Major changes to the 2020 Cup Series schedule

New season-ender: For the first time in its history, ISM Raceway near Phoenix will host the season finale for NASCAR's top division. The event, scheduled Nov. 8, 2020, will be a showcase for the newly renovated 1-mile oval in the Arizona desert. The track has been a longtime host to the next-to-last race of the season most years since it joined the NASCAR calendar in 1988.

Regular-season finale shifts to DIS: For the first time since NASCAR's playoff era began in 2004, a superspeedway will host the final race of the Cup Series' regular season. Daytona International Speedway will be the venue, providing a field-equalizing track as a wild-card opportunity for movement on the postseason bubble. The shift moves Daytona's second race of the season from its former Independence Day weekend slot to Aug. 29, 2020, under the lights.

Pocono doubles up: For the first time in NASCAR's modern era, the Cup Series will run two races in one weekend, with Pocono Raceway hosting a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader June 27-28, 2020. The scheduling ensures that the 36-race season will end one week earlier than in recent years.

Playoffs too tough to tame: Darlington Raceway's traditional Labor Day positioning stays intact, but the crown-jewel 500-miler will shift to the first event in the series' 10-race postseason. The historic track's annual Throwback Weekend will add a dose of drama with teams aiming to start the playoffs on a high note. With Darlington becoming the playoff opener, Las Vegas Motor Speedway moves to the first race in the Round of 12, the fourth of 10 postseason races overall.

Playoff bounce for Bristol: The annual night race at Bristol Motor Speedway is getting a bump up in prominence with a spot in the playoffs. That shift in the schedule pushes the .533-mile track's showcase event back one month to Sept. 19. The magnitude also increases with the 500-lapper's timing as the final race in the Round of 16, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason picture on the Tennessee high banks.

Two twists for Martinsville: The pair of annual races at NASCAR's oldest track take on new roles in 2020. Martinsville Speedway's first new wrinkle comes Saturday night, May 9, with the .526-mile circuit's first race scheduled in the glow its state-of-the-art lighting system. The second twist is a move in its positioning in the playoffs. Instead of opening the Round of 8, Martinsville shifts to the next-to-last race of the season on Nov. 1, the final elimination point to set the Championship 4 field.

Roval rotation: The Charlotte Motor Speedway road course is set for its second running, but with a new slot in the 10-race playoffs. The event on the 2.28-mile combination oval and road circuit will remain an elimination race, but for the Round of 12 instead of the Round of 16.

Early rise in the West: The NASCAR Cup Series' West Coast swing gets an accelerated timetable for 2020, making its three-race tour right after the season-opening Daytona 500. Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the second event of the season, followed by Auto Club Speedway, then ISM Raceway near Phoenix. That sequence moves Atlanta Motor Speedway from the second spot on the schedule to Race No. 5, on March 15.

Independence Day in Indy: NASCAR's annual trip to Indianapolis Motor Speedway is on the move again. After serving as the regular-season finale in 2018-19, the historic Brickyard trades places with Daytona for July 4th weekend.

Homestead happenings: After hosting the season-ending event every year since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway takes an early springtime slot for its annual date on the schedule. The 1.5-mile track in south Florida will host the Cup Series' sixth race of the season on March 22.

Father's Day near the Windy City: Chicagoland Speedway will hold its annual premier series race weekend in June for the second straight year in 2020. The 1.5-mile track will move one week earlier, however, coinciding with Father's Day weekend. Before the 2019 season, the Illinois facility's annual date fell in either July or September.