2018 NASCAR schedule: Brickyard 400 moves to September
The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is moving to September.
The race, which has seen dwindling attendance as the racing product has struggled to keep fans’ interest, will be the final race of the 2018 Cup Series regular season. Currently positioned at the end of July, the Brickyard 400 will be run on Sept. 9, the 26th race of the season.
The 2018 playoff schedule looks different as well. Las Vegas, which is getting a second date in 2018, will be the kickoff race of the 10-race playoffs. It takes the date occupied by Chicagoland, which moves up to July 1. Richmond, which has previously served as the final race of the regular season, will now have the second race of the playoffs.
The third race of the first round will be at Charlotte before the second round includes Dover, Talladega and Kansas. The final four tracks in the playoffs — Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead — are unchanged. The Charlotte race will be run on the track’s infield road course. It’ll be the first time the Cup Series has utilized anything other than the 1.5-mile oval at the track.
The track will have 13 turns when you count the traditional oval corners.
The season has three off weekends. The first is Easter weekend (April 1) and the second is Father’s Day weekend (June 17). The final off weekend comes on Sunday, Aug. 25.
Despite producing better racing over the last two seasons with Sunday afternoon races, Richmond’s spring race will return to Saturday night. Here’s how the 2018 schedule looks in its entirety:
Feb. 18: Daytona 500
Feb. 25: Atlanta
March 4: Las Vegas
March 11: Phoenix
March 18: Auto Club
March 25: Martinsville
April 8: Texas
April 15: Bristol
April 21: Richmond
April 29: Talladega
May 6: Dover
May 12: Kansas
May 19: All-Star Race
May 27: Charlotte
June 3: Pocono
June 10: Michigan
June 24: Sonoma
July 1: Chicago
July 7: Daytona
July 14: Kentucky
July 22: New Hampshire
July 29: Pocono
Aug. 5: Watkins Glen
Aug. 12: Michigan
Aug. 18: Bristol
Sept. 2: Darlington
Sept. 9: Indianapolis
Sept. 16: Las Vegas
Sept. 22: Richmond
Sept. 30: Charlotte (road course)
Oct. 7: Dover
Oct. 14: Talladega
Oct. 21: Kansas
Oct. 28: Martinsville
Nov. 4: Texas
Nov. 11: Phoenix
Nov. 18: Homestead
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
