NASCAR has released its 2022 Cup Series schedule, featuring 36 points-paying events.
The key addition will be Gateway Motorsports Park (aka World Wide Technology Raceway), plus the return of Auto Club Speedway after a two-year hiatus.
As announced yesterday, NASCAR’s Next Gen cars will make their competitive debut inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the season-opening exhibition Clash on February 6, before vying for points for the first time at the Daytona 500 a fortnight later.
Phoenix Raceway will again be the home of the season finale, on November 6.
Dirt racing will be back at Bristol Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR All-Star Race returns to Texas Motor Speedway for the second straight year.
Among various changes to the playoffs calendar is the inclusion of Homestead-Miami Speedway, and exclusion of Richmond Raceway.
“The process has been very refreshing for me personally to see everyone work together from all the different industry stakeholders, getting feedback from our teams … and then a lot of feedback from our fans from different studies that we’ve done, too,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of strategy and innovation.
“So it’s been a very collaborative process, and it’s been really neat to see how it’s been received, both the 2021 schedule and looking forward to see how everyone reacts to ’22.”
On the topic of the rejigged post-season schedule, Kennedy added: “I think we have a really strong playoff slate right now.
“That said, we want to keep it fresh, we want to keep it new, we want to keep it exciting, and I think with a lot of the great tracks that we have online, a lot of great tracks that we already have in our schedule, I think we’ve got a bunch of options to play with in the future.
“So excited about some of the changes we’ll see in ’22. I think, that said, as I think about ’23 and beyond, I think the opportunity for us to rotate some of those playoff venues will be there, something that we’ll definitely take a look at.”
NASCAR is due to announce its 2022 calendars for the Xfinity Series and Truck Series in the coming weeks.
2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule:
| Date | Round | Event name | Location |
| February 6 | Pre-season | The Clash at the L.A. Coliseum | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |
| February 17 | Pre-season | Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 at Daytona | Daytona International Speedway |
| February 17 | Pre-season | Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at Daytona | Daytona International Speedway |
| February 20 | 1 | Daytona 500 | Daytona International Speedway |
| February 27 | 2 | Auto Club Speedway | Auto Club Speedway |
| March 6 | 3 | Pennzoil 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway |
| March 13 | 4 | Ruoff Mortgage 500 | Phoenix Raceway |
| March 20 | 5 | Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 | Atlanta Motor Speedway |
| March 27 | 6 | EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix | Circuit of the Americas |
| April 3 | 7 | Toyota Owners 400 | Richmond Raceway |
| April 9 | 8 | Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 | Martinsville Speedway |
| April 17 | 9 | Food City Dirt Race | Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) |
| April 24 | 10 | GEICO 500 | Talladega Superspeedway |
| May 1 | 11 | Dover International Speedway | Dover International Speedway |
| May 8 | 12 | Darlington Raceway | Darlington Raceway |
| May 15 | 13 | Kansas Speedway | Kansas Speedway |
| May 22 | All-Star | NASCAR All-Star Open | Texas Motor Speedway |
| May 22 | All-Star | NASCAR All-Star Race | Texas Motor Speedway |
| May 29 | 14 | Coca-Cola 600 | Charlotte Motor Speedway |
| June 5 | 15 | WWTR at Gateway | World Wide Technology Raceway |
| June 12 | 16 | Toyota / Save Mart 350 | Sonoma Raceway |
| June 26 | 17 | Ally 400 | Nashville Superspeedway |
| July 3 | 18 | Road America | Road America |
| July 10 | 19 | Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart | Atlanta Motor Speedway |
| July 17 | 20 | New Hampshire | New Hampshire Motor Speedway |
| July 24 | 21 | Pocono Raceway | Pocono Raceway |
| July 31 | 22 | Indianapolis Road Course | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course |
| August 7 | 23 | FireKeepers Casino 400 | Michigan International Speedway |
| August 14 | 24 | Federated Auto Parts 400 | Richmond Raceway |
| August 21 | 25 | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen International |
| August 27 | 26 | Coke Zero Sugar 400 | Daytona International Speedway |
| September 4 | 27 | Southern 500 | Darlington Raceway |
| September 11 | 28 | Hollywood Casino 400 | Kansas Speedway |
| September 17 | 29 | Bass Pro Shops Night Race | Bristol Motor Speedway |
| September 25 | 30 | AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 | Texas Motor Speedway |
| October 2 | 31 | YellaWood 500 | Talladega Superspeedway |
| October 9 | 32 | Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course |
| October 16 | 33 | South Point 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway |
| October 23 | 34 | Dixie Vodka 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway |
| October 30 | 35 | Xfinity 500 | Martinsville Speedway |
| November 6 | 36 | NASCAR Cup Series Championship | Phoenix Raceway |
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