Wednesday September 15, 2021 by Julie Bouchard
NASCAR officials released the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule on Wednesday, revealing new events and track rotation date adjustments in the season-ending playoffs.
The World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is the only site that has never presented a Cup race yet added to the program of the 36 events of the season. The 1.25-mile oval located in Madison, Ill., On the edge of Missouri and the city of St. Louis, has already hosted Xfinity and Camping World Truck events in recent years, but next year will mark its debut in the presentation of a round of the premier series of NASCAR. This addition of Gateway to the calendar removes an event at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. The last few seasons, it was the only double schedule of the season, at the end of June, and it becomes a single event (July 24) in 2022.
The drivers will play in the next generation (Next Gen) cars next season in the NASCAR Premier Division. The first championship event that will see these new cars on track will of course be the traditional Daytona 500 on February 20. The season will end on November 6 at the Phoenix Raceway. This will be the third time in a row that the small Arizona oval has hosted the season finale.
The three new tracks integrated into the 2021 season, namely the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the Nashville Superspeedway and Road America (Elkhart Lake road circuit in Wisconsin), will all be back in 2022, as will the transformation of the Bristol Motor. Clay speedway and use of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road circuit instead of the Oval.
Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Is set to return to the calendar after a two-year absence. The event, scheduled for February 27, restores a three-race streak to the West Coast, with Las Vegas and Phoenix. The event is scheduled to be contested on the 2 mile D-shaped track in Fontana, California. Competition officials have studied the redevelopment of the facility into a short track, but the green light for such a project has not been returned.
The biggest novelty however lies in the presentation of a non-championship race, the famous Clash. It will no longer take place in Daytona but at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (photo above). It will be a temporary, quarter-mile oval track, and the race premieres on February 6. Eligibility criteria and race procedures will be announced at a later date.
Meanwhile, Homestead-Miami Speedway is reverting to a playoff race, the 1.5-mile Florida Oval will be a round of 16 on October 23. It takes the place of the Richmond Raceway, which thus leaves the calendar of the playoffs after four years of presence, but retains a date on the regular calendar, August 14.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway will swap playoff spots, with the Fort Worth track opening the 12 round on September 25 and Vegas passing the 8 round on October 16. Kansas is also making the playoffs earlier, as of 9/11.
Ben Kennedy, senior vice president of strategy and innovation at NASCAR also indicated that the calendars for the Xfinity and Camping World Truck series will be announced in two to three weeks. He also specified that this type of calendar would be brought to evolve further in the coming years, thus opening the door for other sites to be part of the rotation to present a race of the playoffs. “I think, having said that, that in 2023 and beyond the opportunity for us to run some playoff venues will be something we’re definitely going to look at,” he concluded.
CALENDRIER NASCAR CUP 2022
Sunday February 6: Clash at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, California
Thursday February 17: Duels – Daytona 500 qualifying races, Florida
Sunday February 20: Daytona 500, Florida
Sunday February 27: Fontana, California
Sunday March 6: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada
Sunday March 13: Phoenix, Arizona
Sunday March 20: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Georgia
Sunday March 27: Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas *
Sunday April 3: Richmond Raceway, Virginia
Saturday April 9: Martinsville, Virginia
Sunday April 17: Bristol (clay), Tennessee
Sunday April 24: Talladega, Alabama
Dimanche 1er mai: Dover, Delaware
Sunday May 8: Darlington, South Carolina
Sunday May 15: Kansas Motor Spedway, Kansas
Dimanche 22 mai : All-Star (Texas Motor Speedway, Texas)
Sunday May 29: Charlotte, North Carolina
Sunday June 5: World Wide Technology Raceway – Gateway, Illinois
Sunday June 12: Sonoma, California *
Sunday June 26: Nashville Superspeedway, Tennessee
Sunday July 3: Road America, Wisconsin *
Sunday July 10: Atlanta Motor Spedway, Georgia
Sunday July 17: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, New Hampshire
Sunday July 24: Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania
Sunday July 31: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana *
Sunday August 7: Brooklyn, Michigan
Sunday August 14: Richmond, Virginia
Sunday August 21: Watkins Glen, New York *
Saturday August 27: Daytona, Florida
Sunday September 4: Darlington, South Carolina
Sunday September 11: Kansas Motor Spedway, Kansas
Saturday September 17: Bristol, Tennessee
Sunday September 25: Texas Motor Speedway, Texas
Sunday October 2: Talladega, Alabama
Sunday October 9: Charlotte (Roval), North Carolina *
Sunday October 16: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada
Sunday October 23: Homestead-Miami, Florida
Sunday October 30: Martinsville, Virginia
Sunday November 6: Phoenix, Arizona
* Indicates races on road circuits.
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