NASCAR releases 2022 Cup Series Schedule

It’s been a long wait, yet another anticipated one for the NASCAR Cup Series schedule release.

The series announced today that it is set to take on a 38-week, one off-weekend schedule with the usual 36 regular season races paired with the Busch Clash (February 5) and All-Star Race (June 12) in 2022.

Highlights

The Busch Clash will again open the season for NASCAR’s annual exhibition race that used to be held in Daytona ahead of the Daytona 500. In 2022, the race moves to the west, as NASCAR takes on the Los Angeles Coliseum – home of the USC Trojans college football team. That race will take place on Saturday, February 5 during the open week between the NFL’s conference championships and Super Bowl.

The Daytona 500 will mark the start of the 2022 season on Sunday, February 20 – one week after the Super Bowl.

Auto Club Speedway in California will then host its final race on the current configuration, before converting the track into a short oval over the course of the 2022 calendar year. There’s no shortage of storylines three races in.

On March 20, fans will get their first look at the new Atlanta Motor Speedway configuration that the track announced earlier this year. It will remain with two races on the 2022 schedule.

In April, NASCAR will see its first traditional night race at Martinsville Speedway since the track added lights around it. It will be a regular Saturday night showing and one could hope the latter portion of its playoff race gets to see some lights, too.

The weekend after, the series will return to the Bristol Dirt Track for another Sunday date, only this time it is being noted as a night race. This should help alleviate a portion of the issues we saw in ’21.

In June, Gateway is finally set to host its first NASCAR Cup Series race ever. The series is looking to bulk up its action in the Midwest and this move had been a long time coming. The tour will go to Sonoma the week after, before the only off-weekend on the entirety of the schedule.

The Indianapolis Road Course, as previously said, will stay on the schedule with no return of the Brickyard oval in sight for the time being. IMS has however said it would like to begin talks for NASCAR to return to the oval at the track, per Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press.

Daytona’s Coca Cola sponsored 400-mile night race will remain the final race of the regular season.

In the playoffs, the general gist stays the same but some things got moved around. Kansas and Texas move out of the Round of 8 into the first two rounds. Richmond is out of the playoffs. Homestead is in. Bristol, the Roval, and Martinsville will play as the cutoff races.

The series championship will be November 6, 2022 at Phoenix.