DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR announced today its national series schedules for the 2009 season, which features realigned dates for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Truck Series.
In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series there will be a three-way date swap between Atlanta Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) and Talladega Superspeedway.
Atlanta's second 2009 race will be held on Sunday, Sept. 6, taking the Labor Day weekend slot now held by Auto Club Speedway.
Auto Club Speedway's second race will be Sunday, Oct. 11 – the fourth week of the "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup," a slot formerly held by Talladega.
Talladega's second event will move to Sunday, Nov. 1, making it the seventh Chase event – the slot formerly held by Atlanta.
"The 2009 schedule reflects realigned dates that are good opportunities for everyone involved in our sport – fans, sponsors, tracks and teams," said NASCAR President Mike Helton.
The season begins with a tripleheader weekend at Daytona International Speedway capped by the running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 15.
In addition to that season-opening event for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Truck Series starts its season on Friday night, Feb. 13, followed the next afternoon by the NASCAR Nationwide Series opener.
For all three series, the season will conclude with another tripleheader weekend, at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20-22.
Other key NASCAR Sprint Cup dates in 2009:
The 31st annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona – a non-points event – will be held on Saturday, Feb. 7.
On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 12, Richmond International Raceway will again host the "Chase cut-off" race, affording the last opportunity for drivers to qualify for NASCAR's championship playoffs.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host the first races in both the "Race to the Chase" (Sunday, June 28) and the Chase (Sunday, Sept. 20).
There also will be an additional off-week for NASCAR's premier series in 2009, prior to the Labor Day weekend event, giving teams a final break before a 12-week stretch that will end the season. Because of the way the calendar falls, NASCAR Sprint Cup teams will have a total of four off-weeks during the 2009 season.
— Source: NASCAR
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