What’s Happening?

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series prepares for its first night race of the 2024 season. Night racing is becoming a rarer occasion as time goes on with only 7 regular season night races scheduled plus all non-points events. This is down from 2014, for example, when 10 regular season races, plus all non-points events, were scheduled under the lights. These are all of the night races on the 2024 NASCAR schedule, along with why NASCAR does not race at night much anymore.

• Night racing is a major part of stock car racing. Saturday night short track racing is a summertime staple for small towns all across the country.
• Night racing in NASCAR has been relatively uncommon however; primarily because lighting the big race tracks NASCAR raced on had never been done before. That changed in 1992 when Charlotte Motor Speedway lit up for “The Winston”, and night racing became more common. However, other market factors have seen night racing diminish in recent years.
• Fans love night racing, and there are plenty of benefits for fans at the track watching a night race. During the hot summer months, moving the race to the cool of night is noticeably more comfortable for fans at the race track.

Every Night Race (*Exhibition/Qualifying Race)

*February 3rd: Clash at the Coliseum

The Clash has historically been a daytime event, but, NASCAR moved the event to Saturday night for from 2003 and 2016, when the event was still at Daytona. After 4 more years in the daylight (2017-2020), the event moved back to the nighttime on the Daytona Road Course in 2021, and eventually the LA Coliseum in 2022. The future of the event is in flux with the LA Coliseum contract running out, so, whether or not it stays a night race is TBD.

*February 15th: Duels at Daytona

The Duels at Daytona were moved from Thursday afternoon to Thursday night beginning in 2014. Since they were already on cable TV anyway, it made sense to move the races from weekday programming to a weeknight. The decision has been a welcome one, as more fans are available to watch midweek racing at night than during the day.

March 31st (Easter): Richmond

In 2022, NASCAR broke away from tradition and began racing on Easter Sunday. The first two seasons of NASCAR on Easter came at night on the Bristol Dirt track, but, now that Bristol Dirt is off the schedule, NASCAR moved the Easter date to Richmond. A night race on a holiday seems like a match made in heaven.

*May 19th: All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro

The All-Star Race has been a nighttime affair since Charlotte Motor Speedway installed lights for the first time in 1992. This made a major impact on the sport, as Charlotte was the first non-short track to install permanent lights. The race has been at night ever since, and North Wilkesboro continued that tradition in 2023.

May 26th: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

The Coca-Cola 600 is NASCAR’s version of an endurance race, and the race became even more difficult in 1993. After years of being held in the daylight, Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR elected to move the race to start in the evening, with the race starting in the daylight and ending under the lights. The result is wildly changing track conditions, which creates an often unpredictable race.

June 16th: Iowa

Iowa Speedway’s first Cup Series race in 2024 will be contested under the lights. The track has hosted various night races in the Xfinity Series, ARCA, the Craftsman Truck Series, and IndyCar throughout its history. Iowa will be the first NBC NASCAR broadcast of 2024, and it takes the night race idea from Nashville Superspeedway, which hosted its first scheduled night race in 2023.

August 11th: Richmond 2

The summer race at Richmond will join the spring race as a nighttime show. It will be the first time since 2019 that Richmond has both of their races scheduled at night. Richmond is no stranger to night racing, as they had both of their races scheduled for Saturday night every year from 1998 until 2015.

August 24th: Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

To escape from the daytime heat and humidity of the Florida sun, Daytona International Speedway moved its annual summer race to the nighttime starting in 1998. It has remained there ever since, and it joins Bristol as the only two Saturday night races on the 2024 schedule

September 1st: Southern 500 at Darlington

In an effort to keep Darlington relevant on the NASCAR schedule, the track installed lights for the 2004 racing season, and the first Southern 500 night race came in the spring of 2005. Darlington made a neat tradition out of the Mother’s Day weekend race, and the track regained its’ Labor Day Southern 500 slot in 2015. The race has continued to be held at night to escape from the South Carolina heat.

September 21st: Night Race at Bristol

Bristol Motor Speedway still hosts the definitive night race in NASCAR. It’s the traditional short track Saturday night slugfest on national television in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people. The track hosted night races in the summertime throughout the later 20th century, when night racing was still a novelty to NASCAR.

Why Does NASCAR not Race at Night Anymore?

As we mentioned in the intro, NASCAR has cut down on night racing in recent years with only 7 regular season races scheduled under the lights. NASCAR has also gotten away from the practice of hosting night races on Saturday instead of Sunday, with 5 of 2024’s 7-night races being on Sunday.

The simple reason why is TV ratings. Look no further than the Bristol Night Race in 2023, which saw only 1.562 million viewers, far and away the least-viewed NASCAR race of 2023 that ran on its’ scheduled date. In fairness, Bristol did have a brief weather delay, but, this is not just a Bristol trend.

In 2023, regular season night races run on schedule averaged only 2.72 million viewers, which was below the overall average of 2.89 million. Night races simply do not bring in as many viewers.

This doesn’t mean night racing is going extinct in NASCAR. It does mean, however, that night races on their own are just not as big of a ratings hit as other races are.