Starting with Week No. 2, which features a race on the Daytona International Speedway road course, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule looks vastly different than the schedule from recent years.
Gone are Auto Club Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and the traditional 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway layout. Now on the schedule for the first time are Nashville Superspeedway, Circuit of The Americas, Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Rather than hosting two points races, per usual, Texas Motor Speedway will host one points race and the All-Star Race. Bristol Motor Speedway, meanwhile, will be converted to a dirt track for its annual spring race.
Most noteworthy of all is that a total of seven points-paying road course races are on the schedule – more than in any previous season.