Darlington lands NASCAR's 2027 regular-season finale

Darlington Raceway will be the regular-season finale for the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027.

South Carolina’s famed track was the regular-season finale in 2024, but it has typically fallen as the first race of the postseason. However, given the schedule lineup for next season, Darlington's traditional Labor Day Weekend slot shifts the regular season layout by one weekend.

NASCAR will visit Darlington Raceway on April 2-4 next season with the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series. The fall race weekend will be on September 4-5.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway have also announced their race dates for next year. Las Vegas keeps its early-season slot and will lead into the Easter weekend break; Darlington is the first race out of the holiday weekend.

Martinsville Speedway will fall in April, helping complete that month’s slate of races. The fall weekend will remain the penultimate race of the season.

NASCAR now has 11 confirmed racetracks with dates announced for 2027.

Here is where things stand with more updates to come as they are announced:

·      Saturday, Feb. 13 – Clash at Daytona

·      Wednesday, Feb. 17 – Daytona 500 qualifying

·      Thursday, Feb. 18 – Duels at Daytona

·      Sunday, Feb. 21 – Daytona 500

·      Sunday, Feb. 28 – EchoPark Speedway

·      Sunday, March 7 – Circuit of the Americas

·      Sunday, March 14 – Phoenix Raceway

·      Sunday, March 21 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

·      EASTER

·      Sunday, April 4 – Darlington Raceway

·      Sunday, April 11 – Bristol Motor Speedway

·      Sunday, April 18 – Martinsville Speedway

·      Sunday, April 25 – Talladega Superspeedway

·      Sunday, May 2 – Texas Motor Speedway

·      Sunday, July 4 – Iowa Speedway

·      Sunday, July 18 – EchoPark Speedway

·      Saturday, Aug. 14 – Bristol Motor Speedway

·      Saturday, Aug. 28 – Daytona International Speedway

·      Sunday, Sept. 5 – Darlington Raceway

·      Sunday, Sept. 26 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway

·      Sunday, Oct. 10 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

·      Sunday, Oct. 24 – Phoenix Raceway

·      Sunday, Oct. 31 – Talladega Superspeedway

·      Sunday, Nov. 7 – Martinsville Speedway

Charlotte Motor Speedway has not announced its race dates, but the Coca-Cola 600 traditionally falls on Memorial Day Weekend. In 2027, that would make the race date Sunday, May 30.

Watkins Glen has not announced its race date; however, the track previously said it would return to the Chase next season. The race will be held in September.

And it is expected that Homestead-Miami Speedway will remain the championship host for 2027. The race date is to be announced, but should fall around the second weekend of November.

The holdup in announcing a full schedule (while allowing tracks with finalized dates to begin their ticketing and promotion processes) is that NASCAR is working through the future of the Chicago street race, Chicagoland Speedway, and the San Diego event. It is unlikely all three will make the final schedule, and depending on which ones fall where, it could also shift the dates of other racetracks that haven’t been announced yet.