NASCAR adds Iowa Speedway to 2024 Cup Series schedule

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

NASCAR has owned Iowa Speedway since 2013, and it will finally bring its top series to the track located about 40 miles east of Des Moines.

The 0.875-mile oval has only had IndyCar races as well as NASCAR’s developmental ARCA series in the last four years. Trucks and Xfinity Series cars raced there from 2009-19. The track seats approximately 25,000 with the ability to bring in temporary seating to increase capacity.

The June 14-16 race weekend will replace California Speedway on the schedule. NASCAR has plans to convert the 2-mile track in Fontana into a short track but has yet to start construction. It has sold most of the land except for the area it will use for the short track but will have access to lots for parking.

The move to Iowa was a late development as NASCAR had talks with promoters of the Formula 1 race in Montreal, but those talks apparently didn’t result in a deal for a race weekend in 2024.

The Cup race at Iowa will be a night race with a listed starting time at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT). It will be televised on USA Network.

“This track was built with the intent of hosting a NASCAR Cup Series race one day, and to finally see it come together is a testament to the tenacity of the great race fans in Iowa,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, who helped design the track.

NASCAR is expected to announce its full 2024 Cup schedule Wednesday. Among the elements already announced:

–For the third consecutive year, the preseason Clash will race on a temporary track built inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That event will be Feb. 4.

–The season will open Feb. 18 with the Daytona 500.

–The all-star race will be May 19 with a return to North Wilkesboro Speedway, which will be repaved.

–The contract with the city of Chicago specified its Cup date as July 7. The city can cancel the contract up to 180 days prior to the event but NASCAR officials seem confident the race will return for another year.

–The Indianapolis Motor Speedway race will return to the oval, part of a 30th anniversary celebration of the race. That event will be July 21.

–Both Bristol races will be on the concrete instead of the spring race being on dirt placed atop the concrete.

–The champions will be crowned at Phoenix Raceway.

The championship weekend had been announced as Nov. 1-3, but that possibly will change. With 2024 being an Olympic year, NBC would like the two weekends after the Indianapolis race to not have a Cup event so they can focus on Olympic coverage. Whether NASCAR will opt for two weekends off — it has had one weekend the last few seasons — is still unclear as the schedule has gone through several iterations over the last couple months, including in the last couple of weeks.

That had led to discussions about a possible midweek race or doubleheader weekend (two Cup races at the same track) in order to have the season end the first weekend in November. But the other option is to move the championship weekend to Nov. 8-10 and have 38 events — 36 points races and two exhibition races — over 41 weeks with a week off between the Clash and Daytona and then the two weeks off for the Olympics.

If NASCAR chooses the latter, then that creates another dilemma. Daytona has been a successful track for the regular-season finale, but with Darlington being the traditional race on Labor Day weekend, that would make Darlington the 26th race on the schedule and the regular-season finale, assuming NASCAR continues with a 26-race regular season and 10-race playoffs.

Among the biggest questions that will be answered Wednesday:

–Texas is expected to move to the spring. With Texas and Darlington possibly out of the playoffs, what tracks could be in the playoffs? Possibly Atlanta and/or Watkins Glen.

–If Watkins Glen moves to the playoffs, there have been discussions on whether the Charlotte road course race in the playoffs should instead be run on the Charlotte oval, which also has the traditional Memorial Day weekend 600-mile race. The Next Gen car, in general, has put on better shows on the 1.5-mile tracks than the road courses.

–Without Fontana, the traditional west coast swing that includes Las Vegas and Phoenix after Daytona possibly could be two events. NASCAR could put its Circuit of the Americas race following those two. NASCAR also has considered whether to stay on the East Coast for an additional weekend after Daytona, possibly placing Atlanta as the race that follows the Daytona 500.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.