NASCAR.com goes 1-on-1 with Ben Kennedy about the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, including new dates for Atlanta and a regular-season finale at Darlington.
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00:00 Alex, we were here in Studio 3 regarding the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule,
00:06 and I'm joined by NASCAR's Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy, Ben Kennedy.
00:11 Ben, let's talk about some of the announcements that race fans have already heard about.
00:16 What influenced those decisions and those changes?
00:19 Yeah, I think really, you know, working with our track partners and again,
00:24 hearing what our fans would like to see, you know, I think starting,
00:28 you know, with the All-Star Race, we saw, you know, obviously a sellout crowd this year,
00:33 a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement around it. I think it being our 75th anniversary and kind
00:38 of a throwback to our history and our roots was something that was really special and received
00:43 well. So, excited to be going back to North Wilkesboro for the All-Star Race and looking
00:50 forward to Bristol going back on concrete and Indianapolis on oval as well. You know,
00:55 we've seen the road course play out for a handful of years at Indianapolis and what better way to
01:02 return to the oval than the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400 and really make it something
01:08 special again. You know, again, I think the way that these, the next-gen cars are racing on a lot
01:13 of these tracks, you know, I'm excited to see what the racing product looks like for the first time
01:18 when the next-gen cars run around the oval. Awesome, and as we continue to look at specific
01:24 tracks, I think Atlanta is probably the one that's highlighted that's going to see the most change.
01:29 The first Atlanta race moves into the second race of the season following the Daytona 500,
01:34 and what's the benefit of having these two drafting style races? We're going from the
01:39 high banks of Daytona to now Atlanta that has completely been reconfigured to a super speedway.
01:43 What's the benefit of that? Yeah, I think now that we've seen Atlanta play out and how the
01:50 racing product has frankly evolved there, you know, having it come out of our biggest event
01:56 of the year, Daytona 500, and then carrying that momentum to Atlanta where, you know, frankly,
02:02 you have a lot of people that will tune into that Daytona 500. They'll also tune into the second
02:07 race of the season, you know, unfortunately it won't be an auto club next year, but going to
02:12 Atlanta in that second slot before we go to the west coast, I think it's going to be something
02:16 really special. And then once we get to the fall, it's going to help us kick off our playoffs.
02:21 We'll be the first race of the round of 16. So, you know, I think having an Atlanta, a Watkins
02:27 Glen, and then a Bristol Night Race in that round of 16, three very different types of tracks,
02:33 it's going to test our drivers quite a bit as they think about the round of 12 and continue
02:39 through the playoffs. So I'm excited to see the change for Atlanta. I think it's a testament to
02:44 the great racing product that we've seen the last year too. And let's connect the dots for those
02:49 race fans because Atlanta will now open the playoffs, which means that Darlington is going
02:54 to be our regular season finale. We've seen spectacular racing. It's one of NASCAR's hardest
02:59 racetracks for our drivers, and there's been chaos when Darlington has been the playoff opener. So in
03:04 what ways will that be amplified as it's now the regular season finale? Yeah, I think it's going
03:09 to be really cool, something special, something we've discussed a lot as a scheduling group is,
03:15 you know, where does the end of our season essentially culminate? And, you know, as I
03:21 think about the 2024 schedule, I guess you back up to the '23 schedule, we have one off week.
03:27 When we go into '24, we'll have two off weeks from the last week of July and the first week of August
03:32 for the Olympics. So we played around with a few different scenarios and ultimately landed on this.
03:38 And I think coming out of the Olympics with Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, which we always
03:42 know is a bit of a wildcard race, and then to go to Darlington, which iconic race, amazing race,
03:49 which we saw a few weeks ago there, I think it's going to be a really cool place to end our regular
03:54 season for next year and then, you know, start with a really strong slate of playoff tracks.
03:58 And there'll still be that wildcard element at the end of the regular season because Daytona is
04:03 the 25th race. So it's right before Darlington. Now let's move on to a road course in upstate New
04:09 York. Watkins Glen will also find itself a playoff spot. What led to that decision to make a playoff
04:14 race come to the state of New York? Yeah, so we talked a little bit about that and, you know,
04:20 whether Watkins Glen would stay in its original home or potentially move somewhere else. We felt
04:26 like, you know, seeing the sellout crowds that we've had in Watkins Glen the past several years,
04:32 the racing that it's put on and, you know, frankly, an opportunity to shake up the playoff
04:36 schedule a little bit. We've had kind of status quo the past few years, and I know we shook it
04:42 up a ton three or four years ago. But to be able to introduce a new road course to the playoffs,
04:48 and again, I think the diversity that we have in types of tracks in that first round,
04:53 something that races like a plate, something that races frankly like a road course, because it is a
04:57 road course, and then a short track, again, the variability is going to be fun to watch.
05:03 Thanks, Ben. And fans, for more information on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, log on to NASCAR.com.