We’re set to begin the second phase of NASCARS scheduling. That kicks off Sunday at Bristol. The races this time around are Bristol (May 31), Atlanta (June 7), Martinsville (June 10), Homestead (June 14) and Talladega Superspeedway (June 21). The first three are all within driving distances of Charlotte, which is the hub for a majority of the race teams. That was a major part of NASCAR’s plan of safety measures, which was to have one-day shows close to base, meaning they can distance and not need the use of hotel rooms for overnight stays.

That’s why Darlington and Charlotte were the first two tracks out of the gates. Darlington, is 91 miles away from Charlotte. That’s also why they were stops No. 1 and No. 2 in the resumption part of the schedule. Martinsville (VA) Speedway is the second closest track in proximity to Charlotte at 128 miles away. They missed their May 8 race. That’s why they will host a weeknight race to fill their gap. Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway is third at 156 miles away. That’s why they’re the first race up on this revised schedule again. They missed their April date and that gets made up as well. Atlanta Motor Speedway is next at 274 miles away. That’s why they get a weekend race just after Bristol as they too missed the spring race back in March as well. Talladega was the next closest track.

See a theme here?

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Also there this, the Atlanta and Homestead cars were already prepared since they were the first two races affected by the coronavirus shut down. There won’t be much prep in the shop now for them. In turn, they can use the notes from Charlotte, another 1.5-mile track to help for Atlanta and Darlington to help for Homestead. Bristol and Martinsville are both short tracks and can use similar cars too.

This would mark five more races on the schedule, which combine that with four already run back in February-March and four coming up over the next couple of weeks, and you get 13 races out of the 36 ready. NASCAR has said that they have full intentions of racing all 36 events in 2020 but would have to make some changes obviously.

Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville have already had races missed from the spring. Now, Kansas, Michigan, Sonoma and Chicagoland in June are affected. That’s 12 races there. Three of them are canceled with Chicago, Sonoma and Richmond losing their spring races. The newly added events at Darlington and Charlotte replaced them. Now, with Atlanta, Homestead, Martinsville, Talladega and Bristol getting new dates, that leaves Texas, Dover, Michigan and Kansas needing new ones.

Steve O’Donnell remains firm that the final 11 races of the schedule will remain the same still. He wants Daytona to close the regular season in late August and all 10 playoff tracks to stay the same too.

So, if you take that mixed with 13 races now scheduled, that’s 24 races known with 12 more to schedule for late June through mid August. We only have four races from the spring left to make up and ways to easily make this happen.

O’Donnell, said that Pocono will remain a doubleheader weekend and the first ones up to do so. Their current dates are in late June have been confirmed — without fans. Thats the first stop of the new schedule when they announce it next week. He also said that we could see 1-2 more on the schedule for later in the year. Dover and Michigan have second dates later this summer and are prime candidates to have doubleheader weekends too. That would mean just two tracks need a replacement date (Texas and Kansas). Both are playoff tracks and O’Donnell said that they’re not going to run doubleheaders in the postseason.

So, those two will likely still get made up but it may be end of July for them. Indy is on pace for the Fourth of July weekend and hopeful with fans. Kentucky is supposed to be next and I don’t see that changing with its close proximity to Indianapolis. Follow the trend here now?

I think the weeknight shows will taper off but the one day shows may stay for a while. The drivers seem to like it and it works.

Here’s what a schedule past mid June could look like now –

June 27 – Pocono

June 28 – Pocono

July 5 – Indianapolis

July 8 – Kentucky

July 19 – Texas (make up from April)

July 26 – Kansas (make up from May)

Aug. 2 – New Hampshire

Aug. 8 – Michigan (make up for June race)

Aug. 9 – Michigan

Aug. 15 – Dover (move from spring race)

Aug. 16 – Dover

Aug. 23 – Watkins Glen

Aug. 29 – Daytona

Playoffs

Sept. 6 – Darlington

Sept. 12 – Richmond

Sept. 19 – Bristol

Sept. 27 – Las Vegas

Oct. 4 – Talladega

Oct. 11 – Charlotte (ROVAL)

Oct. 18 – Kansas

Oct. 25 – Texas

Nov 1 – Martinsville

Nov. 8 – Phoenix