DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR's 2009 schedule features the same tracks and number of races as in 2008, but the order of some of the events has changed.
In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, there will be a three-way date swap between Atlanta Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) and Talladega Superspeedway.
Atlanta's second 2009 race will be held on Sept. 6. It takes the Labor Day weekend slot now held by Auto Club Speedway and will be the next-to-last race before the start of the "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Auto Club Speedway's second race will be Oct. 11, the fourth week of the Chase. Talladega formerly held that slot.
Talladega's second event will move to Nov. 1, making it the seventh Chase event. Atlanta formerly held by Atlanta.
The 36-race season starts Feb. 15 with the Daytona 500 and ends Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The schedule also has two non-points events. The Chase will start Sept. 20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Here is the 2009 Cup schedule:
Feb. 7: Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway*
Feb. 15: Daytona International Speedway
Feb. 22: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif.
March 1: Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway
March 8: Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway
March 22 Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
March 29: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
April 5: Texas Motor Speedway, Ft. Worth, Texas
April 18: Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway
April 26: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
May 2: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway
May 9: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
May 16: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord*
May 24: Lowe's Motor Speedway
May 31: Dover (Del.) International Speedway
June 7: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
June 14: Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.
June 21: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.
June 28: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
July 4: Daytona International Speedway
July 11: Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill.
July 26: Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway
Aug. 2: Pocono Raceway
Aug. 9: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
Aug. 16: Michigan International Speedway
Aug. 22: Bristol Motor Speedway
Sept. 6: Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sept. 12: Richmond International Raceway
Sept. 20: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sept. 27: Dover International Speedway
Oct. 4: Kansas Speedway
Oct. 11: Auto Club Speedway
Oct. 17: Lowe's Motor Speedway
Oct. 25: Martinsville Speedway
Nov. 1: Talladega Superspeedway
Nov. 8: Texas Motor Speedway
Nov. 15: Phoenix International Raceway
Nov. 22: Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway
* Non-points event
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