NASCAR announced the next installment of events in its return to racing Thursday. As it seeks to make up races postponed and cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR returned to racing at Darlington on May 17 with two Cup races and a Xfinity race followed by two Cup races a Xfinity race and a Truck race at Charlotte the following week. This past weekend the Cup series races at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday followed by the Xfinity series on Monday.
The majority of the makeup events for June had previously been announced with Atlanta, Homestead-Miami and Talladega coming in the next three weeks.
The schedule announced Thursday features races at Pocono Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
There was no mention of when, or if, fans will be allowed to return to the tracks, and the series said NASCAR’s modified event procedures and protocols have been finalized in accordance with public health officials, medical experts and local, state and federal officials.
To put together the schedule, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway (July 9) is being realigned from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas Speedway (July 24) realigned from Chicagoland Speedway; NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway (July 25) realigned from Chicagoland Speedway and the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway (July 25) has been realigned from Iowa Speedway.
The NASCAR Cup Series is the only national series event to race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway (July 9) has been realigned from New Hampshire Motor Speedway
FOX will close out its NASCAR Cup Series season with the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Wednesday, July 15 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1), while the NASCAR Xfinity Series season on FOX platforms will conclude at Kentucky Speedway (Friday, July 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1).
NBC will start its sixth consecutive year of coverage when the NASCAR Xfinity Series (Saturday, July 4 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC) and NASCAR Cup Series (Sunday, July 5 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC) return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Fourth of July weekend.
The series said further national series dates will be announced at a later date.
NBC will carry coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series through the balance of the season, including the Playoffs schedule that is currently scheduled to culminate with the crowning of three NASCAR national series champions at Phoenix Raceway in November.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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