NASCAR is releasing its ’20 schedule this afternoon at 4:00pm ET, and the slate is expected to feature more changes than has been seen in years. On top of some of the moves reported by THE DAILY yesterday, including making ISM Raceway the new season finale, the series is also expected to swap Daytona Int'l Speedway’s July 4 weekend date to the regular-season finale in August and move Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Brickyard 400 race to the July 4 weekend. The series is also expected to take a two-week break during the ’20 Tokyo Games to help ease NBC Sports’ coverage of the Games.
ISM Raceway has scheduled a press conference for 4:00pm today to coincide with the announcement, with NASCAR Vice Chair Mike Helton and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey scheduled to be in attendance. With ISM taking over Homestead-Miami Speedway’s date as the finale, Homestead will be moving earlier in the schedule, potentially as early as the sixth race, sources say. That would likely have the Daytona 500 start of the season, followed by three spring West Coast races, then Atlanta Motor Speedway before Homestead. It is unclear whether NASCAR is going to announce ISM Raceway as the new long-term home of the season finale or whether the series will announce that it will start rotating the final race.
