NASCAR is being hesitant on finalizing and releasing its 2021 schedule, but according to a report from The Athletic, Circuit of the Americas will be on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for the first time in 2021. COTA’s date will, reportedly come from approximately 220 miles away at Texas Motor Speedway.
TMS has hosted NASCAR’s Cup Series since 1997 and twice yearly since 2005. Texas, reportedly, will get a consolation prize for losing one of its yearly dates, though, in the form of the NASCAR All-Star Race.
NASCAR has neither denied nor confirmed the changes.
The All-Star Race exhibition event has been, for the most part, a Charlotte Motor Speedway event. The track did give up the event this year to Bristol Motor Speedway because of COVID-19 regulations in North Carolina. The All-Star Race has only been hosted by a track other than CMS one other time — at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986, the second installment of the yearly event.
If COTA is, indeed, a part of the 2021 Cup Series schedule, it will be one of at least two new tracks on the schedule, joining Nashville Superspeedway. NASCAR has confirmed the addition to the Nashville track.
The Cup Series currently contests road-course races yearly at Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway and the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. As a result of 2020 schedule changes because of the coronavirus pandemic, the series didn’t make its annual trips to Watkins Glen and Sonoma and added the infield road course at Daytona International Speedway to this year’s schedule. The Series plans to move its yearly Clash exhibition event from Daytona’s oval to its road course next season.
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