NASCAR announced yesterday the 2011 schedule for its three national series, highlighted by several key changes for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said:

The adjustments and realignment of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will make for an exciting race season next year. The revised schedule provides better situated dates for the tracks, a more challenging lineup for the drivers and ultimately more intrigue for the fans.

One of those changes comes early, as the second race of the season will be held at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 27, a week after the season-opening Daytona 500. PIR replaces Auto Club Speedway in Week 2. Texas Motor Speedway fills in the vacated Phoenix spot on Saturday, April 9 for what will be an exciting night race in the Lone Star State.

Southern California’s Auto Club Speedway will now run its race date on March 27, providing the track and its fans an optimum point in the schedule.

The series’ 36-race schedule will feature two realigned events. A second Kansas Speedway date follows the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and will be held on Sunday, June 5. And for the first time in a decade the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series realigns to a new track with a race at Kentucky Speedway. The Kentucky race will be held under the lights on Saturday, July 9.

The 2011 “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” – consisting of the season’s last 10 races, during which the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship is decided – will begin at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Chicagoland’s previous race date was in early July, a slot that went to the realigned event at Kentucky. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which previously had the first Chase date, will now have the second, on Sept. 25.

Sprint Cup Schedule

Changes are highlighted in yellow.

* New to Sprint Cup Schedule

# New to Chase

Also released today were the 2011 schedule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, highlighted by a second race at Iowa and Chicagoland speedways, and the 2011 schedule for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which will see nine races moved to different dates on the calendar.

All three national series – NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – will begin their seasons at Daytona International Speedway’s “Speedweeks,” with a weekend culminated by the Daytona 500. The traditional “non-points” Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will provide fans a NASCAR Sprint Cup preview, on Saturday night, Feb. 12, followed by qualifying for the “Great American Race” to be held on Sunday, Feb. 13.

All three series will end their seasons with another tradition – Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 18-20.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will consist of 34 races, all featuring the new car that is being run a total of four times this season.

Iowa Speedway, which joined the schedule in 2009, receives a second date in 2011. The series will visit the Newton, Iowa, facility for the first time on Sunday, May 22 and return on Saturday, Aug. 6.

A new date has been added at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, June 4. The series returns on Saturday, Sept. 17 as part of a NASCAR national series tripleheader featuring the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, Sept. 18 and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday, Sept. 16.

Last season’s successful inaugural event at the Road America road course in Wisconsin returns in 2011 on Saturday, June 25, the weekend before the Friday, July 1 race at Daytona International Speedway.

A previous stand-alone event at Kentucky Speedway now will be part of the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup/NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend on Friday, July 8.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will be paired with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on three weekends, at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, April 23 and Saturday, July 23 and at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis on Saturday, July 30.

The 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will consist of 25 races, one of which will be announced at a future date.

Phoenix International Raceway, which traditionally hosted the penultimate race in November, will host the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday, Feb. 25.

Darlington Raceway, which returned to the schedule in 2010 after an absence of six years, moves from August to Saturday, March 12.

Michigan International Speedway’s truck race, previously held in June, will accompany its late-summer NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday, Aug. 20.

Two additional date shifts in the fall have stand-alone events at Kentucky Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, moving a month later on the schedule. The series races at Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 1 followed by Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Nationwide Series Schedule

Changes are highlighted in yellow.

 Camping World Truck Series Schedule

Note: One additional date to be added to schedule.

Changes are highlighted in yellow.