The 2024 NASCAR schedule for all three national touring series came out earlier this week. While most of the focus was on the Cup Series schedule, there are some interesting takeaways from the Xfinity and Truck Series schedules, some of which are good, and some of which are not. What are some of the biggest takeaways from the Xfinity and Truck Series schedules?
There are only a combined three standalone race weekends in 2023, which is down from six in 2024. The Xfinity Series race at Road America and Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio are now gone, and the Truck Series spring race at Texas that was run in conjunction with IndyCar is now a part of tripleheader weekend with all three National Touring series at Texas in the spring. The only standalone races are Portland (Xfinity), Milwaukee (Trucks), and Indianapolis Raceway Park (Trucks).
There is a trade-off with this that it does take away interesting venues in some cases that these series have raced at. However, it also means that there is more on-track activity wherever the Cup Series is during a race weekend because Xfinity and/or Trucks are there. Therefore, this is probably not all bad, but, there are some sacrifices that were made.
Over the last few years, NASCAR has run a few weekends where Xfinity and Trucks both run their races on Saturday, the day before the Cup Series race. That happened at four venues this year including Atlanta’s spring weekend, COTA, Pocono, and Homestead-Miami. In 2024, Pocono will drop that as host Trucks on Friday, Xfinity on Saturday, and Cup on Sunday.
Now, while these doubleheaders are popular amongst fans, it’s understandable why Pocono would stop this. Having all of that on-track activity in one day puts the track on a time crunch, and a rain delay, which Pocono has a lot of those could throw the entire day out of wack. It is easier to do at tracks with lights like Homestead-Miami and Atlanta. Still, it may be seen as a disappointment to some fans who like to see two races on Saturday.
With Road America gone from the 2024 schedule, the Xfinity Series will now run a second race at Talladega in October. In previous years, it had typically been just Xfinity and Cup in the spring with the Truck Series running alongside Cup in the fall. Now, it’s a tripleheader weekend.
The caveat is that the Truck Series race is at 5:00 PM on a Friday now in October, which may be tough for fans to either attend or watch on TV. Then again, more Talladega action for the Xfinity Series is welcomed by many fans.
NASCAR will make its’ return to Iowa Speedway in 2024, but, this time it will bring the Cup Series along with the Xfinity Series. However, the Trucks are missing from this weekend, as ARCA will run a race on Friday that weekend. This is a bit surprising given that the Truck Series would often run alongside Xfinity at Iowa in the past.
However, Iowa essentially takes the place of Auto Club Speedway on the calendar, and the Truck Series was not a part of that weekend. Therefore, NASCAR would have to add a race date to the calendar, which may not have been feasible for the teams or the TV partners. It’s still disappointing to many though.
The Playoffs were not only revamped for the Cup Series in 2024, but the lower series also had some changes in 2024. In the Xfinity Series, Texas is out as the second race of the first round, and Talladega takes that slot. The Playoff opener has changed as well as Bristol is now the cut-off race and Kansas is now the Playoff opener in a date swap. Aside from that, it is the same set of tracks for the final five races of the Playoffs.
For Trucks, the Playoff opener moves one week later to the Milwaukee Mile, but Richmond remains as the cut-off race as its date was swapped with Indianapolis Raceway Park. Bristol moves from the Round of 8 opener to being the second race in the Round of 10, and Kansas remains the cut-off. In place of that open date, the Trucks pay a second visit to Martinsville on November 1st for the Championship 4 cut-off race with Talladega and Homestead to start the Round of 8.
This means that the Championship 4 cut-off and the Championship race for all three series will now both be at the same race track on the same weekend. The Championship 4 cut-off is at Martinsville and the Championship race is still at Phoenix.
Despite Iowa being added to the Cup and Xfinity Series schedules, the Craftsman Truck Series does not have a new venue for 2024. Again there is a trade-off for this.
Yes, new venues are fun, but, going to Iowa meant adding an extra race. Taking away a standalone venue in Mid-Ohio allowed for fall Martinsville to now be a tripleheader weekend. Again, there are pros and cons to every decision regarding the schedule, and it just happens that the Truck Series has no new venues in 2024.
The 2024 Xfinity and Truck Series schedule has some interesting notes to it, but it shows that NASCAR is continuing to add companion races to the Cup Series. Again, that could be a good thing or a bad thing, but, it is what it is.
