Tag: NASCAR playoffs

Why NASCAR fans shouldn’t expect Chase Elliott to go for revenge against Martin Truex Jr. at Richmond

Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. explain why they’re not holding grudges after making contact during the Southern 500.

Chase Elliott probably isn’t going to seek on-track revenge against Martin Truex Jr. in NASCAR’s next race Saturday at Richmond Raceway — even if his fan base would argue payback in this situation is reasonable.

The two playoff drivers were fighting for the lead in Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway — the first of 10 playoff races — and Truex tried to capitalize on a strong run with just 14 laps remaining. As he tried to pass Elliott for the lead, he didn’t quite get there, and they both hit the wall and fell behind.

“Not [expletive] clear, jackass!” Elliott said on his radio after the contact. He finished 20th, Truex was 22nd and Kevin Harvick won his eighth race of the season.

But it doesn’t appear that Elliott is holding a grudge. Both he and Truex chalked it up to racing aggressively in the playoffs for a win, which would guarantee advancing out of the Round of 16 and into the Round of 12.

“I feel like Martin and I both have a lot of respect for each other,” Elliott said Thursday during a Zoom press conference.

“I know from my end, I respect him. He’s a champion. I feel like we’ve had some really hard battles together, so I would hope that’s mutual. And if it’s not mutual, I still have respect for him either way. I do think that situation was a racing incident. I think we were both battling really hard.”

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Following Sunday’s race, Truex, with one checkered flag in 2020, is sixth in the driver standings, and Elliott, with two wins this season, is seventh.

But there’s almost zero wiggle room between them and the nine playoff drivers behind them in the standings, meaning they could risk elimination if they have poor finishes at Richmond on Saturday.

Immediately after the Southern 500, Truex told NBC Sports he didn’t purposely cut Elliott off. He thought he was clear and “had enough momentum and distance on him that he was going to let me in.” And Elliott said Thursday that he “probably” would have if Truex tried to pass for the lead earlier in the race — but not with 15 laps left.

Also on Zoom, Truex agreed that he and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver have a mutual respect for each other and explained that he thought he was making a pass for the checkered flag and just went for it.

“I feel like in that moment, we both made a split-second decision and tried to anticipate or think what the other one would do,” the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver said Thursday. “And I think we both guessed wrong, to be honest with you. Just really close, obviously. Nobody’s fault. I don’t think you can really pin the blame on one guy. Just kind of a racing deal that was unfortunate for both of our teams.”

While it seems like both drivers have moved on, this isn’t the first time Elliott has clashed with a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. In 2017, Denny Hamlin bumped and wrecked Elliott late in a playoff race at Martinsville Speedway.

Then in May at Darlington, Kyle Busch accidentally wrecked Elliott, who was running second at the time. Elliott famously flipped Busch off before they later made peace.

But the situation with Busch is “definitely” different than what happened with Truex, Elliott said.

“I don’t think it was something he did on purpose,” he added. “We were both being aggressive, and when you’re coming to a race end like that and a potential win of the Southern 500, I mean, I think I’d be foolish not to push for every last inch I had an opportunity to get.”

Now with a career-high of 644 laps led in a season, Elliott will have to keep that mentality especially Saturday at Richmond, where his career finishes aren’t great. In nine Cup starts, Elliott has just two top-5 finishes, both in 2018. Truex, however, swept the two 2019 Richmond races for his first checkered flags at the .75-mile track. (NASCAR did not have its usual spring Richmond race because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

But Elliott is embracing his disappointing Darlington finish as a learning experience, as he tries to advance through the playoffs and to the Championship 4 finale in November at Phoenix Raceway.

“The people that win in this series — and win a lot — don’t find themselves in the type of position that we were in on Sunday night because they don’t let the guy in second ever get to that point to have a chance,” Elliott said.

“I can certainly control my decision-making prior to something like that happening to do a better job in extending the gap to that person behind you to where they don’t have the opportunity to be up there by you to make a mistake, to run you over or whatever the situation may be.”

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Why Kyle Busch is more worried about winning a race than winning a title in 2020

Kyle Busch is trying to turn his “frustrating” and “aggravating” 2020 NASCAR season around as the playoffs begin.

Kyle Busch is having a rough NASCAR season. The reigning NASCAR champ described it as “one of the biggest tests” of his career, and you can see it all wearing on him.

The 35-year-old driver has yet to win a race this season, but his title defense is still alive. The 10-race postseason begins Sunday at Darlington Raceway, and, despite being winless in 2020, Busch is one of 16 playoff drivers with a shot at another title. A win would advance him to the playoffs’ next round, but it would also keep his 15-year streak of winning at least one race in each of his full-time Cup seasons.

So what’s a greater priority for 35-year-old Busch: Winning a race and extending it to a 16-year streak? Or winning his third championship?

“The fact of trying to be able to come out of this year with a victory is certainly high on the list,” Busch said Thursday during a Zoom press conference. “That might be number one on the list actually — even more so than winning the championship just with the way this year has gone.”

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The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver’s last win was in November of 2019 when he took the checkered flag in the title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But likely by most drivers’ standards, Busch is having a solid season. Even without winning through the first 26 races of the season, he’s had 13 top-10 finishes. And his 11 top-5 finishes are, by far, the most among winless drivers in 2020.

From a lack of speed — especially when compared with teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. — to recurring bad luck, this just isn’t Busch’s season. He cited both races at Daytona International Speedway as examples of that poor luck after finishing the regular season at the iconic track Saturday in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. In the season-opening Daytona 500, he had the lead when he blew his engine, and Saturday, he led 31 laps before being collected in a wreck and placing 33rd.

He explained his emotions about the season and how he feels going into the playoffs – which begin Sunday with the “crown jewel” Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway — saying:

“It’s frustrating, it’s aggravating, it’s kind of a letdown. You’re wondering what’s wrong. You’re wondering where to look or what rock to look under to turn things around. It’s just crazy the way this year has gone for us and just unforeseen circumstances really. …

“Myself and [crew chief] Adam [Stevens], we can get down on each other or down on our team or whatever as much as possible, but man, in all reality, we’re last year’s champions. We know how to do this. We’ve done it. We’ve been there. We’ve lived through the stresses and everything that it takes week in and week out to be top performers at this level. And there’s nothing to say that it can’t turn back up in the right direction for us.”

Of course Busch wants to win a second-straight and third overall championship, even if it might be more challenging this year starting toward the bottom of the playoff standings rather near the top in a much more familiar spot.

But he said that streak of winning a race in each of his full-time seasons is “really important” to him too.

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Busch had five wins during his championship run in 2019, and across the three previous seasons combined, he won a total of 18 races. The 2014 season was the last in which he only took one checkered flag, and his other one-win seasons were in 2012, 2007 and 2006.

He now has the 10 playoff races to maintain his streak and win at least one race in 16 consecutive full-time seasons.

The good news for him is that he’s won at nine of the 10 upcoming tracks. And in the three-race opening Round of 16, the first playoff elimination race is at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Busch is the winningest active driver with eight career checkered flags.

About his season winning streak, Busch said:

“Think about it: It’s a 16-year investment that we’ve placed on that — being able to win a race in 16 consecutive seasons. So hopefully we can keep that going and get it to 17 and to 18 and however many that I’m here. It would be nice that I’m capable of winning races all the way throughout my career each and every year that I’m out there. …

“But look forward to the challenge. And if we can win it this year, there’s no reason why any year we should ever not have an opportunity to win it.”

The playoff-opening Southern 500 at Darlington is Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

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Kurt Busch weighs in on brother Kyle Busch’s winless season ahead of NASCAR playoffs

2020 hasn’t been the most memorable NASCAR season for the Busch brothers.

Neither of the Busch brothers is having a particularly memorable 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season as they head into the 10-race playoffs.

Older brother Kurt Busch has had some winless years sprinkled in between one- or two-win seasons in the last decade of his 20-year career. So showing up for the playoffs without a checkered flag is a little unusual but not super shocking.

But for defending champion Kyle Busch — the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver who won a total of 18 races in the previous three seasons — entering the postseason without a win is a huge surprise.

“We put ourselves in this position to be playoff-eligible and to have a shot at the championship,” 42-year-old Kurt said Wednesday during a Zoom press conference when asked about competition between him and 35-year-old Kyle going into the postseason.

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Kyle’s last checkered flag was at the 2019 championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for his second career title, and he’s never had a winless season since he started racing full-time in the Cup Series in 2005. Kurt’s last trip to Victory Lane was at Kentucky Speedway in July of 2019, when he held off Kyle to win, and his last winless year was 2013.

Kurt — who drives the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet — continued about his and Kyle’s approach to the playoffs:

“We know that this is an opportunity to do something great. So just one week at a time. …

“I know my little brother, though. He’s putting a little extra stress on himself because he wants to win a race and continue his streak of winning seasons. And so, he’s thrown a little extra pressure on himself that way. And so maybe that’ll be a distraction for him.”

Without winning during the 26-race regular season, the Busch brothers made their way into the playoffs based on points. Kyle is 14th in the standings while Kurt is 15th out of 16 playoff drivers, and they have three races to get a win an automatically advance to the next round or to sneak into the top-12 drivers based on points again.

The first playoff race is Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, followed by races at Richmond Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway — where Kyle and Kurt are the winningest active drivers with eight and six wins, respectively — before the playoff field drops to 12 drivers.

When asked Wednesday if he could have imagined he and Kyle entering the playoffs winless, Kurt said:

“I never would have guessed. I felt like the way our season started was strong and consistent, and then we had a shot to win the first race back, after our delay [because of the COVID-19 pandemic], at Darlington [in May]. And then, it just seemed like these opportunities here or there just like slipped through our fingers and we didn’t execute to get those wins.

“And so, my little brother, same thing. I feel like his luck — he’s challenged his luck in many different ways and it just hasn’t unfolded for him to get those wins. But hey, we’re both championship eligible. We’re in the playoffs, and here’s the reset. So here we go.”

The Southern 500 opens the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares NASCAR playoff predictions, including his dark-horse pick

“The guy’s got a legitimate, you know, shot at it,” Dale Jr. said.

With the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs beginning this weekend at Darlington Raceway, driver turned broadcaster Dale Earnhardt Jr. offered up some predictions for how the final 10 races of the 2020 season will go.

Although Earnhardt didn’t break the playoffs down race by race with predictions, he and those on his weekly podcast, the Dale Jr. Download, weighed in on other scenarios like possible dark-horse championship candidates and the first four drivers knocked out.

The 16-driver Cup Series playoffs are divided into four rounds. The first three rounds consist of three races, and four drivers are eliminated after the final event in each round. After the Round of 8, the final Championship 4 drivers will compete at Phoenix Raceway in the title race.

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So ahead of Sunday’s Southern 500 to kick off the playoffs’ Round of 16, Earnhardt shared his playoff predictions on the Dale Jr. Download.

Who are the four drivers that don’t advance to the Round of 12?

Before answering this one, Earnhardt paused to recall exactly how drivers feel about this hypothetical discussion.

“I remember this [from] when I was a driver,” Dale Jr. said. “These drivers take such offense to this when you’re like, ‘Oh, first round!'”

But then he gave an actual answer: “Who’s not making it through the first round? Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, and Kurt Busch and Clint [Bowyer].”

Who wins the 2020 NASCAR championship?

Brynn Anderson/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Network

As Earnhardt, podcast co-host Mike Davis and the others on the episode mentioned, even before the playoffs begin, the race for the championship is basically between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Both at the top of the driver standings, they’ve accumulated a massive lead in points going into the playoffs, so it’s challenging not to pick one of those two drivers to win it all.

Earnhardt explained his response on the Dale Jr. Download:

“I think Harvick edges out Hamlin. For some reason — and I know this has been sort of Denny’s, by far, been Denny’s best year ever, and I think he comes very close. I just don’t know if it happens for him for some reason.

“I have this weird feeling that Harvick’s gonna [win] because Harvick’s tied Kyle [Busch] in wins, more than likely going to finish this season ahead of Kyle in wins, and I think that he gets his second title. This has kind of been Harvick quietly asserting himself as one of the greatest.”

Harvick has won a series-leading seven races so far this season, so “quietly” might not be the best descriptor. But he is now tied with Kyle Busch at No. 10 on the all-time wins list with 56, and it feels like a second championship is his to lose.

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While Davis picked Joey Logano to win the championship, Earnhardt also explained he can’t ignore Harvick’s success at the Phoenix track. Harvick is the all-time winningest driver at the miler with nine checkered flags, and barring some massive multi-race meltdown, the No. 4 Ford team shouldn’t have too much trouble getting to the Championship 4.

Who’s a dark-horse championship contender?

Davis joked that the answer is anyone not named Harvick or Hamlin, which is fair. But Earnhardt also clarified that although Kyle Busch doesn’t have a win yet this season, he’s not an outside shot.

“He doesn’t qualify as a dark horse for me because he’s the defending champ,” Dale Jr. said.

“I think Ryan Blaney may be the dark horse for me. The guy’s got a legitimate, you know, shot at it. … I think Blaney’s got a pretty reasonable track record at Phoenix.”

Although Blaney’s average start at Phoenix is 6.1, his average finish in nine starts is 16.8. He did, however, finish third in both 2019 races.

Which top driver is most vulnerable in not advancing out of the Round of 16?

After posing this question, Earnhardt and co. clarified the scenario to just be the top-7 drivers in the standings currently. So this discussion is really over Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.

At first, Earnhardt said Keselowski, and although he said he’s sticking with his answer, he also regretted it.

“I shouldn’t have said Brad,” Earnhardt said. “He could go win Darlington.”

The first race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

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NASCAR Cup Series playoff predictions: Who will win the title in 2020?

Breaking down our top predictions for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Under the current playoff format, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship can sometimes seem like it’s up for grabs. But going into the the postseason starting Sunday, it really seems like a two-man race between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.

Through the first 26 races of the season, Harvick and Hamlin absolutely dominated the competition with seven and six wins, respectively. And with more on the line now, it would surely take multiple catastrophic disasters for them to fail to advance to the Championship 4 race in November at Phoenix Raceway.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. So prior to the start of the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs, we attempted to answer five questions about the NASCAR playoffs and its potential subplots.

1. Can anyone beat Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin?

(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Michelle: No. Through 26 regular-season races, they combine for 13 wins so far and have the kind of speed their competitors dream of. It’s rare not to see one or both of them running up front, especially when they combine to have led nearly a third (28.4 percent) of all the laps in 2020. It’s a popular sentiment this time of the season to argue that certain drivers have enough points to slide through to the championship race. But this year, that seems more realistic than ever. It’s anyone’s race once they get to Phoenix, but there’s no stopping Harvick or Hamlin at this point.

And I’m with Nick on contenders to spoil their seasons. Never sleep on Martin Truex Jr., who’s been on a string of exceptionally valuable finishes without actually winning more than one race so far.

Nick: Harvick and Hamlin have been a step ahead of the entire field in 2020, and one of those two drivers should win a championship this year. In a pre-playoffs NASCAR world, Harvick and Hamlin would have a massive points edge on everyone else, and we’d be preparing for a 10-race duel between the two best cars in the sport. Instead, Harvick and Hamlin will have nine opportunities to squander their season with a crash or a mechanical failure.

Of the rest, I’d put my money on Martin Truex Jr. for the rest of the year. He’s an excellent short track racer, and the playoffs will be heading to Richmond, Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix, all places Truex can excel at. He’s going to win at least one of those races. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brad Keselowski also wins one of those short-track races.

2. The first four drivers eliminated will be…

Michelle: Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, William Byron. Despite Byron winning Saturday, his inexperience here will show. Busch is barely in the playoffs, so one poor race could easily knock him out — though a strong performance at Bristol could save him. And Almirola and Dillon don’t need a disaster to face elimination. But if they don’t start the playoffs on a high note, they could fall below the cutoff line and flail.

Nick: Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola. The first three are fairly obvious. As for Almirola, the first playoff stage just doesn’t suit him. He’s decent, but not great, at Darlington and Richmond, but he’s had terrible results at Bristol over his career. In the No. 10 Stewart-Haas car, Almirola has finished 29th, 29th, 37th, 31st, and 6th in five races there.

Which drivers will race for a title in Phoenix?

Michelle: Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott. Until one of the first three drivers start hinting they’re not title contenders this year, it’s hard not to pick them. I’m going with Elliott for the final spot because throughout the year and on different tracks, he’s had solid speed, even when he doesn’t win.

Nick: Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano. I debated putting Brad Keselowski here, but Logano seems to have gotten over his mid-season slump and has been pumping in top-10s consistently, excluding his crash at Daytona.

3. Will Jimmie Johnson win a race in 2020?

Wilfredo Lee/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Network

Michelle: This would be the dream for Jimmie Johnson fans everywhere who are hoping their favorite driver has one last win in him before retiring. Unfortunately for them, that answer feels like a no. Even when Johnson’s car has speed and he’s running up front, something has kept him from getting his first win since 2017. His luck has been terrible this season — he’s crashed plenty of times, been disqualified and even tested positive for COVID-19 and missed a race — and it’s hard to imagine it improving.

Nick: While it would be terrific if Jimmie could mirror Jeff Gordon’s sendoff victory at Martinsville, I just don’t see it happening. The reality is that Johnson’s car hasn’t been great at intermediate tracks this year, and when he has had a fast ride, he’s generally made mistakes that have cost him a chance to win. I’d say Bristol is his best chance, with Martinsville a close second.

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4. Will Kyle Busch win a race in 2020?

Michelle: Yes, but his title defense will be over before the finale. And that we’re even wondering if the No. 18 Toyota team will win a race in 2020 is a huge shocker. But Busch just doesn’t have the speed of his teammates, and even when he’s plowing through the field and running well, he’s ultimately stifled. I’ll guess he finally gets a win at Bristol and locks himself into the Round of 12, sneaks into the Round of 8 but doesn’t make it to the Championship 4.

Nick: Yes. Kyle Busch’s winless streak has probably gotten more attention than it deserves, perhaps due to a combination of Kyle’s high-profile accidents and his tendency to trash his car on the radio. You wouldn’t think it, but KB has more top-5s than anyone other than Harvick, Hamlin and Truex this season. He’ll eventually convert one of those good runs into a win, and he’s especially strong at Phoenix, Martinsville, Richmond and Darlington.

5. Who will be the 2020 Cup Series champion?

Michelle: Kevin Harvick will get his second championship, leaving Denny Hamlin still in search of his first. Harvick is the winningest driver of all time at Phoenix with nine career checkered flags, and after this season, nobody’s stopping that team.

Nick: Denny Hamlin finally gets his first career title. He’s been too consistently fast to not advance to the Championship round, and while Kevin Harvick is decidedly stronger at Phoenix than Hamlin historically, this will finally be Hamlin’s year.

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NASCAR playoffs: Who’s in, out and on the bubble, including Jimmie Johnson

With one race left before the NASCAR playoffs, Michelle Martinelli reaps who’s in, out and on the bubble before Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400

With one race left before the NASCAR playoffs, Michelle Martinelli reaps who’s in, out and on the bubble before Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400

Joey Logano calls NASCAR’s new starting lineup formula ‘confusing’ but ‘fair’

NASCAR is ditching the random draws for its starting lineups in favor of something more complex.

NASCAR has a special talent for overcomplicating things, and its update to how drivers will qualify for races for the rest of the season was hardly an exception.

And although Joey Logano recognized how complex determining each driver’s starting position is now, he also said it’s pretty fair to everyone.

Since NASCAR returned to the track in May following a 10-week hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not had practices or qualifying sessions in an effort to limit teams’ time at the track, and it announced in July that will be the case for the remainder of the 2020 season. So previously because of that, starting lineups have been determined by a grouped random draw.

Now, beginning with the Daytona International Speedway road course race August 16, the starting lineups will be based on weighted and averaged metrics:

  • 50 percent based on finishing position in the previous race
  • 35 percent based on points in the owner standings
  • 15 percent based on the fastest lap from the last race

It’s complicated with way more math involved than before, but, as Logano said, it’s fair.

The 2018 champion and Team Penske driver spoke with reporters Thursday via Zoom an hour before NASCAR announced the starting lineup changes. When asked about how he felt about combing those specific factors to determine each team’s starting position, he said he was good with the concept, adding:

“It makes sense. It’s maybe a little bit more confusing than what I would have gone with. If they end up going with the process that has been talked about here, just for the race fans, I feel like it’s confusing.

“But outside of that, it’s fair, and so I guess that’s all that matters. It’s fair, and I’m sure that’s probably what the fans care about the most. If all of us competitors can agree that it’s a fair way to set the lineup, I don’t think any fan is really gonna care how it happened as long as we all feel like you earned your starting position, just like we used to, right?

“You used to earn your starting position by qualifying. Well, now you’re going to earn your starting position by three different ways, whether it’s lap time or finishing, points position — those type of things. You’ve earned every one of those spots. So, although it’s confusing, it’s fair.”

In its announcement, NASCAR also noted that when the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs begin in September, the teams in the playoffs will start at the front of the field.

NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, Scott Miller, said input from teams, drivers and fans was taken into consideration when making this change designed “to enhance competition as we approach the Playoffs.” He added:

“We received nothing but positive comments from the drivers on the choose rule following the All-Star Race, and felt it was an important addition to the restart procedure. The random draw has served us well during the return to racing, but it is important that starting lineups are based on performance as we approach the Playoffs. The entire industry is aligned on implementing a competition-based system to determine the starting lineup and pit selection order.”

But how the starting lineups will be determined wasn’t the only big announcement from NASCAR on Thursday. Beginning with this weekend’s races at Michigan International Speedway, the “choose rule” will be implemented across all three national series, except at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway and at road courses.

It also revealed its (hopefully) final version of the 2020 schedule, including the playoffs for all three national series.

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NASCAR reveals 2020 playoff schedule for Cup, XFINITY and Truck series

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR has had to continuously adjust its race schedule.

NASCAR announced the final installment of its 2020 schedule changes through the playoffs and end of the season, and the good news for the Cup Series (and its fans) is that all 10 playoff races will go on as originally scheduled.

The 26-race regular season closes with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, and the 10-race, 16-driver playoffs begin with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 6.

And still, as NASCAR noted in July, it’s continuing with shortened weekends to limit the amount of time teams are at the tracks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so there will not be practices or qualifying sessions for the remainder of the season, including for NASCAR’s first-ever Daytona road course race August 16.

Changes to the second-tier XFINITY Series include Bristol Motor Speedway being the regular-season closer on September 18, and the playoffs beginning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 26. Also, Talladega Superspeedway will be part of the first playoff round.

In the third-tier Truck Series, the regular season will end at Richmond Raceway on September 10, making up for the postponed race originally scheduled for April. Bristol will kick off the Truck Series playoffs on September 17.

Now, whether or not fans will be allowed at the tracks are different situations. As we’ve seen throughout NASCAR’s comeback following the 10-week hiatus this spring because of the coronavirus outbreak, some tracks have been able to host fans, while others have not.

Announcing the last schedule installment, NASCAR said:

NASCAR’s modified event procedures and protocols were designed in accordance with public health officials, medical experts and local, state and federal officials. NASCAR will determine if fans are allowed entrance to NASCAR events on a market-by-market basis, in accordance with local and state guidelines.

Here’s a look at the schedule for the rest of the season.

NASCAR Cup Series

Saturday, August 8: Michigan International Speedway
Sunday, August 9: Michigan International Speedway

Sunday, August 16: Daytona International Speedway road course

Saturday, August 22: Dover International Speedway
Sunday, August 23: Dover International Speedway

Saturday, August 29: Daytona International Speedway (regular-season finale)

Playoffs Round of 16

Sunday, September 6: Darlington Raceway
Saturday, September 12: Richmond Raceway
Saturday, September 19: Bristol Motor Speedway

Playoffs Round of 12

Sunday, September 27: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, October 4: Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday, October 11: Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval

Playoffs Round of 8

Sunday, October 18: Kansas Speedway
Sunday, October 25: Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday, November 1: Martinsville Speedway

Championship

Sunday, November 8: Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Saturday, August 8: Road America

Saturday, August 15: Daytona International Speedway road course

Saturday, August 22: Dover International Speedway
Sunday, August 23: Dover International Speedway

Friday, August 28: Daytona International Speedway

Saturday, September 5: Darlington Raceway

Friday, September 11: Richmond Raceway
Saturday, September 12: Richmond Raceway

Friday, September 18: Bristol Motor Speedway

Playoffs Round of 12

Saturday, September 26: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Saturday, October 3: Talladega Superspeedway
Saturday, October 10: Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval

Playoffs Round of 8

Saturday, October 17: Kansas Speedway
Saturday, October 24: Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, October 31: Martinsville Speedway

Championship

Saturday, November 7: Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Truck Series

Friday, August 7: Michigan International Speedway

Sunday, August 16: Daytona International Speedway road course

Friday, August 21: Dover International Speedway

Sunday, August 30: World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway

Sunday, September 6: Darlington Raceway

Thursday, September 10: Richmond Raceway

Playoffs Round of 10

Thursday, September 17: Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, September 25: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Saturday, October 3: Talladega Superspeedway

Friday, October 16: Kansas Speedway

Sunday, October 25: Texas Motor Speedway

Friday, October 30: Martinsville Speedway

Championship

Friday, November 6: Phoenix Raceway

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