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2024 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule Review
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Aug 15, 2024
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule is finally here! Let's talk about it and highlight key points. — From show creator Taylor Kitchen, welcome to Above The Yellow Line! Tune in each week to talk all things NASCAR with live streams most Thursday nights! Above The Yellow Line: www.abovetheyellowline.com Toby Christie: www.TobyChristie.com
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The wait is finally over. The 2024 NASCAR schedules are out. Let's talk about them
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In this video, I'm going to focus on the Cup Series, but in separate videos, I will talk about the Xfinity Series schedule and the Truck Series schedule
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I'm going to break the Cup Series schedule into three chunks, and as with anything, there are pros and cons that I want to talk about with you all. But right off the bat
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I got to say this schedule is not as hectic as I think we were led to believe. I know that Steve
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Phelps and Ben Kennedy were talking about how this would be the most aggressive schedule to date for
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NASCAR, and I think it is very aggressive, but again, not as crazy as I think it could have been
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or I think we all imagined. And I think that has to do with maybe Montreal, that whole deal falling
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through. So you'll notice it's not on the schedule, but there are some things that are on the schedule that are new. We'll talk about it. In case you missed it, kicking off the NASCAR schedule the
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first Sunday in February is the LA Clash at the Coliseum. Then that next Thursday, we go to Daytona
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for the Duels. Sunday, of course, is that Daytona 500 starting the regular season for the NASCAR
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Cup Series. And then we have a bit of a mix up in the schedule. We go to Atlanta right after that
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and I don't know if I'm a big fan of this. On a positive, this kind of retains that audience that
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you got from the Daytona 500, the fans that are tuning in for that one event that like Super
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Speedway Racing. Ben Kennedy actually talked about this in his press conference that he had
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discussing the 2024 schedule. So I thought that was a positive there. However, it's chaos back
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to back. These drivers are not going to be able to find the rhythm until the middle or end of the
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month, which I think is kind of bizarre. And another thing that this breaks up to is the West Coast Swing. We don't really have that anymore because right after Atlanta, we go to
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Vegas, then Phoenix, and then oddly placed in the schedule is the Bristol Concrete Race. First off
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yes, with this concrete race, that means we're not returning to Bristol dirt. This was announced
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a few weeks ago, but in general, NASCAR isn't racing on dirt, period, next season. Even the
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truck series isn't. Ben Kennedy did share that this isn't the end for NASCAR on dirt. They're
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looking for a few different options in the future. I have a feeling we're going to get impacted by
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whether it be snow, rain, sleet, whatever it is, it's going to be weather impacted. I can almost
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guarantee it. And as a fan, it's going to be cold. I don't know if I'd want to be out there in the
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cold, especially these athletes, these broadcasters, they have to be, but it won't be pleasant. Anywho
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following Bristol, we have Circuit of the Americas, then Richmond, which I don't feel will
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be weather impacted. Maybe? It's happening around the same time of year as it did on the schedule
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this year. Richmond happened at the very first weekend of April. This is the very last weekend
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of March, so we should be fine. Richmond is also the race on Easter Sunday and it's a night race
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which I think is positive. You have all day to spend with your family celebrating the holiday
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if you celebrate it. And then at night you got some racing. So I think it's a win-win
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Then NASCAR goes to Texas Motor Speedway. And you'll notice once we get to the playoffs
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it is no longer a playoff race. So major W right there. Following that race, we have Talladega
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Dover, and Kansas. And all these races on this first list are either on Fox or FS1. And you'll
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notice too, the time, the majority of these times fall around that 3-3.30 timeframe PM Eastern time
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which I wasn't expecting these races to be any earlier, especially because we're not in that
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new TV deal yet whenever that's going to be announced. So I would consider that maybe an L
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but it's also kind of expected. Moving on to the next part of the Cup Series schedule
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we have Darlington, then the All-Star race returning at North Wilkesboro, the 600 at
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Charlotte. And then finally to close out Fox's portion of the 2024 schedule, we have Worldwide
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Technology Raceway and Sonoma. Nothing totally major there, but what I find interesting is once
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we jump to the NBC schedule, obviously we have the Olympics to work in, but it's how we start
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this schedule is what is very odd to me. You'll notice that the first track on NBC's schedule for
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the 2024 season is Iowa on Father's Day weekend. This is a new addition to the Cup Series schedule
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I'm excited to have them race there. And something I'm very curious about, obviously IndyCar puts on
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a spectacular weekend there with their Hy-Vee concert series. So I'd have to imagine that
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this might be to go head to head with IndyCar in a sense to kind of see what NASCAR can do
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the Cup Series can do at that track versus what IndyCar can do. I know viewership for IndyCar is
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less, but I am curious to see the ratio of how they can pair viewership-wise, ticket sales-wise
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even just revenue-wise for that race weekend. So that's something I'm very interested about
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But the other part of this is that this Iowa race is going to be on USA. NBC is opening their
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portion of the schedule on USA, not on the NBC main channel, which I found odd. Obviously the Iowa race
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isn't going to be like your Nashville Super Speedway race. It's not going to be a main event like the Chicago Street Course, your crown jewels like the Coke 600, Daytona 500, but I would have
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expected to say, hey, NASCAR is on NBC, you start the season on NBC. So that's something that I feel
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a little iffy about. And I'm concerned that that might impact the viewership numbers for this Iowa
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race for the fans at home. Not sure if that's actually going to happen, but we'll see. I would
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have liked to have seen this race on the main network. Then the Cup Series heads to New Hampshire
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then we go to Nashville, which is the first race on NBC schedule that will actually be on NBC
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Following that, we have the Chicago Street Race, which will return for the 4th of July weekend
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This will actually be on July 7th. And overall, I am glad that this race is returning. I thought it
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was a great idea to bring NASCAR to a different market, do something really different. The hype
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around this event was crazy, how much press it got, whether it be good or bad. And it also brought in
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a lot of new fans, a lot of younger fans. And I think the marketing behind it was great. The
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brand or fan interaction, just in general, everything about this event was awesome besides
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the weather. So I'm looking forward to this happening again in 2024. The following weekend
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we go to Pocono and then we go to the Indy Oval. And this is the last race before we have our two
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off weeks due to the Olympics. So our first race back is actually a night race. This is at Richmond
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Raceway on August 11th. After Richmond, we'll go to Michigan and then Daytona. And you'll notice
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that Daytona is not the race to end the regular season. That honor actually goes to Darlington
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And you're wondering why, why is this the case? Well, it's because of the Olympics and the
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scheduling. And I actually really liked this change, though Daytona was a really fun way to
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end the regular season. It was very chaotic for no reason. And you saw a lot of drivers that
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deserved a spot in the playoffs get booted out because they wrecked out really early in a race
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that just it was too much in the regular season. Long story short, Darlington, though, is the
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toughest track on the NASCAR schedule, in my opinion. So if you want a spot in the playoffs
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you have to earn it in that last race of the regular season. So I love this idea. And if you
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miss the chaos going into the playoffs, don't worry. We have chaos to start the playoffs with
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Atlanta. This is a move that I actually really like too. So another W on the schedule. So the
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playoff schedule for 2024 is a little more mixed up, but I actually kind of like this. I feel like
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it's more balanced than it has been in years past. And what do I mean by this? Well, I feel like this
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year with the round of 12 schedule, it's a little chaotic, right? This schedule for 2024, I feel
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like there's more balance with the tracks that we have. For instance, for the first round of the
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playoffs, the round of 16 in 2024, we're starting off with Atlanta, but then we go to Watkins
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Glenn and Bristol. So we have a super speedway like track. We have a road course and we have a
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short track. Then we go to the round of 12 and we go to a mile and a half, a super speedway and a
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road course with Kansas, Talladega and the Roval. So yes, we are returning to the Roval. The rumors
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that the Roval was getting cut from the schedule were not true. And I actually like that we are
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returning to this track layout. A big reason behind this is, well, if you have two Charlotte
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Oval dates that you're offering, you're you're lessening the scarcity for both of those events
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So you're really pushing ticket sales for the 600. It's like, hey, one race a year at the Oval
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you want to see if this is your only chance. So you're pushing that crown jewel event
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And then you have the unique experience with the Roval that produces some pretty chaotic
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playoff moments. So I think it's a good thing on the schedule. I know some of you all might
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disagree, though, and that's totally fine. Then the round of eight for 2024 is the same as this
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season. It's Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville. For me, this is the least chaotic round in the
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playoffs, and I think it's for good reason. This is the round where your round of eight
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they're the best eight drivers in the field or should be the best eight drivers in the field
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are able to get themselves in to that championship for that the track that is still going to be
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Phoenix. So with these normal tracks, they're not super speedways or not road courses making up the
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round of eight. I think that is a really good kind of tell as to who is really going to be
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a contender for that championship at Phoenix. And that date for the championship race is November
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10th. And yes, this is because of the Olympics. I feel like I'm dropping shade on the Olympics
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but I'm not more so just explaining that it shook up the schedule a little bit. So that's why things look slightly different than what we've seen in this season. I'm
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sure there are a few talking points that I missed when going through this 2024 NASCAR
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Cup Series schedule. If I missed anything or if you want to comment on something, leave your thoughts in the comments below. And for more NASCAR news, make sure to check out
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TobyChristy.com and AboveTheLine.com and check out our social media pages. Again, I'll be breaking
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down the Xfinity Series schedule in the truck series schedule and separate videos. And we'll
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be talking about it on the ATYL live stream Thursday night at 7 p.m. Eastern time. So I'll
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see you there
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