Fansided

10 Cup Series races will be 2-day weekends, starting at Martinsville

By Nick Tylwalk

MARTINSVILLE, VA - APRIL 02: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, pits during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 2, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
MARTINSVILLE, VA - APRIL 02: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, pits during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 2, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The STP 500 this weekend at Martinsville Speedway will be the first of 10 Cup Series stops to give teams an extra day off.

NASCAR teams and fans are used to a pretty traditional cadence on Cup Series race weekends. Practice and qualifying on Friday, some final practice on Saturday and then the race on Sunday. But NASCAR has been working to ease the burden on teams by reducing some of the series stops to make them two-day affairs, squeezing all of the Cup qualifying and practice into just one day.

The trade-off, of course, is that tracks tend to need those stars around as many days as possible, which is why NASCAR has taken to calling these two-day weekends and “enhanced schedule format.” It’s a bit of branding/marketing speak, but it does emphasize the idea that NASCAR and the tracks are doing other things with the Cup Series drivers on Fridays to make sure fans have a reason to come out besides, in the case of Martinsville this weekend, just watching the Trucks Series competitors practice.

As it stands, NASCAR announced today that 10 races would get the enhanced or two-day schedules, beginning this Sunday with the STP 500. Those race weekends are:

  • Martinsville Speedway – March 24-25
  • Kansas Speedway – May 11-12
  • Chicagoland Speedway – June 30-July 1
  • Kentucky Speedway – July 13-14
  • Pocono Raceway – July 28-29
  • Watkins Glen International – Aug. 4-5
  • Bristol Motor Speedway – Aug. 17-18
  • Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Sept. 8-9
  • Talladega Superspeedway – Oct. 13-14
  • Martinsville Speedway – Oct. 27-28

Why these particular races? Well, for eight of them, they fall on weekends where only two of NASCAR’s top three series are at that track. Five of them are Cup Series/Truck Series, while three others are Cup/XFINITY (and yes, the trucks are at Bristol the week of the night race, but they race there on Wednesday, so we’re counting it).

The exceptions are Chicagoland and Kentucky, which will welcome all three series on consecutive days like many other stops on the 2018 schedule, so it’s not immediately apparent why those tracks are on the two-day bandwagon.

Next: STP 500 entry list for Martinsville

In any case, teams seem to dig the idea even though some drivers have pointed out the enhanced schedule doesn’t really give them a whole extra day off, just some additional hours to themselves or with their families. That’s still probably welcome during the lengthy NASCAR season, and splitting the difference between people who want to be at the track and see something fun all three days and cutting fans a break who want to spend money for one less day, while tricky, is definitely worth trying.

Home/NASCAR