2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Schedule

NASCAR also announces the schedule for Car of Tomorrow Implementation races and 2007 broadcast schedule.

Tony Stewart

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR has announced the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series schedule.

The 36-race slate begins with the 49th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18th at Daytona International Speedway, and will conclude on Sunday, Nov. 18th, at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Other key dates:

On Sunday, July 1st, New Hampshire International Speedway will host the first event in the “Race to the Chase,” the 10-race prelude to the “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.”

On Sunday, July 29th, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 8th, Richmond International Raceway will be the final event in the “Race to the Chase.”

The week after Richmond, on Sunday, Sept. 16th, New Hampshire again will have the kick-off event in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, which covers the season’s last 10 races and determines the series champion.

In addition to the 36-race regular schedule, the series’ two traditional “non-points” events are again slated, both for Saturday nights. The 29th annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will be held on Feb. 10th, while the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge is set for May 19th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

There are no changes from the 2006 schedule, in terms of sites. There are, however, several adjustments to the schedule’s order.

In July, the schedule will go from New Hampshire (July 1st), to Daytona (July 7th) and then Chicagoland Speedway (July 15th). Previously, the order was Daytona-Chicago-New Hampshire. Also, Indianapolis’ event will close out July (July 29th), followed the next week (Aug. 5th) by Pocono Raceway. Previously, Pocono preceded Indianapolis.

Those two races will follow the season’s final open week.

2007 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

Feb 10th Budweiser Shootout at Daytona – Daytona International Speedway*

Feb 18th Daytona International Speedway

Feb 25th California Speedway

Mar 11th Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Mar 18th Atlanta Motor Speedway

Mar 25th Bristol Motor Speedway

Apr 1st Martinsville Speedway

Apr 15th Texas Motor Speedway

Apr 21st Phoenix International Raceway

Apr 29th Talladega Superspeedway

May 5th Richmond International Raceway

May 12th Darlington Raceway

May 19th NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge – Lowe’s Motor Speedway*

May 27th Lowe’s Motor Speedway

Jun 3rd Dover International Speedway

Jun 10th Pocono Raceway

Jun 17th Michigan International Speedway

Jun 24th Infineon Raceway

Jul 1st New Hampshire International Speedway

Jul 7th Daytona International Speedway

Jul 15th Chicagoland Speedway

Jul 29th Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Aug 5th Pocono Raceway

Aug 12th Watkins Glen International

Aug 19th Michigan International Speedway

Aug 25th Bristol Motor Speedway

Sep 2nd California Speedway

Sep 8th Richmond International Raceway

Sep 16th New Hampshire International Speedway

Sep 23rd Dover International Speedway

Sep 30th Kansas Speedway

Oct 7th Talladega Superspeedway

Oct 13th Lowe’s Motor Speedway

Oct 21st Martinsville Speedway

Oct 28th Atlanta Motor Speedway

Nov 4th Texas Motor Speedway

Nov 11th Phoenix International Raceway

Nov 18th Homestead-Miami Speedway

*Non-championship points events

Car of Tomorrow Implementation Schedule for 2007 [16 races]:

Bristol [2 races]

Martinsville [2]

Phoenix [2]

Richmond [2]

Dover [2]

New Hampshire [2]

Darlington

Infineon Raceway

Watkins Glen

Talladega [fall 2007]

2007 NASCAR on TV:

Beginning in 2007, each NASCAR season will be launched on FOX with the telecast of the Daytona 500. FOX will also carry NASCAR “Speedweeks” events including the Budweiser Shootout and Daytona Pole Qualifying. FOX will also broadcast the 12 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races following the Daytona 500.

TNT will broadcast six consecutive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races (races 14 through 19).

The final 17 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series points races will be broadcast on ABC or ESPN. The final 10 races, the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, will be broadcast on ABC. The NASCAR Busch Series will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN or ESPN 2, with no less than four events on ABC.

SPEED will be home to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with the exception of two events, which will be broadcast by FOX.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series qualifying practice and “happy hours” will be broadcast on a combination of SPEED Channel, ESPN and ESPN2.

SPEED will broadcast the Gatorade Duels held each year during “Speedweeks” to determine part of the Daytona 500 starting order.

SPEED will also broadcast the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series All-Star Challenge and its companion all-star event, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Pit Crew Challenge.(12-7-2005).

What about the talk of a canadian site in Montreal?

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports