More ovals highlight 2018 NASCAR Canada schedule

For the first time in the history of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, Canada’s only NASCAR-sanctioned touring series will visit the United States and after a successful season finale last season, Jukasa Motor Speedway will once again host the season-ending event.

NASCAR has released the 2018 schedule highlighting events from Nova Scotia to Alberta with stops at well-known tracks and the first race to ever be held in the United States.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will enter its 12th season and the 2018 calendar with nine oval track events and five road-course races.

“The NASCAR Pinty’s Series continues to grow as new talent comes into the series and challenges some of the country’s best stock car drivers,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. “The 2018 schedule provides a strong platform for these competitors to showcase their driving and covers a number of high-profile events designed to further enhance the series.”

The Pinty's Series will compete for the first time in the United States when New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosts the series next fall. The 100-lap race for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series will be on Saturday, Sept. 22, and will be part of a triple-header with the U.S.-based NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

Jukasa, formerly known as Cayuga Speedway, returned to the Pinty’s Series schedule in 2017. The .625-mile paved oval will host two events in 2018: The season’s second race on Saturday, June 16, and the finale on Saturday, Sept. 29.

The championship schedule once again kicks off with the traditional season-opening weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, on Victoria’s Day Weekend (May 20). CTMP, the 2.459-mile road course that opened in 1961 will again include the Pinty’s Series on Aug. 26 as part of the popular weekend event with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Some highlights of the 2018 schedule include:

• The city of Toronto will once again host the Pinty’s Series in July as the popular series will be a big part of the Honda Toronto weekend with its event on Saturday, July 14. Circuit de Trois-Rivieres will bring the series to its technical Quebec street course on Sunday, Aug. 12.

•  A trio of bullrings – Quebec’s high-banked quarter-mile, Autodrome Chaudière (Saturday, June 30); Nova Scotia’s high-banked third-mile, Riverside International Speedway (Saturday, Aug. 18) and the .4-mile Autodrome Saint-Eustache (Saturday, Sept. 8) will test the driver’s mettle.

• The annual trip West for the series will again include three races at two venues. Wyant Group Raceway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, will host two 125-lap features as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday, July 25, before the series heads to Alberta and Edmonton International Raceway on Saturday, July 28.

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series television broadcast schedule on TSN and RDS will be announced at a later date.

2018 NASCAR Pinty's Series Schedule