2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule

Updated 11-5-2016

Thirty Six Sprint Cup races in 2016
plus three exhibition (non points) races:
Sprint Unlimited, Budweiser Duel 150’s and Sprint Showdown/Sprint All-Star Race

• Changes to NASCAR sanctioning agreements this year: NASCAR has added new language to its sanction agreements that prohibit anything resembling the Sprint Cup Series at tracks that have Sprint Cup races. Because Dover International Speedway’s entire business is virtually reliant on its two NASCAR weekends, Dover filed select financial information as well as its entire Sprint Cup sanction agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The money Dover will get from the NASCAR television package will increase from 3.37% to 4.25% annually over the next five years. Dover will receive $30.7 million in television money for its two Sprint Cup weekends … and it will increase anywhere from $1.1 million to $1.4 million a year through 2020.
  The sanction agreement also includes some new language — interesting language from the standpoint that NASCAR has now banned any races of similar cars at the tracks where Sprint Cup competes. Among other new items in the five-year sanction agreements:
  * NASCAR will tell promoters by April 1 the dates of their races for the following year.
  * There is a new section on “secondary ancillary rights” fees that will be distributed 60% to teams, 30% to promoters and 10% to NASCAR. These would be non-live broadcast rights for highlights and other digital content, including licensing to fantasy games for use of driver and team images.
  * There is a new section called “event standards” that creates a promoter council and requires that the tracks and NASCAR will work together to create series-wide and event-specific criteria relative to fan experience, remote viewers experience, promotion of events and stature of events – and that NASCAR and the track would put together a plan to rectify any shortfalls or deficiencies.
  * NASCAR will now require pace vehicles to be only those from manufacturers that participate in NASCAR competition, with any track deals with other manufacturers grandfathered in for 2016.(ESPN.com)(3-4-2016)
• NASCAR Announces Race Start Times for 2016 Season, one Cup race on USA: NASCAR, in collaboration with broadcast partners FOX Sports, NBC Sports Group, race teams and the 29 tracks committed to hosting races for the coming season, announced race start times and network coverage for all three of its national series based on previously released schedule dates for 2016.
  Entering the second season of 10-year comprehensive media rights agreements, races will be televised by FOX, FS1, NBC and NBCSN, with the exception of select events in August that will air on CNBC and USA [Watkins Glen Sprint Cup Series race will be on the USA Network] due to NBC Sports’ coverage of the Summer Olympics. National series races also will be broadcast live by Motor Racing Network (MRN), Performance Racing Network (PRN), IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90. Fans can visit www.nascar.com/tv-schedule or Jayski.com’s TV Listings page and Race Info pages for weekly tune-in information throughout the season.
  “NASCAR concluded 2015 with its most-watched championship finale in a decade, a benchmark that serves as a testament to deeper collaboration with our television and radio partners and increased engagement with fans,” said Steve Herbst, senior vice president, broadcasting and production at NASCAR. “We look forward to carrying this momentum into 2016, starting with the DAYTONA 500 and Speedweeks, as the number of homes reached by our broadcast content continues to grow both domestically and internationally.”(NASCAR)(1-26-2016)
• NASCAR announces 2016 Sprint Cup schedule; reaches 5 year agreement with tracks: NASCAR announced agreements with 23 tracks to field NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races for the next five years. Additionally, 24 tracks will host NASCAR XFINITY Series races through 2020.
  NASCAR also announced its 2016 schedule for both of these national series. The schedule and actual placement of the dates within each given season’s schedule beyond 2016 will be part of the on-going discussions between NASCAR and the tracks. Details are being finalized for the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule to be announced at a later time.
  “NASCAR and the tracks take seriously our collective responsibility to the fans and each stakeholder to ensure the sport is healthy, strong and growing, so we can deliver great racing to the fans for many decades to come,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “The live event experience always will be important to creating a lifetime fan in NASCAR. Among the goals that we set out to accomplish with our track partners was to provide consistency for race fans and the industry stakeholders. We feel like we have a nice balance of that for 2016. The stability of five-year agreements positions us well to deliver fans with schedules as early as possible over the next several years. This is a new approach for our industry, and one that benefits everyone: fans, tracks, teams, drivers, OEMs, media and partners.”
  NASCAR will kick off the 2016 season against the new backdrop of a completely reimagined Daytona International Speedway. DAYTONA Rising, the speedway’s $400 million redevelopment project, will be complete when both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series launch at Daytona Speedweeks. The 2016 DAYTONA 500 will be held on February 21 and will air live on FOX. After the DAYTONA 500, NASCAR events will be held the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both series then will travel to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway for the return of NASCAR Goes West. (NASCAR)(10-26-2015)

CLICK on the track location to go to that track’s past news and links page.
CLICK on the race name to go to the ‘Next/Last Race Info/Rundown‘ page for each race (when available).
The ‘next race’ pages are added the week or so before the race
and cover the weekend schedule, TV, Qualifying, news etc.

All times Eastern and are PM unless noted (with an ‘a’) when coverage begins.
Green Flag times (below race time) are approximate and noted with a ~(tilde)
All times are scheduled but could change

*Non-Points Race
FS1 = FoxSports1
FS2 = FoxSports2
NBCSN = NBC Sports Network
USA = USA Network
(t) = tape delayed or same day delay

ALL times Eastern and are PM unless noted

All races are scheduled to air on SiriusXM Satellite radio

*Non-Points Race
FS1 = FoxSports1
FS2 = FoxSports2
NBCSN = NBC Sports Network
USA = USA Network
(t) = tape delayed or same day delay
Happy Hour = Final Practice