NASCAR releases schedule for 2008 Nationwide Series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As NASCAR celebrates its 60th anniversary, the 2008 season will bring a new name -- the NASCAR Nationwide Series -- to the nation's second-most popular series.

Nationwide Insurance was announced Wednesday as the new series sponsor. In 2008, the series -- currently known as the NASCAR Busch Series but in its final year of sponsorship from Anheuser-Busch -- will again start its season at Daytona International Speedway (Saturday, Feb. 16) and end at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Saturday, Nov. 15).

Nationwide Series

NASCAR announced that Nationwide Insurance will become the title sponsor of the sport's No. 2 series.

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For the second consecutive season, there will be two international events. The series will return to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal on Aug. 2. And for a fourth consecutive year, the schedule includes a race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. However, for the first time in the brief history of the event, it will move from its previous date on the first Sunday in March to April 20.

Some of the key changes to the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule include:

• A historic doubleheader at California Speedway with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday, Feb. 23.

• The Mexico City race trades slots with the event weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

• Las Vegas Motor Speedway's race will now fall one week earlier on March 1 and starts an early-season domino effect where three other races precede their dates by one week from last season -- Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 8), Bristol Motor Speedway (March 15) and Nashville Superspeedway (March 22).

• The order of the two races following the first open week of the season (March 29) also moves up one week. The spring race at Texas Motor Speedway will be April 5 with the Phoenix event on April 11.

• Also, the addition of lights at Chicagoland Speedway will facilitate an inaugural Friday night show for the series there on July 11.

There will be nine "stand-alone" events: Nashville (March 22 and June 7), Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (April 20), Kentucky Speedway (June 14), the Milwaukee Mile (June 21), Gateway International Raceway (July 19), O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis (July 26), Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (August 2) and Memphis Motorsports Park (Oct. 25).

The NASCAR Nationwide Series is scheduled for 35 races in 2008 -- 26 combination events with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and three in conjunction with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. There are 26 racetracks on the schedule divided among 20 states, Canada and Mexico. The 2008 season will mark the 60th anniversary of NASCAR, which was incorporated on Feb. 21, 1948.