NASCAR Announces 2012 Sprint Cup Schedule

NASCAR announced today its 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, with a lineup featuring a number of adjustments from 2011. One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs -– the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup -– and could affect 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, the Talladega event currently falls 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 begin one week later next year, 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 also been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other adjustments have been made 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 and Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends. The July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year, and Kentucky’s race take place on June 30, with Daytona set for July 7.

As in past seasons, 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.

“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.”

NASCAR is expected to release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series within the next two weeks.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE
2/18 Daytona International Speedway (Shootout) FOX
2/19 Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500 Qualifying) FOX
2/23 Daytona International Speedway (Duel) SPEED
2/26 Daytona 500 FOX
3/4 Phoenix International Raceway FOX
3/11 Las Vegas Motor Speedway FOX
3/18 Bristol Motor Speedway FOX
3/25 Auto Club Speedway FOX
4/1 Martinsville Speedway FOX
4/14 Texas Motor Speedway FOX
4/22 Kansas Speedway FOX
4/28 Richmond International Raceway FOX
5/6 Talladega Superspeedway FOX
5/12 Darlington Raceway FOX
5/19 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Charlotte Motor Sp.) SPEED
5/27 Charlotte Motor Speedway FOX
6/3 Dover International Speedway FOX
6/10 Pocono Raceway TNT
6/17 Michigan International Speedway TNT
6/24 Infineon Raceway TNT
6/30 Kentucky Speedway TNT
7/7 Daytona International Speedway TNT
7/15 New Hampshire Motor Speedway TNT
7/29 Indianapolis Motor Speedway ESPN
8/5 Pocono Raceway ESPN
8/12 Watkins Glen International ESPN
8/19 Michigan International Speedway ESPN
8/25 Bristol Motor Speedway ABC
9/2 Atlanta Motor Speedway ESPN
9/8 Richmond International Raceway ABC
9/16 Chicagoland Speedway ESPN
9/23 New Hampshire Motor Speedway ESPN
9/30 Dover International Speedway ESPN
10/7 Talladega Superspeedway ESPN
10/13 Charlotte Motor Speedway ABC
10/21 Kansas Speedway ESPN
10/28 Martinsville Speedway ESPN
11/4 Texas Motor Speedway ESPN
11/11 Phoenix International Raceway ESPN
11/18 Homestead-Miami Speedway ESPN