2018 Calendars: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

The Cup Series is the top level of NASCAR stock car racing.

Google/iCal Calendar links:   ICAL  -or-  HTML

For more championships click here.

Xfinity Series and Truck Series calendars will follow later in the week.

*As at 16 January 2018*

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Date	Race	Track	Location
11 Feb	Advance Auto Parts Clash	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona, Florida
15 Feb	Can-Am Duels	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona, Florida
18 Feb	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona, Florida
25 Feb	Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia
4 Mar	Pennzoil 400	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, Nevada
11 Mar	TicketGuardian 400	ISM Speedway	Avondale, Arizona
18 Mar	Auto Club 500	Auto Club Speedway	Fontana, California
25 Mar	STP 500	Martinsville Speedway	Ridgeway, Virginia
8 Apr	O’Reilly Auto Parts 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas
15 Apr	Food City 500	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, Tennessee
21 Apr	Toyota Owners 400	Richmond Raceway	Richmond, Virginia
29 Apr	GEICO 500	Talledega Superspeedway	Lincoln, Alabama
6 May	AAA 400 Drive For Autism	Dover International Speedway	Dover, Delaware
12 May	Kansas	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas
19 May	All-Star Race	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Concord, North Carolina
27 May	Coca-Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Concord, North Carolina
3 Jun	Pocono 400	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania
10 Jun	FireKeepers Casino 400	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
24 Jun	Toyota / Save Mart 350	Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, California
1 Jul	Chicagoland	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois
7 Jul	Coke Zero 400	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona, Florida
14 Jul	Quaker State 400	Kentucky Speedway	Sparta, Kentucky
22 Jul	New Hampshire 301	New Hampshire Motor Speedway	Loudon, New Hampshire
29 Jul	Overton’s 400	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania
5 Aug	Watkins Glen	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York
12 Aug	Michigan	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
18 Aug	Bass Pro Shops Night Race	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, Tennessee
2 Sep	Bojangles’ Southern 500	Darlington Raceway	Darlington, South Carolina
9 Sep	Big Machine Brickyard 400	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
	Playoff Races:
16 Sep	South Point 400	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, Nevada
22 Sep	Federated Auto Parts 400	Richmond Raceway	Richmond, Virginia
30 Sep	Bank of America 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Concord, North Carolina
7 Oct	Dover	Dover International Speedway	Dover, Delaware
14 Oct	Alabama 500	Talledega Superspeedway	Lincoln, Alabama
21 Oct	Hollywood Casino 400	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas
28 Oct	First Data 500	Martinsville Speedway	Ridgeway, Virginia
4 Nov	AAA Texas 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas
11 Nov	Can-Am 500	ISM Speedway	Avondale, Arizona
18 Nov	Ford EcoBoost 400	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida

In:

• A second visit to Las Vegas as part of the Playoffs.
• Richmond in the Playoffs.
• Indianapolis closes the regular season.
• Charlotte Playoff race is now on the infield road/oval course.

Out:

• Chicagoland out of the Playoffs into July.
• Loudon’s Playoff date.

What’s Changed?

The biggest shuffling of dates for a few years.

The first six rounds are a week earlier this year, possibly correcting a calendar drift but also to work around Easter which is a traditional NASCAR break, so the first ‘off week’ is April 1st this year rather than April 16th.

Indianapolis moves from July to early September, the Brickyard 400 having been made the final race of the ‘regular season’ before the playoffs. I like this, I bet there was a push to make this important race part of the playoffs, but this move enhances the importance of the race without debasing such a traditional venue as Indianapolis Motor Speedway with something such as the playoffs. Such things matter to fans of IMS.

Dover’s first visit is now May 6th, up from June  last year, which creates a mid-season off week on June 17th.

The biggest reshuffle is with the races making up the Playoffs.

Into the Playoffs come Richmond’s autumn date (previously the last round of the regular season) and a new second annual visit to Las Vegas.

Out of the Playoffs goes Loudon (New Hampshire) which drops to one race per year, and Chicagoland which moves to Sunday July 1st, the Daytona 400 running a week later across a pair of important weekends either side of the July 4th holiday.

The final change is to run the Charlotte Motor Speedway Playoff round on their road course / oval ‘roval’ course – an interesting one. My feeling is they should run a ‘proper’ road course if they want that style of track in the Playoffs. Let’s see what develops.

I don’t follow enough of the series to know whether these are good changes – it isn’t easy to follow from the UK. Generally-speaking it seems positive, particularly the extra week off in the summer.

Support Series

There are two major support championships for which I provide calendars and I’ll cover those together in another blog post later, these are:

• NASCAR Xfinity Series.
• NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

NASCAR also sanctions regional series across the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe for which I currently do not provide calendars, this may change if I receive enough requests!