Little change in NASCAR's 2012 Sprint Cup schedule

As has been the case for the past few years, NASCAR's top series will open and close the season in the southern state of Florida with events at Daytona and Homestead respectively.

The schedule will get its usual warm-up event with the non-points Shootout at the 2.5-mile venue, followed by the season-opening Daytona 500 on February 26 - the latest date ever for the first race of the year since the 1966 season - as the only points-paying event of the month.

The main adjustments to the schedule have been the dates of the Talladega races, the first moving later in the year from April to May, the second one moving earlier in the autumn as the fourth event of the Chase.

Kansas gets an earlier date for its first race of the year at the end of April instead of June, while Kentucky Speedway will host its second ever Cup event in late June instead of early July. Dover will also have it's first race pushed to early June instead of May.

The Chase will kick off at Chicagoland as this year, while the other nine venues remain exactly the same as the current playoff with the shift in the order of the Talladega event as the only variation.

During the 40-week period between the Shootout and the final race of the year there will only be two breaks, one in April and a second in July, going non-stop for 17 straight weekends from the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in the last week of July until the Chase final on November 18.

The All-Star race, the second non-points event of the season, will take place as usual in late May, one week ahead of the season's longest race.

2/18       Daytona International Speedway (Shootout)
2/19       Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500 Qualifying)
2/23       Daytona International Speedway (Duel)
2/26       Daytona 500
3/4        Phoenix International Raceway
3/11       Las Vegas Motor Speedway
3/18       Bristol Motor Speedway
3/25       Auto Club Speedway
4/1        Martinsville Speedway
4/14       Texas Motor Speedway
4/22       Kansas Speedway
4/28       Richmond International Raceway
5/6        Talladega Superway
5/12       Darlington Raceway
5/19       NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Charlotte Motor Speedway)
5/27       Charlotte Motor Speedway (600 miles)
6/3        Dover International Speedway
6/10       Pocono Raceway
6/17       Michigan International Speedway
6/24       Infineon Raceway
6/30       Kentucky Speedway
7/7        Daytona International Speedway
7/15       New Hampshire Motor Speedway
7/29       Indianapolis Motor Speedway
8/5        Pocono Raceway
8/12       Watkins Glen International
8/19       Michigan International Speedway
8/25       Bristol Motor Speedway
9/2        Atlanta Motor Speedway
9/8        Richmond International Raceway
9/16       Chicagoland Speedway
9/23       New Hampshire Motor Speedway
9/30       Dover International Speedway
10/7       Talladega Superway
10/13      Charlotte Motor Speedway
10/21      Kansas Speedway
10/28      Martinsville Speedway
11/4       Texas Motor Speedway
11/11      Phoenix International Raceway
11/18      Homestead-Miami Speedway