The 2022 Daytona 500 has just finished as we write this, and Austin Cindric in his rookie year claimed the checkered flag. It was a great start and a great workout for the new Next Gen cars. With it being a week till the Wise power 400 at the Auto Club we thought we would take a look at how many more times we will be able to watch NASCAR this season and answer the question how many races are there in a NASCAR Season.
In a typical NASCAR Cup Series Season there are 34-37 official races between February and November. (36 races in 2022) Xfinity and the Camping World Truck Series have less with 33 races and 23 races respectively. The most races in a season were 62 in 1964 and the least was the 1949 inaugural season with just 8 races.
Below we look at the makeup of the season across all national divisions, Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck and take a look at which seasons have had the most races and the least races. The answers may surprise you.
How Many Races in a NASCAR Cup Series?
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule features 36 races. The season begins with the 64th running of the prestigious Daytona 500 on February 20th with rookie Austin Cindric taking the win in his first season by half a car length from Bubba Wallace ( who claimed his second, second place in the American race). and culminates with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at the Phoenix Raceway in early November.
The schedule also features an exhibition race, the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, which took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and was won by Joey Logano. The points in this race do not count towards the season, and so it is not considered a round, but it is still a race that is part of the season, and even more so in 2022, as it was the first time that this exhibition race was not an invitation-only event.
The race was the first NASCAR race to be held in a sports stadium since 1956. Six of the seasons’ 36 races will take place at road courses, whilst the rest will take place on ovals. The road courses are the Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma Raceway, Road America, Watkins Glen International, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Layout) and Charlotte Motor Speedway (Road Layout).
The NASCAR Cup schedule also features a dirt race with the ninth round, which takes place at the Bristol Motor Speedway, being called the Food City Dirt Race.
Although 36 is a lot of NASCAR racing in a season, it has lost one race from the 2021 calendar, which featured 37 races. The race at the Daytona Road Course has been removed, but the season is still packed, with just a single off-week during the entire season, which is the week of Father’s Day.
The dirt race is set to take place on Easter Sunday. The NASCAR Playoffs start from the 27th round, which is the start of the Round of 16. This round lasts for three races, before the Round of 12 and the Round of 8, which are also three races long.
There is then only the Championship 4, and the final Championship Race.
How Many Races in the Xfinity Series Season
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series will feature 33 races, 32 of which are support races to NASCAR Cup Series races. The only standalone Xfinity Series race on the calendar is the Portland 147, which is the 14th round of the season and will take place in June at the Portland International Raceway in Oregon, the same day as the Cup Series and Truck Series race at Gateway.
The 2022 Xfinity Series calendar features six superspeedways, six road courses, four short tracks and 17 traditional speedways circuits. 26 of the races make up the regular season before the playoffs commence.
The Round of 12 features three races, as does the Round of 8 before the Championship 4 takes place with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race closes the season at Phoenix Raceway, which hosts the last race for the third consecutive year.
Elsewhere, the Richmond race has been moved from late summer to the spring and the Homestead-Miami race has been moved from February to October.
How Many Races in the Camping World Truck Series Season?
The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will feature 23 races at 22 different tracks. The only repeating track is the Kansas Speedway, which will host both the ninth and 19th races of the Truck Series.
The 23 race schedule features one more race than the 2021 season. The schedule only features three races on road courses, with one of the races at the Circuit of the Americas. The Truck Series will return to Sonoma for the first time since 1998 and also return to the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park after a 10-year absence.
Mid-Ohio will also host a Truck Series race for the first time ever. Watkins Glen International and the second race at Las Vegas have been removed from the schedule. The regular season is made up of 16 races, before the three races that make up the Round of 10 and the three races that make up the Round of 8.
The Championship 4 will take place with the 23rd and final round of the season at the Phoenix Raceway.
What Channels are Showing NASCAR Races in 2022?
- Cup Series: In the USA, NASCAR races air as part of the FOX Sports or NBC Sports Networks. The USA Network, which is part of NBC, will be the new home for 26 NASCAR Cup Series races. 19 of the Cup Series races will air on FOX or NBC.
- Xfinity: Five of the NASCAR Xfinity Series races will be broadcast live on FOX or NBC, with the Xfinity races at Talladega, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Las Vegas and Martinsville on the major channels.
- Camping World truck Series: The FS1 channel will show all 23 NASCAR races this season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2022, with 16 showing during primetime. NASCAR features many races on broadcast rather than cable this year, giving millions the opportunity to watch the races.
Which NASCAR Season Had The Most Races Ever?
The 1964 NASCAR Grand National had 62 races, the most of any NASCAR Cup Series season. 23 of the races took place on dirt tracks, 35 of the races were on paved tracks, whilst four of the races took place on road courses.
The season started in November 1963 with a race at Concord and culminated in November 1964 with a race at Jacksonville. The season was won by Richard Petty, who won nine of the 61 races that he competed in. He managed to score a total of 40252 points.
Which NASCAR Season Had The Least Races Ever?
The first-ever NASCAR Cup Series season took place in 1949, and it featured just eight rounds. The season was known as the 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock season, and it featured seven races on dirt tracks and a single race on a road course.
Red Byron was champion after winning two of the six races and scoring 842.5 points. He beat Lee Petty, who scored a single race win in the season, by 188 points. Raymond Parks won the Owners’ Championship. The first race of the season, which was the first NASCAR sanctioned race, took place at the Charlotte Speedway, and it was won by Jim Roper after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified.
Final Lap
So on average you can expect between 33-37 NASCAR cup series races per season, and a few less in Xfinity Series. However If you are a Camping World Truck Series fan then you will have to find something else to do on those weekends without racing. ( maybe watch the other series!)
However, IndyCar and F1 are all on at around the same time so if you need your racing fix you have plenty of options.
If you are old enough to remember that 1964 season then you would hardly have the chance to do anything other than watch NASCAR racing, with 62 NASCAR Races over the season. They don’t make them like that any more!!!
References
https://www.nascar.com/nascar-cup-series/2021/schedule/
