NASCAR releases schedule for 2008 Truck Series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The 2008 Craftsman Truck Series schedule was announced on Thursday, and for the sixth consecutive year the championship will be contested over 25 races. The 2008 season will be the 60th anniversary of NASCAR, which was incorporated on Feb. 21, 1948.

The schedule begins at Daytona International Speedway in February, concludes at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November and features an unprecedented Craftsman Truck Series-Nationwide Series doubleheader at California Speedway.

The series will visit the same 22 tracks as in 2007 and in the same order as the current schedule. Fifteen events will be held in conjunction with the Nextel Cup Series, while 10 races are scheduled as either "stand-alones" or in conjunction with Nationwide Series races.

• On Feb. 23, California Speedway will host Craftsman Truck and Nationwide Series events, which for three seasons have been scheduled on separate days during the track's first of two Nextel Cup Series weekends.

• In another shift, Gateway International Raceway's event will run a week later than in 2007, on Sept. 6, the weekend following the Labor Day holiday.

• Martinsville Speedway, one of four tracks to have scheduled an event in each season since the series was created in 1995, will host its 20th race on Oct. 18.

Among active tracks on the schedule, Texas Motor Speedway has hosted the most Craftsman Truck Series races. Texas will host its 21st and 22nd Craftsman Truck Series races in 2008, on June 6 and Oct. 31 and joins Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway as tracks hosting two events in 2008.