annual “Chase cut-off race” at Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 11.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series will again race 35 times, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will again have 25 events, including one of the most intriguing additions to the schedule in the series’ 15-year history: a new event at Pocono Raceway’s 2.5-mile triangle-shaped track on July 31, as a companion to one of the two traditional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends there. The Pocono truck race will be the only new event on any of the three series’ schedules. It replaces the truck series’ previous February event at Auto Club Speedway.
There will be some significant “shuffling” of events in 2010, compared to the current season’s schedules.
In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6, the same day as the Budweiser Shootout. Previously, qualifying was held the day after the shootout.
The season’s first Dover International Speedway race will be on May 16, before the all-star race and the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Dover traditionally has followed that consecutive two-week stop in Charlotte.
Phoenix International Raceway’s first race will be April 10, with Texas Motor Speedway’s first event April 18. Previously, Texas went first in April.
Also, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will have four “off” weeks including the traditional Easter holiday on April 4.
In the NASCAR Nationwide Series:
A Nashville-Phoenix-Texas run on April 3, April 9 and April 17 will replace a Texas-Nashville-Phoenix spring lineup.
The first Dover race will be run earlier than usual, on May 15, in companion to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series:
The Kansas Speedway race will be May 2, one week later.
The series’ race at Dover, as in the other two national series, will be held two weeks earlier, on May 14, kicking off a national series tripleheader weekend.
The Iowa Speedway and Gateway International Raceway events will be two months earlier, on July 11 and 16.
Nashville Superspeedway’s date moves a week later, to Aug. 7.
Kentucky Speedway’s date moves from July to Sept. 3.
Continue reading “The 2010 NASCAR Schedules”
Beyond the News with Katy Lindamood: The field for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship has been set so what now? If you are a fan of one of those 12 drivers you do a victory dance and strap on your helmets for another 10 exciting weeks of action. With Mark Martin now leading the points, Juan Montoya getting his first Chase spot, and Kurt Busch rebounding from a dismal 2008 there’s no telling how it will all unfold. I’ve got a feeling this year it’s gonna be closer than ever and that excites me!
The Final Lap Weekly 