The 2024 NASCAR schedule was unveiled on Wednesday as well as start times and networks for the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. NASCAR will etch another first into the record books in 2024 when the Cup Series visits Iowa Speedway in the nation’s Heartland, the latest installment in a trend that has seen Cup Series debuts at the Chicago Street Race, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and World Wide Technology Raceway – among other venues – in recent years.
The 7/8-mile short track in Newton, Iowa hosted the Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series from 2009 to 2019, but this time the sport’s biggest stars in the Cup Series will head to Iowa on Sunday, June 16, 2024, airing live on USA Network at 7 p.m. ET.
“NASCAR is committed to delivering an annual schedule that continues to be bold and dynamic across all three national series while maintaining the famed destinations that our fans love,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy. “The 2024 NASCAR National Series schedules strike a great balance between visiting many of our traditional tracks that continue to put on a great show, and newer locations like our first Cup race in Iowa and our highly anticipated return to the streets of Chicago that create ‘bucket list’ moments and attract new fans to America’s leading motorsport.”
The 2024 Cup Series season will commence with the already announced third installment of the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 4 on FOX and FOX Deportes at 8 p.m. ET. For the first time in Cup Series history, a NASCAR Mexico Series race will precede the main event on Sunday afternoon featuring the most talented drivers from Mexico’s premier motorsports series.
The running of the 66th annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway again marks the start of the Cup Series regular season on Sunday, Feb. 18, airing live on FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET.
No Rest For The Weary
With the 2-week break for the Olympics, NASCAR will use that to pause. As a result, you get 23 straight weeks of racing once we get to the Daytona 500. That’s counting the All-Star race in North Wilkesboro on May 19.
Then, you get 2 weeks off before 14 straight weeks to the finish.
No Dirt
For the first time since 2020, there’s no dirt on the Cup Series schedule either. NASCAR went to Bristol Dirt in 2021, 2022 and 2023 but this time, no dirt.
Same for the Truck Series. This is the first time since 2013 that they’ve had no dirt either. However, Ben Kennedy noted in the media call that NASCAR could end up back on dirt in 2025 and did mention that we could see 1-2 dirt races which I thought was interesting.
Road Course Fad Drying Up
From the mid to late 80s onward, NASCAR would make just two annual stops on road courses. Then came the addition of the Charlotte ROVAL in 2018 to grow this number from 2-3. However, with the trendy pick being to incorporate more road courses into the schedule, NASCAR listened.
By 2021, there were 6 road courses on the schedule. Same for the last two years. Now, all those additions are moving away.
Road America is gone. The Daytona ROVAL. Gone. The Indy ROVAL. Gone. 2024 will feature 5 road courses but 1 of which is on the streets of Chicago.
It’s almost getting back to the way it was with Watkins Glen, Sonoma and the Charlotte ROVAL. However, even the one in Charlotte could be nearing an end. COTA is the only one that’s been added during this fad to remain which leaves road courses just that – a fad.
The problem is, we were all promised on how well this new Next Gen would race on road courses. After all, this car was built for this. Unfortunately, maybe building a car to turn left and right was the problem.
The older car was boxier and tougher to drive on these cars. It wasn’t designed for it. Which maybe as a result, helped spicen up the show because it was chaotic. With this car, they handle obviously far better and as a result of that, there’s far less chaos too.
Atlanta’s New Dates Could Be Expensive
With Daytona once again as the season opener (Feb. 18), instead of heading straight west, they’ll go a bit north to…Atlanta. This isn’t the first time Atlanta is the race following Daytona but this time though they’re similar style tracks with the 1.54-mile track being a superspeedway.
So, to start the season off with drafting tracks is certainly a choice. Both could leave teams without 2-3 cars on their fleet before we even get to race No. 3.
However, later in the season, you have Daytona on Aug. 24 then Atlanta two weeks later. That could be expensive for teams that get up in crashes in these races too.
In saying that, Atlanta now has prime spots on the schedule. The race following the Daytona 500 and the playoff opener. Also, with the playoff opener, September is a much more fan friendly weather conditions than the middle of July too.
Start Of Playoffs Could Be Wild
With Texas and Darlington moving out and Atlanta and Watkins Glen moving in, this could be a potentially wild start to the 2024 playoffs.
Both a superspeedway as well as a road course now in each of the first two rounds.
Round 1 is Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Bristol.
Round 2 is Kansas, Talladega, Charlotte ROVAL.
Round 3 on remains unchanged but it’s those first couple of rounds that could be wild.
Regular Season Finale Back To Drivers’ Hands
NASCAR moved the Daytona summer race to the regular season finale for one reason – to keep the playoff spots open until the very end. Anyone can win at Daytona so why not move it to a more prime spot?
Talladega wasn’t going to give up their playoff date and the Daytona 500 would never move. So, it’s either Atlanta or Daytona’s summer trips to the regular season finale and Daytona made the most sense.
But, with the Olympic break and Darlington needing to say put on Labor Day weekend, Daytona now marks the 25th race, not race No. 26. As a result, the Southern 500 will end the regular season which the drivers will obviously welcome more.
As far as why Daytona wasn’t moved back up was simple. Chicago is contractually tied to July 7. With INDYCAR, Iowa and NBC Sports locked in for July 13-14, Daytona couldn’t run there either. So, for a one-year stint, why do all that moving when you can just keep it the way that it was.
NASCAR Stays On Easter
When NASCAR decided not only to go to Bristol on Easter a few years ago, but to do so on dirt, it was a wild set of circumstances. However, even with moving Bristol back to concrete, they’ll still run on Easter.
Is that because of the two-week Olympic break next summer or do they find this a viable holiday to have?
Wildly enough, it’s worked thus far.
Last year, the Bristol spring race produced over 4-million viewers which was up 28% over 2021 and the highest rated Bristol spring race since 2016. The number peaked at 4.5-million which was the No. 2 watched race last season behind only the Daytona 500. Even the Truck race was up 87% from the previous year with 1.1 million people watching on a Saturday night before Easter. That’s a massive number for Easter Night and Easter weekend in general and one that will show that NASCAR had found something.
This year also had a big rating and big crowd. While it wasn’t the end of summer night race crowd, the 3 years were still bigger crowds each year with bigger ratings too. They overshadowed the dying concrete spring race.
NASCAR noted that the NFL has Thanksgiving and the NBA Christmas Day. Why can’t they have Easter?
Prior to the 2022 season, the last time the series competed on Easter Sunday was March 26, 1989 at Richmond Raceway – the race was rescheduled to the Easter Sunday date after being snowed out from its original date in February. The race was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.
Now, they’ll return to Richmond on Easter. This time, another night race.
On two other occasions – in 1953 at Charlotte Speedway and 1954 at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro – the race was held on Easter Sunday as a make-up date due to rain.
NASCAR Cup Series Races held on Easter Sunday
| Date | Track – Race Winner | Reason for Scheduling on Easter |
| Sunday, April 5, 1953 | Charlotte Speedway – Dick Passwater | Scheduled for March 22, 1953; Postponed due to rain. |
| Sunday, April 18, 1954 | Hillsboro – Herb Thomas | Scheduled for April 11, 1954; Postponed due to rain. |
| Sunday, April 17, 1960 | Wilson Speedway – Joe Weatherly | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, April 2, 1961 | Hillsboro – Cotton Owens | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, April 22, 1962 | Martinsville – Richard Petty | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, April 14, 1963 | South Boston – Richard Petty | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, April 18, 1965 | North Wilkesboro – Jr. Johnson | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, April 6, 1969 | Hickory – Bobby Isaac | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, March 29, 1970 | Atlanta – Bobby Allison | Scheduled Date |
| Sunday, March 26, 1989 | Richmond – Rusty Wallace | Scheduled for February 27, 1989; Postponed due to snow. |
| Sunday, April 17, 2022 | Bristol Dirt – Kyle Busch | Scheduled Date |
In addition, 22 NASCAR Cup Series events have been held on Easter Weekend from Good Friday through Easter Monday (Easter Monday was a public holiday in North Carolina from 1935 to 1987).
The first time NASCAR held a Cup race on Easter Weekend was on April 12, 1952, when the event at Columbia Speedway was held on Saturday. NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker was the race winner.
On Easter weekends in 1964, 1966, & 1967 the NASCAR Cup Series held races on Saturday at Greenville Pickens Speedway and on Monday at Bowman Gray Stadium.
The race held on Easter weekend, Saturday, April 11, 1971, was the first in NASCAR Cup Series history to be broadcast live from start to finish on national television on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
Midwest Swing
June-July is a midwest heavy swing. From St. Louis (June 2) to Iowa (June 16), Nashville (June 30), Chicago (July 7), Pocono (July 14) and Indianapolis (July 21), that’s 6 races all in or near the midwest in an 8-week span.
Perfect Tracks
It’s a welcomed return to the Bristol concrete twice. It’s a welcomed return to the Brickyard 400. Darlington still on Labor Day weekend, two stops there and Atlanta, Iowa making a debut, it’s hard to find a flaw in the scheduling for 2024.
Watkins Glen and Bristol moving to playoff dates and Texas moving out lines up perfectly too.
Texas Has Issues
Once upon a time, Texas rocking and rolling with a successful INDYCAR date and two large NASCAR weekends. Both the spring and playoff races were large. Now, they’re down to one race.
Texas was a part of the original playoff schedule in 2004 but due to the temperatures, a lackluster crowd and going against the Dallas Cowboys, they made the difficult decision to move to a spring date.
As a result, they’re down to one race weekend too.
When they took the spring date away a few years ago, the All-Star race was added. That was a brief two year stay. They took that away but keep the playoff date. Now, by having to move the race weekend up until the spring in April, it left INDYCAR with no choice but to drop them now as well.
As a result, the Texas Motor Speedway has just one race weekend in 2024.
While INDYCAR can have some blame for the lackluster racing package from 2012 on, it also wasn’t all their fault. They went too far backwards on the downforce levels. There’s a finite line with too much or too little downforce. They found out the hard way but worked to improve. The thing is, once they did, Texas did a baffling reconfiguration that didn’t work at all. Then, with adding PJ1 to the track to help force in a second lane, it ruined it for INDYCAR and NASCAR. It made a 1 groove track.
The easiest thing to do is blow it up and start over…
024 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE
| Date | Race / Track | Network | Start Time (ET) | Radio |
| Sunday, February 4 | Clash (L.A. Memorial Coliseum) | FOX | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Thursday, February 15 | Duel at Daytona | FS1 | 7:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, February 18 | DAYTONA 500 | FOX | 2:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, February 25 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | FOX | 3:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, March 3 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | FOX | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, March 10 | Phoenix Raceway | FOX | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, March 17 | Bristol Motor Speedway | FOX | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, March 24 | COTA | FOX | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, March 31 | Richmond Raceway | FOX | 7:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, April 7 | Martinsville Speedway | FS1 | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, April 14 | Texas Motor Speedway | FS1 | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, April 21 | Talladega Superspeedway | FOX | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, April 28 | Dover Motor Speedway | FS1 | 2:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, May 5 | Kansas Speedway | FS1 | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, May 12 | Darlington Raceway | FS1 | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, May 19 | All-Star Race (N. Wilkesboro) | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, May 26 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | FOX | 6:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, June 2 | World Wide Technology Raceway | FS1 | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, June 9 | Sonoma Raceway | FOX | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, June 16 | Iowa Speedway | USA | 7:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, June 23 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | USA | 2:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, June 30 | Nashville Superspeedway | NBC | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, July 7 | Chicago Street Race | NBC | 4:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, July 14 | Pocono Raceway | USA | 2:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, July 21 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | NBC | 2:30 p.m. | IMS/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, August 11 | Richmond Raceway | USA | 6:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, August 18 | Michigan International Speedway | USA | 2:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, August 24 | Daytona International Speedway | NBC | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, September 1 | Darlington Raceway | USA | 6:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, September 8 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | USA | 3:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, September 15 | Watkins Glen International | USA | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, September 21 | Bristol Motor Speedway | USA | 7:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, September 29 | Kansas Speedway | USA | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, October 6 | Talladega Superspeedway | NBC | 2:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, October 13 | Charlotte Roval | NBC | 2:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, October 20 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | NBC | 2:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, October 27 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | NBC | 2:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, November 3 | Martinsville Speedway | NBC | 2:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, November 10 | Phoenix Raceway | NBC | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
2024 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES SCHEDULE
| Date | Race / Track | Network | Start Time (ET) | Radio |
| Saturday, February 17 | Daytona International Speedway | FS1 | 5:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, February 24 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | FS1 | 5:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 2 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | FS1 | 5:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 9 | Phoenix Raceway | FS1 | 4:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 23 | COTA | FS1 | 5:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 30 | Richmond Raceway | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, April 6 | Martinsville Speedway | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, April 13 | Texas Motor Speedway | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, April 20 | Talladega Superspeedway | FOX | 4:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, April 27 | Dover Motor Speedway | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, May 11 | Darlington Raceway | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, May 25 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | FOX | 1:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 1 | Portland International Raceway | FS1 | 4:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 8 | Sonoma Raceway | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 15 | Iowa Speedway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 22 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 29 | Nashville Superspeedway | USA | 5:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, July 6 | Chicago Street Race | NBC | 2:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, July 13 | Pocono Raceway | USA | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, July 20 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | IMS/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, August 17 | Michigan International Speedway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, August 23 | Daytona International Speedway | USA | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, August 31 | Darlington Raceway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, September 7 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | USA | 3:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, September 14 | Watkins Glen International | USA | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, September 20 | Bristol Motor Speedway | USA | 7:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, September 28 | Kansas Speedway | USA | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, October 5 | Talladega Superspeedway | NBC | 3:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, October 12 | Charlotte Roval | USA | 3:30 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, October 19 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | NBC | 3:00 p.m. | PRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, October 26 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | NBC | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, November 2 | Martinsville Speedway | USA | 3:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, November 9 | Phoenix Raceway | USA | 6:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE
| Date | Race / Track | Network | Start Time (ET) | Radio |
| Friday, February 16 | Daytona International Speedway | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, February 24 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | FS1 | 2:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, March 1 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | FS1 | 9:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 16 | Bristol Motor Speedway | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, March 23 | COTA | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, April 5 | Martinsville Speedway | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, April 12 | Texas Motor Speedway | FS1 | 8:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, May 4 | Kansas Speedway | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, May 10 | Darlington Raceway | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, May 18 | North Wilkesboro Speedway | FS1 | 1:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, May 24 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | FS1 | 8:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, June 1 | World Wide Technology Raceway | FOX | 1:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, June 28 | Nashville Superspeedway | FS1 | TBD | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, July 12 | Pocono Raceway | FS1 | 5:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, July 19 | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park | FS1 | 8:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, August 10 | Richmond Raceway | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Sunday, August 25 | Milwaukee Mile Speedway | FS1 | 4:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Thursday, September 19 | Bristol Motor Speedway | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, September 27 | Kansas Speedway | FS1 | 8:30 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, October 4 | Talladega Superspeedway | FS1 | 5:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Saturday, October 26 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | FS1 | Noon | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, November 1 | Martinsville Speedway | FS1 | 6:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
| Friday, November 8 | Phoenix Raceway | FS1 | 8:00 p.m. | MRN/SiriusXM |
Race Review Online 