Hello? There's no Racing News down here. Where ya off to? Bob, this doesn't look good... Are you lost... The blue dot on the GPS won't help you here. It's probably too late to turn back now anyway. Baby Jessica, it appears you've fallen into the well. Like a mummy at night fightin' with bright lightnin'. I'm not here to save you. I'm just here for the ride. So, let me entertain you and everything will be fine. Have you had it up to here? That's Rock Bottom. Click here to exit the well.<doc-sep>NASCAR made the first significant changes to its schedule in years by shuffling the 2020 season into a freshened new sequence that tries to meet the wants of fans to the best of its current ability. The 2020 schedule was released Tuesday at ISM Raceway outside Phoenix, which will host the season finale. Indianapolis Motor Speedway got July 5th to give the iconic track back-to-back summer holiday weekends. Daytona gave up its traditional and often rain-wrecked July 4th weekend for the final race of the regular season, when the playoff field will be completed. Pocono Raceway will run both its 400-mile races on back-to-back June afternoons, Martinsville Speedway got a Mother's Day race under the lights and also a slot in the playoffs — one of three short tracks featured in NASCAR's 10-race playoffs. Even better for Martinsville, it got the penultimate race for the championship finale. Bristol and Richmond short tracks both joined the playoffs, as did Darlington Raceway. The season ends one week shorter than usual, but still includes 38 events that run from a Feb. 9 exhibition race at Daytona through the finale on Nov. 8 at renovated ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix. That includes consecutive weekends off for the first time in the modern era so that NBC Sports can focus on the Tokyo Olympics. NASCAR CHANGES RULES AFTER EMBARRASSING QUALIFYING FIASCO Charlotte Motor Speedway retained the All-Star race, but Speedway Motorsports chairman Marcus Smith told The Associated Press he was amenable to moving the event to Nashville in 2021. Smith said IndyCar was also welcome to negotiate doubleheader weekends with a handful of SMI-owned tracks, among them are Las Vegas during its new playoff date in late September that offers cooler temperatures than last year's sun-roasted playoff opener. IndyCar has not raced at Las Vegas since Dan Wheldon's fatal 2011 accident there. Smith also welcomed talks with IndyCar on the "Roval" at Charlotte Motor Speedway and as a NASCAR companion to Texas during its fall event. IndyCar's aims each year to end its season earlier than any of Smith's ideas for SMI-owned tracks. Although he is open to doubleheaders with IndyCar as soon as next season, Smith was a firm 'No' on midweek races. Fans have asked more short tracks, road courses, and even dirt track Eldora Speedway to be added to the stagnant annual schedule. NASCAR was handcuffed by five-year sanction agreements with its existing track partners and won't have the flexibility to add new venues to the schedule until the contracts expire in time for the 2021 schedule. It meant NASCAR could only swap its existing partners to the interests that suited all the parties involved. There have been calls for midweek races, but Smith was firm in that it was not a financial risk he was willing to make with one of the eight SMI venues with Cup races. He would have done a doubleheader, but said he believes it should be a unique event and special to Pocono. SMI scored victories in moving Atlanta into a weather-friendlier date in March, as well as the first visit to Texas moving a week after hunting season opens. Bristol is now the first elimination race of the playoffs, while the roval at Charlotte is the eliminating race of the second round of the playoffs. Las Vegas also follows the Feb. 16 Daytona 500 as the first race of NASCAR annual trip West. International Speedway Corp., the company controlled by the NASCAR-owning France Family, moved the season finale to ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix. The company just spent more than $175 million renovating the facility and there hasn't been enough of a buzz worth keeping the event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The track has hosted the final race since 2002 and the Cup series champion has been the race winner since the current format was introduced in 2014. ISC shoved a race there in March, a month few track operators want because of weather concerns that shouldn't be as big an issue in the Miami area. Martinsville is perhaps the big winner with not only a race under its new lights system, but a race that will decide the championship field of four. The playoffs now begin at Darlington on Sept. 6, go to Richmond, Bristol, Las Vegas, Talladega, Charlotte, Kansas, Texas, Martinsville then finally ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix.<doc-sep>No less than six major changes were announced to the 2020 schedule with one of the most surprising being the season finale being moved from Homestead-Miami Speedway to ISM Raceway near Phoenix. Homestead has hosted the final race of the season since 2002. “I think first it's important to note Miami/Homestead has been a terrific host for the championship, but I think equally as important has put on tremendous racing,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “Having full confidence that that will continue allowed us to make a change in the championship. “Fox was very interested in having Miami as part of their schedule of events as well. We're really able to enhance the spring portion of our schedule, also rotate the championship, more driven from a competitive standpoint.” Another notable change is the move of Daytona from its July 4 weekend spot to become the finale of the regular season. The second Daytona race was held every July 4 from 1959 until 1988 and then held the weekend day closest to July 4 ever since. “When we talked to the industry, the industry, really drivers and teams, wanted Daytona to end the regular season,” said O’Donnell. “They thought that was the best date to open up the season with the Daytona 500, then end the regular season with that last chance to get into the Playoffs. “Everyone felt Daytona belonged there and that track deserved to potentially be on that date. Then as you look at July 4 being a traditional weekend around NASCAR in general, obviously needed an iconic venue to fill that slot.” The iconic venue will be Indianapolis Motor Speedway which will take over the date during the nation’s holiday weekend. O’Donnell also discussed the other big change in the schedule and a first in the history of NASCAR’s top division - a doubleheader weekend at one facility. Pocono Raceway, which historically held both of its Cup Series dates within five or six weeks of one another every summer, will now become the first track to host back-to-back races over the same weekend. “Our TV partners have wanted to look at the concept of a doubleheader,” said O’Donnell. “We obviously talked to a number of our venues to see what may or may not work. Nick Igdalsky was very willing to take a shot at this. “We thought it was a terrific venue to pull this off in terms of the number of folks that not only attend that race, but go and camp, make a three‑day weekend out of it. If we could provide some more content, we thought it would be great.” The schedule changes also include a two-week summer break for the Cup series in 2020, during which NBC will be televising the Olympics. The calendar movement will also have the season conclude on Nov. 8, about two weeks earlier than in recent seasons. From the editor, also read: NASCAR makes radical changes to schedule for 2020 While the changes may be considered drastic, O’Donnell said this could just be the beginning. The 2020 season is the final year of the five-year sanctioning agreements, which could open the door for even more changes in 2021. “I think some of the moves were made thinking ahead,” said O’Donnell. “We still have a lot to look at for 2021. I think a lot of the tracks with kind of the iconic dates or if we move some of those, we want to try to stick with as much as possible. “We did make some of these moves in anticipation of where could we be in the future, for sure.”<doc-sep>The NASCAR world has been demanding changes to the 36-race, February-to-November schedule for what feels like forever. The drivers wanted the “stale” schedule to be updated to include things like weekday races in the summer and to rotate the Cup Series finale, which has been at Homestead-Miami Speedway since 2002. NASCAR announced changes to the 2020 schedule Tuesday afternoon, and the reaction was mixed. A lot of fans seemed pretty pumped about Martinsville Speedway now being a night race in the spring, and Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway joining the playoff schedule. But they’re not sure about some other adjustments. Among the biggest changes, the last race of the season will be at the newly renovated ISM Raceway near Phoenix instead of being the penultimate race and the last-chance qualifier for the Championship 4 event. It doesn’t seem like a great idea to move the championship race from Florida to the other side of the country and like the decision was made simply because Phoenix got a makeover. For 18 years — including 2019 — Homestead’s lone race was for the title, and it became synonymous with that. The chatter in the garage was often about how they’re going to get to Homestead, a 1.5-mile intermediate track that didn’t seem to favor any one driver. That’s not quite the case now. Other big changes include moving the summer Daytona International Speedway race from the Fourth of July (give or take) to the end of August, making it the final regular-season race and last chance for drivers to qualify for the 10-race, 16-driver playoffs. That’s certainly spicing things up a bit. Bristol will be the first cutoff race when the field is whittled down from 16 to 12 drivers, and the West Coast swing will begin immediately after the season-opening Daytona 500, which bumps the Atlanta Motor Speedway race down to the fifth race of the season. And since Homestead is no longer the championship race, it will follow Atlanta for a March 22 race. Pocono Raceway will host back-to-back races for the Cup Series on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, which is kind of a weird move but it also helps ensure the season will end in November a weekend earlier than it usually does. However, as my astute colleague Nick Schwartz pointed out, how much equipment does that mean teams will have to bring to that race weekend? What happens if they wreck at the Tricky Triangle in the first race? Here’s a look at how drivers, media members and fans reacted to the changes to the 2020 Cup Series schedule. The drivers seem fairly into it too, and they haven’t been afraid to speak up or criticize the schedule in the past. We gave a few friends an early look at the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. 😉@Blaney | @joeylogano pic.twitter.com/nrFbF5HMJO — NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 26, 2019 Awesome job @nascar on shuffling that schedule around for next year. Now that y’all got that done and announced, let’s get back to the drawing board for the future (preferably including @FGSpeedway among others) #MoreShortTracks — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 26, 2019 This is what I’m talking about! Schedule changes to refresh our sport. Everybody will be booking their @NASCAR races in advance! Applause… Cheers… 🌟 Let’s double down on military tickets now! — Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) March 26, 2019 Pumped about the 2020 schedule it looks crazy pic.twitter.com/SAKW1BxKIm — Austin Dillon (@austindillon3) March 26, 2019 Innovative! Those cut-off races will be wild. Looking forward to a new rotation next year. https://t.co/CscSeNL8Gm — William Byron (@WilliamByron) March 26, 2019 Live look at @JoeGibbsRacing after the release of the 2020 schedule finale. 😂 @CBellRacing pic.twitter.com/D40laps90W — Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) March 26, 2019 I like most of changes. Like the playoff schedule altho hope ISM races better than spring. Like Pocono doubleheader attempt. Like Martinsville night. Meh west coast swing as it benefits industry more than fans. Don't love Indy to July 4. Mixed on Daytona as regular-season finale — Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 26, 2019 Cutoff races are Bristol, Roval and Martinsville Nice 😎 https://t.co/TJdf0WY6L7 — Alan Cavanna (@CopaCavanna) March 26, 2019 With the prevalence of 1.5-mile tracks on the Cup slate and the fair and entertaining test that is Homestead, NASCAR swapping Homestead for Phoenix as the 2020 finale is like remodeling a house, adding a cool media room and new bathrooms but somehow making the kitchen a lot worse — Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) March 26, 2019 Kudos to @NASCAR on the schedule change. Playoffs are gonna be awesome! pic.twitter.com/BI3q4FZEW6 — Lance Gidcumb™ (@SirLanceALot89) March 26, 2019 what NASCAR just did to the schedule… pic.twitter.com/l3KIev6G4p — Victor Vallee (@Victor_Vallee) March 26, 2019 Wow nascar actually did something right! The 2020 schedule is beyond amazing! -All 4 crown jewel races now have a special date. -Martinsville is FINALLY under the lights! -2nd Daytona race is regular season finale! -Bristol night is now a playoff cut off! I LOVE IT ALL! — DTWD (@M_Champ4) March 26, 2019 🤔I’m gonna be in the minority here as far as schedule changes go but double header pocono weekend?…..ehmmm I’m not feelin that one #nascar — Smeef (steve) (@blacksabbath92) March 26, 2019 2020 #NASCAR Schedule: Likes: Atlanta in March, Martinsville night race, Pocono Doubleheader, Daytona reg. season finale, Darlington & Bristol in the Playoffs. Dislikes: Homestead in March, October Talladega still not a cutoff race. Overall, I'm satisfied. New tracks in 2021! — x- Matthew Lewis (@mlew1swx21222) March 26, 2019 NASCAR took a awesome July 4th weekend race and took it to quite possibly the worst track on the circuit for cup cars!!! Way to build up viewerships — David (@dparish83) March 26, 2019 Really like the changes to the 2020 @nascar schedule. It’s great to be a part of sport willing to listen to its stakeholders and continue to try things to make the sport better! #nascar https://t.co/TVP5ek5gfg — Jeremy Lange (@JLange13) March 26, 2019 I applaud @NASCAR for finally changing the schedule as much as they could. With the contract crap they're stuck in, they did the absolute best they could to create more excitement.<doc-sep>
NASCAR unveiled a retooled 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule on Tuesday, releasing a 36-race slate that includes a reimagined Playoffs and new locations for both the Championship Race and the regular-season finale among several other changes. For the first time since 2002, the premier series finale will have a new host track – the 1-mile ISM Raceway at Phoenix, which recently completed a $178 million renovation project designed to improve the fan experience, and one which included a reconfiguration for the track’s start/finish line. ISM Raceway has hosted the Round of 8 finale since the introduction of the NASCAR Playoffs elimination format in 2014, and it has served as the penultimate race of the season every year since 2005. To get to the title race in Phoenix, though, NASCAR Cup Series drivers must navigate a 10-race postseason that will see short tracks and a road course host the elimination races. RELATED: More on ISM hosting Championship Race The Playoffs will open Sept. 6 at historic Darlington Raceway, whose throwback weekend has become a staple of late summer. The opening round ends at Bristol Motor Speedway under the lights, with one of the most anticipated races of the year moving from its traditional August date to Sept. 19. The Charlotte road course remains an elimination race after its thrilling debut last year, but in the Round of 12 instead of the Round of 16. With ISM Raceway moving to the championship race, the vacancy for the Round of 8 finale slides to Martinsville Speedway. The shortest and oldest track on the NASCAR circuit has a history of producing plenty of drama in its previous high-stakes Playoffs races, something sure to amp up even more with drivers having just one final chance to clinch a spot in the Championship 4. “The fans and the industry as a whole have been vocal about the desire for sweeping changes to the schedule, and the 2020 slate is a reflection of our efforts to execute against that feedback,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “These changes are the result of unprecedented consensus-building with our race tracks and broadcast partners; something we look to continue into 2021 and beyond.” MORE: Daytona brings ultimate wild-card Before the postseason, the Playoffs field will be fully set and finalized in the new-look regular-season finale at historic Daytona International Speedway, a race sure to throw a dash of unpredictability into the postseason picture. Known for close-quarters racing and dramatic finishes during its second race of the season under the lights, the World Center of Racing has had a number of underdog winners in its history. Drivers could see their postseason standings drastically improve — or falter — at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in a prime-time Saturday night race on Aug. 29. RELATED: Playoffs rebuilt for 2020 “Quite fittingly, the birthplace of NASCAR will host the bookend races to the 2020 regular season,” O’Donnell said. “Racing in Daytona – particularly in the summer under the lights – never fails in delivering intense and unpredictable action. There’s no question this venue will create some incredible drama as drivers make one last push for a playoff spot.” Other notable changes to the 2020 schedule are: • A summer stretch includes a doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway that will see back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series races on the same weekend. The first such instance in the NASCAR modern era, this doubleheader on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, also ensures the season ends one week earlier on Nov. 8. RELATED: More on doubleheader weekend Additional summer changes include a Cup Series race on Father’s Day, which recently has been an off weekend for the premier series. Chicagoland Speedway hosts the event, the first in the NBC portion of the schedule. With the Daytona summer race moving to the end of the regular season, Indianapolis Motor Speedway will serve as host of the July 4th weekend, a cornerstone on the NASCAR schedule. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, July 5. “We enjoyed collaborating with NASCAR and their track partners to create what we think will be our most exciting schedule yet in 2020,” said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN.