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NASCAR announced today the 2012 schedule for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with a lineup featuring a number of adjustments from the 2011 edition.
“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”
One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.
Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.
As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18.
The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.
The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.
Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:
· Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.
· Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.
As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.
NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.
No. Date Race - 18-Feb Shootout - 23-Feb Duel 1 - 23-Feb Duel 2 1 26-Feb Daytona 2 4-Mar Phoenix 3 11-Mar Las Vegas 4 18-Mar Bristol 5 25-Mar Fontana 6 1-Apr Martinsville 7 14-Apr Texas 8 22-Apr Kansas 9 28-Apr Richmond 10 6-May Talladega 11 12-May Darlington - 19-May Showdown - 19-May All-Star 12 27-May Charlotte 13 3-Jun Dover 14 10-Jun Pocono 15 17-Jun Michigan 16 24-Jun Sonoma 17 30-Jun Kentucky 18 7-Jul Daytona 19 15-Jul Loudon 20 29-Jul Indianapolis 21 5-Aug Pocono 22 12-Aug Watkins Glen 23 19-Aug Michigan 24 25-Aug Bristol 25 2-Sep Atlanta 26 8-Sep Richmond 27 16-Sep Chicago 28 23-Sep Loudon 29 30-Sep Dover 30 7-Oct Talladega 31 13-Oct Charlotte 32 21-Oct Kansas 33 28-Oct Martinsville 34 4-Nov Texas 35 11-Nov Phoenix 36 18-Nov Homestead
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