USA TODAY International Edition
New tracks for 2021
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If you haven’t taken a good look at the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule yet, you might not recognize it when you do because there are a lot of changes.
Some fans wanted more road courses on the schedule, and they have that. Added to the schedule are events on Daytona’s road course ( Feb. 21) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course ( Aug. 15), along with new races at Circuit of The Americas ( May 23) and Road America ( July 4).
Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s “roval” still have their respective races, so that’s a total of seven road course events this year.
But there’s more.
For its March 28 race, Bristol Motor Speedway will be converted to a dirt track and will be the Cup Series’ first dirt race since 1970 at North Carolina State Fairgrounds. Nashville Superspeedway – a 1.33- mile track in Lebanon, Tennessee, previously used by the Xfinity and Camping World Truck series – joins the Cup schedule with a race set for June 20.
Finally, Texas Motor Speedway will host the NASCAR All- Star Race on June 13 for the first time. The exhibition race was usually held at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the exception of the 1986 race being at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 2020 race at Bristol.
After the COVID- 19 pandemic halted the NASCAR season for 10 weeks last spring, racing successfully returned and finished a full 36- race season. Protocols and restrictions were established, race weekends were shortened and just about everyone had to be prepared to roll with the punches of last- minute changes. The same should be expected for 2021 as the pandemic hasn’t subsided.
NASCAR made its first change to the 2021 schedule in December, bumping Auto Club Speedway’s race off and replacing it with the Daytona road course race.
So instead of going from the Daytona 500 to Homestead- Miami Speedway and then heading to the Southern California track to start the West Coast swing, NASCAR will have back- toback Daytona weekends, followed by a race at Homestead ( Feb. 28) before taking on Las Vegas Motor Speedway ( March 7). Depending on state and local regulations during the pandemic, more adjustments could happen.