NASCAR officials announced a shift to the early portion of the national-series schedule Tuesday, moving a race weekend planned for Auto Club Speedway to the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.

The move means NASCAR’s top series will open with three consecutive weekends in Florida and two straight weeks at Daytona, as Homestead-Miami Speedway will shift back one week on the schedule to accommodate the move.

Challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need for significant advance planning for fans and the NASCAR industry led to the schedule adjustment.

The season-opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway remains unchanged, with the Cup Series’ Daytona 500 set for Sunday, Feb. 14. Daytona openers for the Xfinity Series (Feb. 13) and Camping World Truck Series (Feb. 12) also stay the same. The new February schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series is tentatively set:

— Feb. 14 weekend — Daytona oval (all three series)

— Feb. 21 weekend — Daytona Road Course (all three series)

— Feb. 28 weekend — Homestead-Miami (Cup, Xfinity)

The Camping World Truck Series had previously been scheduled to contest its second race of the season at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami track. That event has been realigned to the 3.61-mile Daytona Road Course layout, which hosted NASCAR national-series races for the first time last August.

Exact dates and times for the Xfinity and Truck series at the Daytona Road Course and Homestead-Miami have not been determined.

Because of the move, Auto Club Speedway will not host a NASCAR weekend for the first time in 24 years. The 2-mile Fontana, California, track was slated to hold the third race of the season for both the Cup and Xfinity Series for the second straight year.

The schedule shift also adds to an already busy stretch for Daytona’s road course layout. The circuit is scheduled to host the non-points Busch Clash for the Cup Series on Tues., Feb. 9, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship kicks off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 30-31, one week after IMSA’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 preliminary Jan. 22-24.

Here are my main takeaways from this move.

California’s Strict Laws The Main Reason Here

NASCAR has proven that they can show up and race without fans in the stands. But, due to California’s harsher plans in place to combat COVID, it’s not possible to even do that. See, the sporting teams right now that reside in the Golden State have had to adapt and look for other avenues to play. The San Francisco 49ers are playing home games in Phoenix. The Stanford Cardinal stayed in North Carolina following the Maui Invitational last week to practice and hope to play games away from home and not return until they’re allowed to be home and play/practice there.

So, if that’s the case in December, how can NASCAR show up with their traveling circus in a couple of months and put on a race during the sanctions in California?

That’s why this race was moved.

Why The Daytona Road Course Was Chosen?

Well, that’s simple – the Auto Club Speedway is owned by NASCAR. In order to fill it’s place, they’re going to fill it with another track that they own. They wouldn’t just give that date to an SMI track. So, the most logical one is using the road course at Daytona. They’re already going to be at Homestead, so you can push that race back a week and put a Daytona road race a week behind the Daytona 500.

You’ll already be in Daytona anyways and make February a month of Florida.

If any other race in the future gets moved, they’ll do so within the company. NASCAR owned tracks or formerly ISC are – Daytona, Homestead, Fontana, Phoenix, Martinsville, Richmond, Talladega, Kansas, Darlington and Watkins Glen

SMI tracks are – Las Vegas, Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, New Hampshire and Sonoma

Privately owned – Dover, Nashville, Indianapolis, Pocono, COTA (NASCAR helping sanction) and Road America

1 More Race On Big Oval For Fontana

Fontana officials felt like the fans were owed one more race on the 2-mile layout. So, instead of an immediate tear down and start over for a reconfigured Auto Club Speedway which was reportedly going to be built into a short track for the 2022 race, those plans have now been pushed to 2023.

That means no tear down yet and one more year on the big oval.

Another part of that reasoning is due to COVID, it’s going to be hard to have the manpower in place  to pull this feat off in a year. So, why not push that planning back a year and let the track sit a year and return in 2022 before construction starts.

What To Do With Fontana Tickets?

Here’s what the track said –

ALL CUSTOMERS WHO PURCHASED TICKETS TO THE 2021 RACE WEEKEND AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY, WILL BE MOVED INTO THE 2022 RACE WEEKEND. OUR TEAM WILL ALSO PLACE AN ADDITIONAL 20% CREDIT OF WHAT HAS BEEN PAID OF YOUR ORDER (AS OF 12/08/2020) ON TO YOUR AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY TICKET ACCOUNT. The 20% can be used towards a purchase for any NASCAR event, at a NASCAR-owned track, subject to availability through the end of 2022. If a refund is preferred, please click the button below.

This Refund Request form must be completed and submitted by JANUARY 7, 2021. If you do not respond by January 7, we will assume you are choosing to attend the 2022 race weekend at Auto Club Speedway and keep the 20% credit on your account. As a reminder, you can use your credit for the events in 2022 or at another event at a NASCAR-owned track through the 2021 or 2022 season, subject to availability. All refund requests could take a minimum of 60 days to process and show on your credit card.

Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at: 1-800-944-7223.

What About Homestead Tickets?

NASCAR and Homestead-Miami Speedway announced today that the 1.5-mile venue’s February NASCAR weekend will play host to a reduced number of fans, and will also be pushed back one week later than originally scheduled.

The decision to limit fans is due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and is in accordance with enhanced safety protocols and procedures to provide a safe environment for guests, NASCAR competitors, employees and the local community.

“The South Florida community and Homestead-Miami Speedway are always excited to welcome fans here from across the country,” said track President Al Garcia. “We pride ourselves on personal hospitality and incredible racing at our beautiful, colorful, one-of-a-kind facility. We will work with our fans to find the best opportunity to enjoy NASCAR racing at its finest, here at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”

Current ticket holders will receive communication immediately from Homestead-Miami Speedway staff with options and the reseating process for the Feb. 27-28 weekend. Fans seeking tickets, as well as learning all safety protocol guidelines, can call 866-409-RACE (7223). Adult tickets start at just $35 for the Dixie Vodka 400 and $10 for kids 12 and younger.

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Daytona Road Course Tickets

For the second consecutive year, the storied DAYTONA Road Course will play host to the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. All three series will compete Feb. 19-21, just one week after the 63rd running of the DAYTONA 500.

The tripleheader on the iconic 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course-oval hybrid, creates a historic back-to-back weekend of action at the World Center of Racing to start the 2021 NASCAR season.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicks off the weekend on February 19 followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series on Feb. 20 and 21 respectively.

Fans are invited to join us all three days of the DAYTONA Road Course Weekend and experience one of NASCAR’s most thrilling races.

At this time, we plan to implement procedures to safely host fans for DAYTONA Road Course Weekend, including limiting venue capacity to allow for socially distanced seating. A limited number of tickets and camping are available now and kids 12 and under are free on Friday and Saturday in select sections and start at just $10 on Sunday!

TICKETS    CAMPING

Clash Becomes More Important

When it was announced that the Busch Clash was going to be moved from the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Daytona to the 3.57-mile road course on the same track, I was sort of perplexed on how much value the Clash would bring anymore. Yes, the season opening All-Star race was fun as an exhibition, but now using a road course that they don’t even use during the season, well it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

The oval was just wasting money and wadding up cars so I get the move away from it. It became a boring show for 90-percent of the race then a crash fest after which saw most, if not all, the cars collected in a crash at some point in the closing laps. It became an embarrassment.

Now though, the Clash has become very important. To the drivers that are racing in it this year, they’ll get extensive information to help them when they initially thought they wouldn’t.

With a road course race added at Daytona last August and now one added for the second race of the season, the Clash can give tons of information for these drivers for the second race of the year. That’s vital as the winner gets an automatic playoff spot.

The Clash will mean more than we initially thought now.

Road Courses Galore Make A Wild Regular Season

Just a few years ago, we had two annual road course stops each season. Sonoma in June and Watkins Glen in August. That was it. Now, four years later, we have seven stops. Yes, seven.

The announcement adds a new twist to an already overhauled 2021 Cup Series schedule, which was unveiled Sept. 30. The seven road courses next season are the Daytona Road Course, Circuit of the Americas (May 23), Sonoma Raceway (June 6), Road America (July 4), Watkins Glen International (Aug. 8), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (Aug. 15) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Oct. 10).

19 percent of the schedule will take place on road courses. It was .5 percent in 2017. Furthermore, six of those seven road courses will take place during the 26 race regular season. That’s 23 percent of the regular season being on road courses.

Throw in a dirt race at Bristol and three superspeedway’s and you get 10 of the 26 races (38%) during the regular season being wildcard events.

That will be shape what will be a wild 2021 season.

NASCAR Adapting Again, Shows Why We’re Not Out Of The Woods For More Changes

This maneuver shows just how important the gameplan that NASCAR put together last year to survive a pandemic was. When adversity is already starting to hit for 2021, NASCAR has a plan swifty in place. It’s not shocking that Fontana can’t run, but NASCAR already has a Plan B – Daytona road course.

That August decision to race on the Daytona road course without practice or qualifying helped make this move now. All those plans and homework put in place last year has allowed them to bob and weave their ways to be able to get 2021 off the ground even if the pandemic is still rearing its ugly head.

But, this also goes to show you why this may not be the only change ahead. I think we all got ahead of ourselves again in thinking 2021 would be different than 2020. This further proves that point.

At least early in the season, NASCAR will had to adapt. February will be a Florida month for them. We know Vegas can run behind closed doors as they did in the Fall. Phoenix had around 8k for the championship race last month. Those plans can be used again if needed.

Then, you get back to the southeast for Atlanta, Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond and Talladega to get us through April.

NASCAR’s plans and how they aligned the 2021 schedule shows you the brilliance of it. But, don’t expect full crowds at either of these events too. NASCAR surely has a plan to get us through this just as they did for 2020.

Speedweeks Is Back

Initially, it appeared that Daytona Speedweeks was going to just be Speedweek. Instead of multiple weeks of being in Daytona, the 2021 activity was shortened to six days. It all started Tuesday for the Clash, Wednesday for Daytona 500 qualifying, Thursday for the Duels, Friday for the Truck Race, Saturday for the Xfinity and ARCA races and Sunday for the Daytona 500. Now, they get an another week after all.

Following that will be three straight days of racing on the road course the next weekend. The Truck race, Xfinity race and Cup race will take place on Friday-Saturday-Sunday a week later.

Speedweeks is back in a different form.