While the complete 2027 NASCAR Cup Series schedule has yet to be released, enough tracks have already announced dates for next year that you can sort of put the pieces together.
The biggest change so far is that the Wheatley Vodka Clash will move from Bowman Gray Stadium back to Daytona International Speedway, and it will be eight days before the Daytona 500 instead of 14. Also, the Daytona 500 is a week later this year, on Feb. 21, so that, along with the Clash move, means the upcoming offseason will be two weeks longer. Hallelujah!
Unfortunately, that also means the season will likely go one week later into November. While the date and location of the 2027 championship race have yet to be announced, The Athletic reported that the Southern 500 will be the Chase cutoff race next year, and if you count 10 weeks from that, you get Nov. 14 as the final race.
Outside of those and a couple of tracks swapping around dates — such as North Wilkesboro Speedway likely becoming the All-Star Race and Dover Motor Speedway going back to a points race — the 2027 schedule is going to look a lot like this year’s. Really, the biggest question mark at this point is whether Cup returns to Chicagoland Speedway, races on the streets of Chicago again or both.
While I appreciate the diversity of the schedule compared to a decade ago, it’s still hard to get excited for next year’s lineup, especially when it’s going to once again comprise 38 weekends out of the year. NASCAR oversaturated itself when it expanded to 36 points races with two exhibitions 25 years ago, and the schedule can’t shrink for at least the length of the current TV deal.
Hopefully in the next TV deal, the schedule will shrink down a bit. Just 30 points races and one or two exhibitions would be the sweet spot, and that was around the number NASCAR had during its 1990s boom. However, I’d settle for reducing it all by two weeks. Again, though, that’s not a conversation worth having until the current media-rights deal expires at the end of 2031.
However, there are ways NASCAR can still have 38 race dates and make the schedule feel shorter over the next five seasons. Next year is almost too set in stone to make changes that would make the season feel shorter, but one thing NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports could do is schedule the All-Star Race as a midweek race.
With it likely being at Wilkesboro, that race could be the Thursday night heading into the Coca-Cola 600. Wilkesboro has so few seats that it could still sell out a midweek race, and having that race as part of Memorial Day weekend would give NASCAR the opportunity to have a third off week.
Boy, would that be nice. The problem is FOX would probably object to its final race of the season being a midweek race, and Prime Video would be taking over just a few days later. If NASCAR could overcome that hurdle, it’d go a long way to keep the season fresh.
It wouldn’t have helped shorten the season, but having an off-week last week when hardly any other sports were going on felt like a missed opportunity. That off-week should’ve been in the fall instead — maybe the second weekend of September to avoid going head to head against week one of the NFL. I assume the off-week will be around the same time next season, which is going to be an even bigger missed opportunity with Major League Baseball likely headed toward a strike season. However, with the Southern 500 being the likely landing spot of the Chase cutoff, that ship has already sailed.
From 2028-31, though, there are a lot more options out there to give the illusion of a shorter schedule. For one, NASCAR has mentioned for years it’d like an international race. Let’s schedule an exhibition international race sometime in December or January, making a third non-points race and reducing the number of points races to 35.
Having that race in the offseason would really give it the chance to stand on its own while not adding too much to the grind of the rest of the schedule. Most importantly, the heart of the schedule would then have a fourth off-week if you include the two current ones and the ASR adjustment mentioned earlier, or the season could end a week sooner.
Another thing NASCAR could try to do is pack more races into the summer. It tried a doubleheader at Pocono Raceway a few years ago, and while the fans packed the venue, the Saturday TV ratings weren’t great. I don’t expect FOX, NBC, USA or even TNT to try a doubleheader, but maybe Prime would. Perhaps the way to go, then, isn’t a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader, but a Thursday-Sunday one. Prime is already great at getting people to watch Thursday Night Football. It could use similar branding and everything in trying out Thursday Night NASCAR for one of its five races.
Finally, maybe the Pocono doubleheader didn’t work from a ratings perspective because it was two races at the same track. If SMI can ever work out a way to race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, it should try a doubleheader of that and Nashville Superspeedway. More people tune in for new events, so that could help offset the viewers lost in having a midweek/doubleheader race. If a summer doubleheader or midweek race could be pulled off, boom, there’s a fifth off-week, or the season could end a week or two sooner.
Maybe NASCAR is already sitting on ideas way better than any of those mentioned to condense the schedule, but the point remains that something needs to be done in future years to keep the schedule fresh and from feeling like a 38-week slog.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
Frankly, Mergers and Acquisitions would be a Worry. I would feel better if the Coca Cola 600 or the Brickyard 400 was Racing to the Front of the Dial Quicker than the T28!
Why on earth with a 38 weekend schedule are any of these races exhibitions? I’ve never understood that. With the NFL expansion, and the desire to go to other countries to boost interest in the that country’s Nascar series, why not use the old Clash slot, the week before the Superbowl, to run in Mexico or Brazil? They have the time to transport to and from, and all you give up is the foolish notion that Nascar’s Superbowl “starts the season,” which has zero marketing value for the event or the series. The All Star isn’t an all star race because everybody is in it. The only intrigue, as lame as it is, is the fan vote to see who gets in the main event. They are stuck with 38 events for the rest of the TV deal…use them more wisely. PS Getting out the schedule quickly, even if piecemeal, is very much appreciated. Your customers have to plan, too.