2007 schedule announced

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 2007 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
36-race, 22-track, 19-state slate starts with Feb. 18 Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Aug. 24, 2006) -- The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule was announced today, a 36-race slate starting with the 49th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway. On Sunday, Nov. 18, Homestead-Miami Speedway will again host the season finale.

Other key dates:

On Sunday, July 1, New Hampshire International Speedway will host the first event in the "Race to the Chase," the 10-race prelude to the "Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup."

On Sunday, July 29, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 8, Richmond International Raceway will be the final event in the "Race to the Chase."

The week after Richmond, on Sunday, Sept. 16, New Hampshire again will have the kick-off event in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, which covers the season's last 10 races and determines the series champion.

In addition to the 36-race regular schedule, the series' two traditional "non-points" events are again slated, both for Saturday nights. The 29th annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will be held on Feb. 10, while the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge is set for May 19 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

There are no changes from the 2006 schedule, in terms of sites. There are, however, several adjustments to the schedule's order.

* In July, the schedule will go from New Hampshire (July 1), to Daytona (July 7) and then Chicagoland Speedway (July 15). Previously, the order was Daytona-Chicago-New Hampshire.

* Also, Indianapolis' event will close out July (July 29), followed the next week (Aug. 5) by Pocono Raceway. Previously, Pocono preceded Indianapolis. Those two races will follow the season's final open week.

-credit: nascar