NASCAR announced the final races the 2020 schedule Thursday. It includes a 30-race stretch for all three national series that starts with the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Sept. 5 at Darlington Raceway and ends with the NASCAR Cup Series championship race on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway.
After a season upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10-race schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs remains as originally planned, beginning on Sept. 6 at Darlington. However, there are changes to the Xfinity Series and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series schedules.
For the Xfinity Series, a regular-season race on Sept. 12 at Richmond Raceway and a Round of 12 playoff race on Oct. 3 at Talladega Superspeedway have been added — the events are realigned from Michigan International Speedway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, respectively. The Xfinity Series has made Talladega an annual stop on the schedule since 1992, but this year will mark the first time the Alabama track has hosted two races in each season.
In addition, the Xfinity Series playoff opener has been moved to Sept. 26 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, changes include a regular-season race on Sept. 6 at Darlington Raceway and the Round of 8 opener on Oct. 16 at Kansas Speedway, with those races realigned from Canadian Tire Motorsports Motorsport Park and Eldora Speedway, respectively. The Gander Trucks playoffs will kick off Sept. 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The addition of Darlington to the Gander Trucks schedule marks the series’ first event at the historic track in more than nine years. The tour has run six times at the South Carolina oval (2001-04; 2010-11).
The final schedule also includes two ARCA Menards Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, plus an ARCA Menards West Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
“The one fortunate part of this latter part of the season and the playoffs is we were able to keep the original tracks and dates intact when it came to the Cup Series, but definitely they have had to be flexible with integrating some of the other series into those events so that they had a good championship schedule as well,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “It has been again, just like everything else, just a lot of great teamwork between the teams, NASCAR and the venues.”
NASCAR’s modified event procedures and protocols have been finalized in accordance with public health officials, medical experts, and local, state, and federal officials. NASCAR will determine if fans are allowed entrance to NASCAR Cup Series races on a market-by-market basis, in accordance with local and state guidelines.
The NASCAR season was postponed in March due to the pandemic and restarted in late May at Darlington. Since then the series has raced in limited markets with doubleheaders at some tracks to come up with the original number of races on the schedule. It will run doubleheaders in the Cup series this month in Michigan and at Daytona.
(Start of Playoffs in bold)
| Date | Track | Series | Distance | Network | Start Time (ET) |
| Sat., Sept. 5 | Darlington | Xfinity | 200 mi | NBC | 12:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Sept. 6 | Darlington | Gander Trucks | 200 mi | FS1 | 2 p.m. |
| Sun., Sept. 6 | Darlington | Cup | 501 mi | NBCSN | 6 p.m. |
| Thu., Sept. 10 | Richmond | Gander Trucks | 187 mi | FS1 | 8 p.m. |
| Fri., Sept. 11 | Richmond | Xfinity | 187 mi | NBCSN | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 12 | Richmond | Xfinity | 187 mi | NBCSN | 2:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 12 | Richmond | Cup | 300 mi | NBCSN | 7:30 p.m. |
| Thu., Sept. 17 | Bristol | Gander Trucks | 107 mi | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. |
| Thu., Sept. 17 | Bristol | ARCA Menards | 107 mi | FS1 | 9:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Sept. 18 | Bristol | Xfinity | 160 mi | NBCSN | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Bristol | Cup | 266 mi | NBCSN | 7:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Sept. 25 | Las Vegas | Gander Trucks | 201 mi | FS1 | 9 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 26 | Las Vegas | Xfinity | 300 mi | NBCSN | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Sept. 27 | Las Vegas | Cup | 400 mi | NBCSN | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 3 | Talladega | Gander Trucks | 250 mi | FS1 | 1 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 3 | Talladega | Xfinity | 300 mi | NBCSN | 4:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 4 | Talladega | Cup | 500 mi | NBC | 2 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Charlotte Roval | Xfinity | 155 mi | NBC | 3:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 11 | Charlotte Roval | Cup | 253 mi | NBC | 2:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Kansas | Gander Trucks | 200 mi | FS1 | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Kansas | ARCA Menards | 150 mi | FS2 | 10 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Kansas | Xfinity | 300 mi | NBCSN | 3 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Kansas | Cup | 400 mi | NBC | 2:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Texas | Xfinity | 300 mi | NBCSN | 4:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Texas | Gander Trucks | 220 mi | FS1 | Noon |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Texas | Cup | 501 mi | NBCSN | 3:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Martinsville | Gander Trucks | 105 mi | FS1 | 8 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Martinsville | Xfinity | 131 mi | NBC | 4:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Martinsville | Cup | 263 mi | NBC | 2 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Phoenix | Gander Trucks | 150 mi | FS1 | 8 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Phoenix | ARCA Menards West | 100 mi | TrackPass | 2 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Phoenix | Xfinity | 200 mi | NBCSN | 5 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Phoenix | Cup | 312 mi | NBC | 3 p.m. |
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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