RELATED: See the full 2017 schedules here
NASCAR released its 2017 national series schedules on Thursday — months prior to the more typical fall arrival — and among the significant news is a Chase-time swap between two of the tracks on the Cup schedule.
Although the order and dates of races in NASCAR’s premier series remain mostly intact, a noteworthy change involves swapping the Chase race order at Talladega Superspeedway and Kansas Speedway.
For 2017, Talladega (Oct. 15) will be the second race in the Round of 12 with Kansas becoming the third — and elimination — race (Oct. 22) for the Round of 12. This past weekend, Talladega recorded the second-highest number of green-flag passes for the lead in the track’s great history (213), and the series heads to Kansas this week for a Saturday night show with its revamped rules package.
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy caught up with reporters Thursday at Kansas Speedway, explaining the dynamics of the schedule swap and the enhancements to the Chase. Cassidy said that with the new reduced downforce package in place, driver input and a team’s ability to adjust at an intermediate-sized track would play a greater role in determining eliminations.
“I would say it definitely adds a different layer of pressure for the competitors; I would say it adds certainly to the weekend and to the Chase overall,” Cassidy said. “But at the same time it does not take away from, on the Talladega side, what the fans are going to get. To me, it’s good for the fans on either side because … no matter when you go to Talladega you’re going to see a product that is quite frankly some of the most popular racing that we’ve got on the circuit. Now with Kansas in that spot, you add another layer of complexity to a very compelling playoff format.”
NASCAR credited an “unprecedented” collaboration among the industry for being able to complete and announce the upcoming 2017 schedule so early in 2016, specifically noting the importance of the five-year sanctioning agreement between NASCAR and its tracks.
“Announcing the 2017 national series schedules this early in the season is another example of the collaborative spirit across the NASCAR industry,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said. “It’s an exciting time in NASCAR, with some of the most intriguing racing we’ve seen in years. With the 2017 schedule solidified, the industry can now concentrate on the remainder of this season while planning for the future much earlier than in previous years.”
RELATED: Explaining the five-year agreement
The other big date news is that Dover International Speedway‘s spring race will be moved back a month to June 4 — a week after the Coca-Cola 600 — versus a date in May this year. And Michigan International Speedway‘s second race returns to its traditional August timeframe — Aug. 13. Texas Motor Speedway‘s spring race will also be held on Sunday afternoon, rather than Saturday night.
The Cup schedule begins with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 26. Its regular-season finale at Richmond is Sept. 9, with the first round of the 10-stop playoff slate scheduled for Sept. 17 at Chicagoland Speedway. The 2017 champion will be crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19.
As for the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedules, they will open the new season at Daytona on Feb. 25 and Feb. 24, respectively.
The XFINITY Series will feature four stand-alone events — at Iowa Speedway (July 29), Mid-Ohio (Aug. 12), Road America (Aug. 26) and Kentucky Speedway (Sept. 23). The Kentucky event opens the NASCAR XFINTY Series Chase.
The Camping World Truck Series will host five stand-alone events on its 23-race schedule, including the hugely popular race at Eldora Speedway on July 19. It will kick off its postseason at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 23.
Iowa Speedway will again host an XFINITY and Camping World Truck series doubleheader on June 23-24.
Contributing: Kenny Bruce in Kansas City.
RELATED: Learn more about all 23 Cup tracks