NASCAR opts for largely-unchanged 2014 Sprint Cup calendar
NASCAR has unveiled an almost unchanged schedule for its 2014 Sprint Cup season, with only a handful of minor tweaks to the dates that form the current calendar
As was the case this year, the 36-race calendar will begin at Daytona and finish at Homestead, with the 10-event Chase retaining the same events in the same order.
The only modifications are a date swap between Kansas and Darlington in the spring, and the move of the Texas race from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon.
In addition to confirming the schedule, NASCAR also announced that its Air Titan track drying system will be available at every race during 2014.
NASCAR's senior vice-president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell said this would allow the series to minimise the time lost to rain delays.
"Having the Air Titan at each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend allows us to meet a very important goal set by our chairman and CEO, Brian France: to drastically decrease track-drying time to the best of our ability and ensure our fans in the stands and those watching on TV get to see each race on its scheduled day," O'Donnell said.
2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule Feb 15 Daytona International Speedway (Sprint Unlimited) Feb 16 Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500 qualifying) Feb 20 Daytona International Speedway (Duels) Feb 23 Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500) March 2 Phoenix International Raceway March 9 Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 16 Bristol Motor Speedway March 23 Auto Club Speedway March 30 Martinsville Speedway April 6 Texas Motor Speedway April 12 Darlington Raceway April 26 Richmond International Raceway May 4 Talladega Superspeedway May 10 Kansas Speedway May 17 Charlotte Motor Speedway (NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race) May 25 Charlotte Motor Speedway June 1 Dover International Speedway June 8 Pocono Raceway June 15 Michigan International Speedway June 22 Sonoma Raceway June 28 Kentucky Speedway July 5 Daytona International Speedway July 13 New Hampshire Motor Speedway July 27 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Aug 3 Pocono Raceway Aug 10 Watkins Glen International Aug 17 Michigan International Speedway Aug 23 Bristol Motor Speedway Aug 31 Atlanta Motor Speedway Sept 6 Richmond International Raceway Sept 14 Chicagoland Speedway Sept 21 New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sept 28 Dover International Speedway Oct 5 Kansas Speedway Oct 11 Charlotte Motor Speedway Oct 19 Talladega Superspeedway Oct 26 Martinsville Speedway Nov 2 Texas Motor Speedway Nov 9 Phoenix International Raceway Nov 16 Homestead-Miami Speedway
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