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Three-time NASCAR champion will become sole owner of organization

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart has entered into an agreement to purchase the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series.

The announcement, made Wednesday, stated that Stewart has agreed to terms with series owner Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the organization.

"My passion for sprint car racing is well known," Stewart said in a release, "and the All Star Circuit of Champions … series has been a pillar of the sport for a long time.

"Racing is my business and I look forward to building the series’ already impressive legacy by taking it to a new level of success and sustainability."

Stewart, co-owner of the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organization, has continued to compete in sprint cars throughout his NASCAR career. Incidents in the past two seasons, however, have left many wondering if his extracurricular racing activities should be either curtailed or stopped entirely.

In 2013, Stewart suffered a broken right leg in an accident while competing at a sprint car race in Iowa. The injury forced Stewart to miss the final 15 races of the ’13 NASCAR season.

Last August, Stewart was again competing in a sprint car race when his entry struck and killed a fellow driver, Kevin Ward Jr. Stewart sat out three NASCAR races while dealing with the emotional and legal turmoil. Although he was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident, Stewart said the fatality was something that would stay with him "forever."

Dirt track racing makes up a large part of Stewart’s business endeavors, and includes ownership of Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio as well as Tony Stewart Racing, a successful World of Outlaws race team.

Webb said he had put his "heart and soul" into the All Star Circuit, "and it gives me great peace of mind to hand over the reins … to Tony Stewart.

"Tony is dirt track racing’s biggest advocate, and he’s always working in the best interest of sprint car racing."

The series, which is not tied to one specific sanctioning organization, has a 50-race schedule in store for the 2015 season. The first event of the new year is scheduled for Feb. 5-7 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida.

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Michael Annett joins Justin Allgaier in new-look two-car team

RELATED: See all roster changes for 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — HScott Motorsports announced Tuesday during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom that Michael Annett will join Justin Allgaier and the organization in 2015, ultimately expanding to a two-car NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team.

Annett, who is still without a crew chief and car number for the new season, comes from Tommy Baldwin Racing where he was a contender for the 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award and earned his best finish of 16th in May of last year at Talladega Superspeedway.

Annett’s move to HScott is not unfamiliar, though, as team owner Harry Scott Jr. explained that he and Annett have been around each other for quite some time.

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"We’ve kind of come up though the ranks together," Scott explained. "I started with ownership the same time he started in the national series."

Besides Annett having familiarity with Scott, the 28-year-old Des Moines, Iowa, native also recognized the small team’s accomplishments on track.

"It doesn’t take very long for them to have success," Annett said. "We saw that last year (in the team’s first full season in the Sprint Cup Series). Justin and I started as rookies and we were parked next to each other. And he kept moving further and further away from me to ask questions."

With the season opener at Daytona International Speedway less than a month away, Annett also said that despite the rush to put a team together, he would not have made the move without full confidence that it would be a benefit.

"There’s definitely a rush, and I’ve been in situations where we’ve put together a team late and we’ve made some mistakes — and not necessarily the team," Annett said. "Maybe I’ve made jumps into certain situations where we didn’t sit back and calculate them, and that’s when you get behind. We’re definitely rushed, but we wouldn’t have made this decision if we didn’t think we could pull it off with success, and not just halfway through the season."

Justin Allgaier, who will be back in the No. 51 car with Steve Addington as crew chief (as well as overall competition director for HScott Motorsports), spent a lot of the offseason reflecting on his rookie showing last year and what he would do differently in 2015.

"I look at 2014 and I look at some of the things that I did as a driver, some of the times that I maybe got too excited, too aggressive, maybe not aggressive enough in certain aspects," Allgaier said. "I feel like there are a lot of things that I look back at and think, ‘Man, I wish I would have done that differently.’

"I look at 2015 not as a sophomore season, but to keep that learning alive and to look at it as another rookie season. I’m not smart enough to know everything. To get at these race tracks again for a third or fourth time, I’m still learning. Hopefully, we can take all of that and use that to our advantage."

Because Allgaier spent his rookie season last year on a single-car team, the addition of Annett sparks the idea that the two Sprint Cup sophomores can work together both in the garage and on the track.

"To have a second car, I believe in today’s age of NASCAR is paramount," Allgaier said. "To have that teammate to be able to lean on. When we go to the race track on a weekly basis as a single-car team, you’re shooting in the dark. You hope that you hit everything exactly right.

"To have a teammate it allows the opportunity to try new things, to grow, but also, too, Michael and I are a lot alike. We’re very similar as far as our on-track driving abilities, our thoughts, what we want in a race car, so that excites me because we can work together and really grow. … I think all of that really helps our organization grow."

Growth appears to be essential for HScott Motorsports as the team now houses two young second-year Cup drivers both hungry for their first elite-series win and from the sounds of it, willing to work together to achieve success.

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All-star lineup of talent includes Jeff Burton and Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the time since it was announced in July 2013 that NBC Sports would be returning to its coverage of NASCAR, a snowball effect-type buzz has been building around the media group’s Stamford, Connecticut, studios that would make Winter Storm Juno jealous.

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With its first season of Sprint Cup Series coverage in nearly a decade barreling towards us, the buzz reached a paramount on Tuesday when the incoming, all-star team was introduced during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour.

"Everybody at NBC Sports is thrilled to be back in the sport," said Jeff Behnke, NBC Sports Vice President, NASCAR. "It’s been eight and a half long years and I can tell you that the buzz around all of our production people, our engineers and our talent, sales, marketing; every group. We are absolutely thrilled to be back in the sport."

Following Behnke’s introduction, an eye-popping promo video for NBC’s coverage (which begins Fourth of July weekend with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway) was played, featuring enough high-throttle footage of raucous racing and wrecking to get the heart pumping — and the season hasn’t even started yet.

"I wish you could go up to Stamford, Connecticut, and walk through the halls," said Kyle Petty, former driver and NBC newcomer. "They are truly excited to have this property; it’s crazy. With the Premier League, with NHL, with NFL, some of the other properties that they have, the whole building there’s a buzz, and there was a buzz building all last year.

"That’s the exciting part for me. Sometimes when you drove a race car, all it took was a different paint job on the car and you got excited when you showed up at the race track. Or you put on a different uniform, a different sponsor and you were excited. It was like being a kid again. This group is excited to come back. It’s a new look, it’s a different feel and I think they’re going to bring some stuff this year that hopefully will excite (the media) but I know it’s going to excite the fans."

Of course, live racing on television can only take you so far without a group of highly talented individuals to call the action, so NBC has arranged a star-studded crew to bring it all home.

Media veteran Rick Allen will helm the lap-by-lap duties while 21-time Sprint Cup Series winner Jeff Burton and former Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 crew chief Steve Letarte will join him for color commentary. Other on-air talent includes Marty Snider — who was part of the original NBC coverage from 2001 to 2006 — NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett, Krista Voda, Kelli Stavast, Mike Massaro, Dave Burns and Rutledge Wood. Motorsports journalists Nate Ryan and Dustin Long have also signed on for editorial coverage.

For Burton, who was in the car for four races just a season ago with Michael Waltrip Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, this whole "being a media member" thing is a completely new, heavier experience.

"I’ve put on some weight," Burton said. "The media gets fed well, so that’s been an issue for me. Jeff has done an incredible job of putting a group of people together. This is just like building a team, it really is. It’s the same as being part of a race team. We have a goal that’s different than winning races, but it’s about doing the best broadcast we can and it’s really been fun to get to know everybody."

In addition to the studio in Stamford where the flagship show "NASCAR America" will be broadcast from, additional support will come from an NBC Sports studio in Charlotte, along with a smaller studio at Burton’s own late model garage — appropriately titled "Burton’s Garage."

While the long-time driver is more focused on the culinary aspects of being a member of the media, Letarte — an employee of Hendrick for two decades — may find that his biggest obstacle is objectivity.

Even so, it’s an aspect that he’s looking forward to.

"For 20 years, I’ve basically looked at one car and one car only,” Letarte, most recently crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr., said. "…You’re looking at one car and that car is your whole day. The opportunity to step back and see the entire race unfold, all 43 competitors, the different strategies; it’s going to be nice to not have to cheer for one car but to cheer for a good race and to see what competitor can bring his best game that day. That’s a big difference for me."

The commitment to NASCAR that NBC is making cannot be understated, and it really began last year. The outlet found ways to marry motorsports into its coverage of other sports and entertainment, whether it’s seeing Jimmie Johnson race Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Snider doing a piece with Johnson and his love of bicycles for the Tour de France or Carl Edwards teaming with Kentucky Speedway for a Triple Crown promotion. Dale Jarrett will also have an upcoming segment on the Golf Channel to showcase his links knowledge.

WATCH: Johnson race Fallon in a Cooler Scooter Race

On Friday, we’ll see the newest installment of cross-promotion when the NASCAR Gridiron Challenge airs at 10 p.m. ET on NBCSN, pairing drivers with former NFL players for a 20-lap race and an NFL skills-type challenge.

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Following up teammate Kurt Busch’s attempt isn’t in the cards

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two of her Stewart-Haas Racing teammates are among the four drivers to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day over Memorial Day weekend, but that prospect doesn’t sound too enticing to Danica Patrick.

On Tuesday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, Patrick said she has "less thoughts about doing Indy every year."

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"Like I said last year and the year before, the further I get away from it, the less I think about it and the less I want to do it," Patrick said. "I feel like being in position to have a chance to win every year I went there was something great and I don’t want to do anything to take away from that and what I accomplished by going there and being worse than that essentially."

In seven starts in the Indianapolis 500, Patrick has finished in the top 10 six times, including a best finish of third place in 2009.

"It’s a never say never thing," Patrick added, "but its definitely further and further away in my mind."

Patrick’s SHR teammate Kurt Busch ran the 500-600 double last year with a sixth-place finish at Indianapolis for Andretti Autosport and a 40th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway due to an expired engine.

Would Busch consider the double again?

"It’s nice to have Tony Stewart‘s blessing to run Indy," Busch said. "To have Michael Andretti give me the access to come back to give it a shot. It’s something we haven’t talked about."

Stewart, Patrick’s boss and teammate, has done the double twice, in 1999 and 2001. His best result came in 2001 when he completed all 1,100 miles of the double with a sixth-place finish at Indianapolis and a third-place finish at Charlotte.

Patrick also recently attended the Chili Bowl with her boyfriend, fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who ran in the event. However, she warns not to expect to see her in that event, either.

"Yeah, a lot of people want to get me to run the Chili Bowl and I thoroughly enjoy standing around and hanging out," she said.

"It’s fun to watch a race. I do like watching racing every now and again and I rarely get to do that."

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Owner of Eldora feels sad, but says offer to race at dirt track is open

RELATED: The latest from the Charlotte Media Tour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Count Tony Stewart among those who were surprised by Jeff Gordon‘s announcement last Thursday that the 2015 Sprint Cup Series season would be his final campaign in a full-time ride.

In fact, the three-time champion who was also the runner-up to Gordon for the 2001 title, says it’s hard to imagine the day Gordon will not be piloting the No. 24 car.

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"It caught me off-guard," Stewart said during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. "I think it caught everybody off-guard. I always thought my whole life, especially early when we were rivals, I thought, ‘Man, I can’t wait until this guy announces his retirement,’ but it’s the polar opposite.

"I was really sad. I can’t imagine the day that he is not in the 24 car at the track. It’s not something I am looking forward to.

"I think we all respect Jeff Gordon, everything that he has done in this sport. I don’t think any of us ever imagined the day we weren’t going to see him in a car. As the season gets closer to the end, you are going to see a lot of people that are pretty sad about it, especially his peers that he races with."

Last Friday, Stewart took to Twitter to make Gordon an offer about running the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 1-800-CARCASH Mudsummer Classic in 2016 at Eldora Speedway, the dirt track that Stewart owns in Ohio.

RELATED: Gordon at Eldora? Stewart wants it

The proposal seemed to gather some traction on Twitter, but Stewart said he hasn’t heard from Gordon about it yet.

"When you guys see him this week, make sure you re-emphasize that is an open offer," Stewart said. "We’ll make a great deal for him."

As for when Stewart will race at the dirt track, that may not happen for a bit.

"Probably not for a while," Stewart said. "It’s very hard to go to the track and be a promoter of an event, do everything that we need to do and try to drive at the same time."

The 2015 1-800-CARCASH Mudsummer Classic will take place at 9 p.m. ET on July 22 on FOX Sports 1.

MORE: Full Gordon coverage

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Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff extends partnership with No. 98 entry

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Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff and Pouches has extended their partnership with ThorSport Racing and Johnny Sauter for the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the team announced on Tuesday.

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The partnership is for eight races beginning with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, the NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Friday, Feb. 20 (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

"Smokey Mountain has been a huge supporter of our series, and every year they are able to increase their presence in NASCAR," Sauter said in a team release. "I’m honored they have chosen not only to extend their partnership with myself and ThorSport Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but to have also increased their presence in 2015. This kind of partnership is hard to find these days, so I’m honored to be carrying their colors and representing their brand again this season."

In addition to the opener at Daytona, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff and Pouches will serve as the primary sponsor for both races at Martinsville Speedway (in March and October), the May races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Dover International Speedway, the August race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the October race at Talladega Superspeedway and the November race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Last season, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff was a primary sponsor for Sauter in six of the series’ 22 races.

In the 2014 season, Sauter scored a win at Michigan International Speedway and finished fourth in the final standings, driving the No. 98 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing.

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Ran nine races in 2014 in a fill-in role for the team

BK Racing named JJ Yeley as its primary driver for 2015, piloting a Toyota Camry for the team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The exact car number has not yet been announced.

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Yeley ran nine races for BK Racing in 2014, including eight in the No. 83 car, taking over the ride from Ryan Truex for the first time at Michigan International Speedway. Running a quarter of the season with the team, his best finish was 29th in October at Kansas.

"I am looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of my BK Racing Toyota Camry," Yeley said. "I filled in for the team at the end of the 2014 season, and I’m glad to be given the opportunity to come back again for another season. I am ready to get the 2015 season started and head to Daytona International Speedway for some restrictor plate racing."

In 220 career starts in NASCAR’s top series, Yeley has two top-five finishes, eight top-10s and one Coors Light Pole Award. He ran two full-time seasons for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 18 car in 2006 and 2007 and ran all but one race in 2013 for Tommy Baldwin Racing.

"JJ has been a great asset to the BK Racing team," owner Ron Devine said. "He has been involved in the motorsports industry for several years now, and has the knowledge and skill to help build this organization."

In a statement, the team indicated "more information on the remaining BK Racing drivers, sponsors and partnerships" would be forthcoming.

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Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 scheduled for June 7

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Pocono Raceway announced Tuesday that the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of its season will get a winning paint job from a sponsor that has coated championship cars.

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The track’s longtime partner, Axalta Coating Systems, entered into a multi-year entitlement agreement which includes the June 7 race held at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ as the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400.

"We are very excited to share this great news, in cooperation with everyone at Axalta Coating Systems," Pocono Raceway President/CEO Brandon Igdalsky said. "They have been a great addition to the Pocono Raceway family, and we look forward to growing this relationship in 2015 and beyond.

"What makes this even more special is the fact we get to work hand-in-hand with a true global powerhouse who also calls the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ‘home.’"

Based in Philadelphia, Axalta has sponsored Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon throughout his career, initially under the DuPont banner. Gordon holds the record for wins at Pocono with six.

"Axalta is proud of its 22-year motorsports partnership," Axalta Vice President and head of its North America business, Nigel Budden said. "As a leader in the U.S. refinish business, our paint graces race cars that burn rubber on the track each season and we proudly support four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

"Now, we are pleased to expand our racing involvement as Pocono Raceway‘s title sponsor of the upcoming race on June 7. We look forward to cheering on Gordon as he vies for a seventh win at Pocono Raceway."

Axalta Coating Systems is "The Official Finish" of Hendrick and Stewart-Haas Racing, the two most recent Sprint Cup championship organizations.

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Michael Waltrip Racing turns to 22-year-old in relief role

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brett Moffitt, who made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in 2014, will drive the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 1 as Brian Vickers recuperates from offseason heart surgery.

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Owner Michael Waltrip made the announcement Tuesday during his team’s stop on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour.

"He was the driver that everybody at Michael Waltrip Racing wanted to be in that car at Atlanta," Waltrip said. "They believe in him."

Moffitt said he learned of his appointment to the No. 55 Toyota two weeks ago, making it exceedingly difficult to keep his fill-in role a secret.

"It was a stressful wait to find out that I was going to be in the car, that’s for sure," Moffitt said. "I obviously wanted this opportunity really bad and I’m thankful for it."

In seven Sprint Cup starts last season, the best start and finish for the 22-year-old native of Grimes, Iowa and former NASCAR Next driver and K&N Pro Series East race winner came in his debut on June 1 at Dover International Speedway when he began the race in 18th and finished 22nd.

Though he said he has been enjoying his time as a developmental driver in the MWR system, Moffitt said he was continuing to explore options — in any of NASCAR’s three national series — that would allow him to race on a more consistent basis.

"I’m very happy with MWR. They’re very supportive of me — have been since 2011," Moffitt said. "They gave me the first opportunity to test a Cup car, they gave me the first opportunity to race one, so they’ve been huge supporters of my career and I wouldn’t be where I am without them, that’s for sure. But at the same time, I need to be in a race car more often and they’ve been willing to work with me on that, and they said hey, if you find an opportunity, we’re not going to hold you back from it."

Waltrip agreed: "We’ll let Brett do anything he wants to do in order to get laps so that he can continue to mature as a race car driver. We believe in Brett, he’s our guy, but if we can loan him out and he can race somewhere else that would make me happy."

Waltrip will drive the No. 55 Toyota in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22 (1 p.m. ET, FOX) as he attempts to win his third Great American Race.

Despite missing the first two races of the season, Vickers received NASCAR’s blessing to run for the Sprint Cup Series championship provided he meets all other requirements for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. He will return to his ride at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the year on March 8.

Last month, doctors discovered Vickers’ body rejected a patch that was placed over a hole in his heart. They alleviated the problem and gave him clearance to race just three months after the corrective heart surgery.

"They took my heart out and replaced it with a lion heart," Vickers joked on Tuesday.

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Sprint Cup, XFINITY, Camping World Truck slates set for 2015

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NASCAR released the start times for its 2015 schedule of races for all three of its national series. Here are some of the highlights for the new season.

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Last year’s spring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, the Duck Commander 500, was scheduled on a Sunday during the daytime to accommodate big crowds in the area for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four. This year, that isn’t the case as the race will be run on Saturday night (April 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX.) and will serve as the first scheduled night race of the Sprint Cup Series season.

Daytona International Speedway will host its traditional mid-summer Coke Zero 400 on a Sunday next season instead of the usual Saturday date. The 7:45 p.m. ET start on July 5 will extend the holiday weekend. As NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer Steve O’Donnell said when the date was announced last August the event will "celebrate an additional fireworks show so we thought it was a great opportunity for the fans."

This race will also mark NBC’s first Sprint Cup race under the new television deal — with Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte in the booth to call and analyze the action.

MORE: Daytona Speedweeks schedule announced

The move of Darlington’s Sprint Cup date to Sept. 6 rekindles a sense of history for NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, which hosted stock-car racing’s first 500-mile race in 1950. The crown-jewel event and the surrounding pageantry became a staple of early September in the South Carolina sandhills until 2003. Since then, the Southern 500 has been held in November (2004), on Mother’s Day weekend (2005-13) and mid-April (2014). The Labor Day weekend race will get started at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday evening, while the XFINITY Series event moves up to a 3:30 p.m. ET start time on Saturday, Sept. 5.

In 2015, Darlington will become the next-to-last race before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason begins.

The 2015 Chase will be contested on the current 10 tracks, starting Sept. 20 at Chicagoland Speedway. Richmond International Raceway will remain host to the regular-season finale on Sept. 12.

Atlanta, which had held the Labor Day weekend spot since 2009, shifts its lone Sprint Cup race to March 1 with a 1 p.m. ET start on FOX. The 1.54-mile track, which first hosted NASCAR’s top division in 1960, had held stock-car races in either March or early April with regularity from 1963 to 2010. Atlanta also adds the Truck Series to its late winter weekend; the Hampton, Georgia track last hosted the circuit in 2012.

The newly added truck race for Atlanta will form a rare same-day doubleheader with the XFINITY Series on Feb. 28. It’s the first time that a scheduled doubleheader has run at the same track since 2009 at Auto Club. The XFINITY Series race, the Hisense 250, will be run at 2 p.m. ET while the Camping World Truck Series event will be at 5:30 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 will have television coverage for both events.

As announced earlier, Bristol Motor Speedway‘s daytime Sprint Cup race will shift deeper into the spring on April 19, pushing it from race No. 4 this season to race No. 8 in 2015.

RELATED: Highlighting the major schedule changes for 2015

Other enhancements to the 2015 NASCAR schedules:

— Instead of crisscrossing the country four times in the early part of the schedule as in recent years, Atlanta’s move to race No. 2 on the Sprint Cup schedule allows for a Western swing before the calendar dives headlong into spring. Las Vegas Motor Speedway will remain the third race on the slate, but will be followed by Phoenix International Raceway (formerly race No. 2) and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, which stays put as the fifth race of the year. The XFINITY Series, which runs companion events with the Sprint Cup tour for races Nos. 1 through 5, shifts its schedule accordingly.

"In talking to both SMI (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) and ISC (International Speedway Corporation), looking at the promotional efforts that could be put around three races in a row versus going east, west and back and forth, a lot of the marketing assets that a lot of the companies have in terms of hospitality, being able to do some really cool things for the fans, sometimes we weren’t able to deliver that for each race market because of the travel back and forth," O’Donnell said. "Now when you’re out west for three straight weeks, the fans can expect that same cool NASCAR experience at all three venues."

— The Sprint Cup schedule will add an idle weekend at the end of August, after Bristol’s annual night race and before the Southern 500. Adding the break will provide respite for drivers and teams on what is currently a run of 17 races in 17 weeks to the end of the season. The off-weekends are April 5 (Easter), June 21 (Father’s Day) and August 30.

— The addition of a Father’s Day weekend off will move Sonoma Raceway‘s Sprint Cup date back one week, to the final weekend in June. O’Donnell said the Father’s Day off-week for the Cup Series was "a result of some stakeholder conversations with some other competing sporting events that happen to be going on that weekend as well so we just thought it was best for us. The timing worked out great for us from a Father’s Day perspective to take that weekend off. A lot of our drivers are fathers. We’ll take that week off and head into Sonoma."

— The third off-weekend for the Sprint Cup tour will become a road-racing weekend for the other two national series. The XFINITY Series’ now-annual trip to Road America in Wisconsin will slide from late June to late August, running the same weekend that the Truck Series returns for a third straight season to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario.

— Kentucky Speedway‘s lone Sprint Cup race will return to early July. The track hosted its Sprint Cup debut on July 9, 2011, but has run in late June in every year since. It will continue as a tripleheader weekend for all three national series.

— Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway will flip-flop their current October race weekends.

— The two non-points races will remain at the same dates and places on the schedule. The Sprint Unlimited kickoff race for the previous year’s Coors Light Pole Award winners and Chase drivers will be run at Daytona the week before the Daytona 500. The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race remains at Charlotte, one week ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.

— There will be racing on July 4 as the XFINITY Series will hit the track for the Subway Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

— NASCAR will race on the Ohio dirt of Eldora Speedway for a third straight year with the Camping World Truck Series. The third annual 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic will be scheduled July 22 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.