Matt Weaver
This is an era of change for NASCAR, especially as it pertains to the schedule, with street courses and new location exhibition races becoming a new normal across the industry.
However, one thing that has stood the test of time is the points paying season opening at Daytona International Speedway with the Daytona 500 every year since the 1982 Cup Series season.
Ben Kennedy, the EVP and Chief Racing Innovation Officer, said that isn’t going to change anytime soon because his office recognizes how important that is to race fans.
“We would like to continue to see it as our opener,” Kennedy said. “I think we’ll continue to have the Clash prior to the 500. It’s a great opportunity for us to build up some momentum in anticipation for our biggest event of the year, the Daytona 500, and the new season ahead. We’ll continue to keep it in that spot.
“We ran a survey a couple years ago, and it was over 95 percent of our fan base wants to see their first points race be the Daytona 500. That was a statistic that was strong enough for us to say we’re not even going to explore that for now. We’ll continue to have that exhibition race prior to it and plan to have Daytona 500 as a first points race.”
The comments came in response to questions about Homestead-Miami Speedway becoming the championship race weekend in 2026, the first year in which the finale will begin rotating year-over-year.
