NASCAR’s 2027 Schedule Is Mostly Familiar. The 2027 Chase Isn’t

WATKINS GLEN, NEW YORK - AUGUST 10: Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 10, 2025 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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NASCAR finally announced its 2027 national touring series schedules Wednesday, and perhaps the biggest surprise was that there were no real surprises.

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That’s because most of where NASCAR will race next season was already well known. Wednesday’s reveal simply served to fill in a few holes.

Normally, NASCAR’s schedule for the following year begins with a press release, quickly followed by a parade of releases from individual tracks celebrating the dates they were awarded.

Instead, those track announcements trickled out over the past few weeks, allowing fans and media outlets to piece together a rough version of the schedule long before NASCAR officially unveiled it.

The final major piece fell into place Tuesday, when NASCAR announced it would return to San Diego to race on the street course around Coronado Island.

Beyond that, we already knew the preseason Clash would return to Daytona; North Wilkesboro would host the All-Star Race rather than a Cup Series points race; and Homestead-Miami Speedway would once again host the season finale.

Instead of Chicagoland Speedway hosting the July 4 weekend, NASCAR will race at Iowa Speedway for the holiday. Chicagoland, meanwhile, will once again serve the market rather than the Chicago Street Race.

The decision to scatter individual track announcements in the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s big reveal rather than roll everything out at once was very intentional, according to NASCAR Cup Series director Brad Moran.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 17: NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran, who was unable to attend the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame ceremony tonight, speaks after receiving his Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 medal, in a ceremony during the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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“We did a little different this year,” Moran said Wednesday. “We wanted to pick some of our events and give some of our tracks some time. They had the opportunity to promote their event and their week, give the media and basically everyone else a little time to chat about it.

“So it was released that way intentionally. We felt we were in a pretty good place, obviously getting the schedule out here before the end of August. It was really just to help out the media, the tracks, get a little hype rather than just get kind of buried in one big announcement.”

Among the revelations Wednesday:

• Dover Motor Speedway returns to a Cup Series points-race date Sunday, May 16, following its 2026 turn as host of the NASCAR All-Star Race.

• World Wide Technology Raceway on Aug. 22, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 28 and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 5 will be the final three regular-season races in the Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series leading into The Chase. Darlington swaps with Daytona as the final cutoff race to determine the Chase fields.

• Pocono Raceway will again feature all three national series during its June 11-13 race weekend.

• The Chase for the Craftsman Truck Series will begin at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 25.

• All three national series will be off during Easter weekend, March 27-28, and again for a summer break Aug. 7-8.

There’s also a bit of a nod to history.

The June race at Michigan International Speedway returns to Father’s Day weekend for the first time since 2017. It’s a spot the track occupied beginning with its first race in 1969.

But the biggest changes come in the final 10 races that will determine NASCAR’s season champions.

Instead of opening The Chase, Darlington will be the final regular-season race for the Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. That is most likely a one-off swap given that the Darlington race traditionally falls on Labor Day weekend.

Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway will replace World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway in the final 10, with those latter races moving to the summer.

The biggest eyebrow-raiser, though, comes with the addition of Watkins Glen International to The Chase.

It marks the first time a true purpose-built road course will be part of NASCAR’s final 10 races. According to Moran, that is a direct result of how dramatically drivers have improved when it comes to racing on road and street courses.

“You know, over time, we’ve certainly been running more and more road courses,” Moran said. “Fifteen years ago or so, you’d bring the ringers in and they’d run up front. That really doesn’t happen much nowadays … other than we’ve got SVG, who’s just a worldwide star. One of the best drivers in the world.”

Moran said the addition of Watkins Glen is a natural extension of that evolution.

BROOKLYN, MI - JUNE 17: The start of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Irish Hills 250 at Michigan International Speedway on June 17, 2017 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

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“We have road courses in our regular season, so it only seems fitting that we have a good historical road course, a true road course, in The Chase,” he said. “It will fit our series well and our drivers. It’s that one road course that kind of evens things up because we have some great road-course stars. And if they’re in The Chase, that’s one they can circle.”

So no, NASCAR didn’t exactly drop a bombshell Wednesday.

Most of the bombs had already been dropped one track announcement at a time.

The 2027 schedule, then, is less about where NASCAR is going than what happens when it gets there.

The regular season contains plenty of familiar stops, but the championship format has been shuffled enough to create a very different final 10.

With Watkins Glen joining The Chase and Richmond and New Hampshire moving into the championship fight, NASCAR has quietly made the road to the title considerably less comfortable and may have given its drivers one hell of a championship headache.

2027 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

DateEvent / RacetrackSaturday, February 13Wheatley Vodka Clash (Daytona International Speedway)Sunday, February 21DAYTONA 500Sunday, February 28EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)Sunday, March 7Circuit of the Americas (Austin)Sunday, March 14Phoenix RacewaySunday, March 21Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySunday, March 28OFF WEEKSunday, April 4Darlington RacewaySunday, April 11Bristol Motor SpeedwaySunday, April 18Martinsville SpeedwaySunday, April 25Talladega Superspeedway Sunday, May 2Texas Motor SpeedwaySunday, May 9Kansas SpeedwaySunday, May 16Dover Motor SpeedwaySunday, May 23NASCAR All-Star Race (North Wilkesboro Speedway)Sunday, May 30Charlotte Motor SpeedwaySunday, June 6Nashville SuperspeedwaySunday, June 13Pocono RacewaySunday, June 20Michigan International SpeedwaySunday, June 27Chicagoland SpeedwaySunday, July 4Iowa SpeedwaySunday, July 11Sonoma RacewaySunday, July 18EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)Sunday, July 25Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySunday, August 1San Diego (Naval Base Coronado)Sunday, August 8OFF WEEKSaturday, August 14Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday, August 22World Wide Technology Raceway (St. Louis)Saturday, August 28Daytona International SpeedwaySunday, September 5Darlington RacewaySaturday, September 11Richmond RacewaySunday, September 19Watkins Glen International Sunday, September 26New Hampshire Motor SpeedwaySunday, October 3Kansas SpeedwaySunday, October 10Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySunday, October 17Charlotte Motor SpeedwaySunday, October 24Phoenix RacewaySunday, October 31Talladega SuperspeedwaySunday, November 7Martinsville SpeedwaySunday, November 14NASCAR Championship (Homestead-Miami Speedway)

2027 NASCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES SCHEDULE

DateEvent / RacetrackSaturday, February 20Daytona International SpeedwaySaturday, February 27EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)Saturday, March 6Circuit of the Americas (Austin)Saturday, March 13Phoenix RacewaySaturday, March 20Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySaturday, April 3Darlington RacewaySaturday, April 10Bristol Motor SpeedwaySaturday, April 17Martinsville SpeedwaySaturday, April 24Talladega Superspeedway Saturday, May 1Texas Motor SpeedwaySaturday, May 15Dover Motor SpeedwaySaturday, May 22North Wilkesboro SpeedwaySaturday, May 29Charlotte Motor SpeedwaySaturday, June 5Nashville SuperspeedwaySaturday, June 12Pocono RacewaySaturday, June 26Chicagoland SpeedwaySaturday, July 3Iowa SpeedwaySaturday, July 10Sonoma RacewaySaturday, July 24Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySaturday, July 31San Diego (Naval Base Coronado)Friday, August 13Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday, August 21World Wide Technology Raceway (St. Louis)Friday, August 27Daytona International SpeedwaySaturday, September 4Darlington RacewayFriday, September 10Richmond RacewaySaturday, September 18Watkins Glen International Saturday, October 2Kansas SpeedwaySaturday, October 9Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySaturday, October 16Charlotte Motor SpeedwaySaturday, October 23Phoenix RacewaySaturday, October 30Talladega SuperspeedwaySaturday, November 6Martinsville SpeedwaySaturday, November 13NASCAR Championship (Homestead-Miami Speedway)

2027 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE

DateEvent / RacetrackFriday, February 19Daytona International SpeedwaySaturday, February 27EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)Saturday, March 6Grand Prix of St. PetersburgFriday, April 2Darlington RacewayFriday, April 9Bristol Motor SpeedwayFriday, April 30Texas Motor SpeedwaySaturday, May 8Kansas SpeedwayFriday, May 21North Wilkesboro SpeedwayFriday, May 28Charlotte Motor SpeedwayFriday, June 4Nashville SuperspeedwayFriday, June 11Pocono RacewaySaturday, June 19Michigan International SpeedwaySaturday, July 10Lime Rock ParkSaturday, July 17EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)Friday, July 23Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway ParkThursday, August 12Bristol Motor Speedway Friday, August 20Bowman Gray StadiumSunday, September 5Canadian Tire Motorsport ParkSaturday, September 25New Hampshire Motor SpeedwayFriday, October 1Kansas SpeedwayFriday, October 15Charlotte Motor SpeedwayFriday, October 22Phoenix RacewayFriday, October 29Talladega SuperspeedwayFriday, November 5Martinsville SpeedwayFriday, November 12NASCAR Championship (Homestead-Miami Speedway)

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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