CHELMSFORD, Mass. – The calendar for the upcoming eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season was released Sunday night, featuring a diverse slate of 18 races.

Fourteen of the 18 venues return from 2020, but several of the races have new dates, including Texas Motor Speedway – which replaces Phoenix Raceway as the season finale.

The schedule opens with the traditional non-points Clash as a preseason exhibition race on Monday, Feb. 1 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, one week before the points opener at Daytona, which kicks off the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for the 12th year in a row.

Homestead-Miami Speedway moves up from the third race of the season to become the second act of the new year, while Las Vegas Motor Speedway shifts forward from September to early March.

Michigan Int’l Speedway becomes the regular-season finale on Aug. 17, after which the eight-driver playoff field will be finalized, while Darlington (S.C.) Raceway is back as the playoff opener on Aug. 31.

Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway takes a late-September date and becomes the second race in the Round of 8 of the playoffs, while Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway becomes the cutoff race before the Championship 4 are set to race for the $100,000 championship prize.

Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway returns to the schedule after a one-year hiatus, while Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l rejoins the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series lineup for the first time since a three-year run on the calendar from 2014-’16.

New to the series this season are two tracks – Circuit of the Americas and Road America – which gives NASCAR’s top officially-sanctioned esports series multiple road course rounds for the second year in a row.

This year’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series slate represents a two-race contraction from last season’s record-setting 20-race schedule.

Nick Ottinger of William Byron eSports is the defending eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion, securing his first series title last year in his ninth full-time season.

2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Schedule

Date – Venue – Location

Feb. 1 – Daytona Int’l Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. *
Feb. 8 – Daytona Int’l Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.
Feb. 23 – Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.
March 2 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, Nev.
March 16 – Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.
March 30 – Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif.
April 13 – Richmond Raceway – Richmond, Va.
April 27 – Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan.
May 18 – Circuit of the Americas – Austin, Texas
May 25 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, N.C.
June 22 – Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa.
June 29 – Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wis.
July 13 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H.
July 27 – TBA – TBA **
Aug. 3 – Watkins Glen Int’l – Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Aug. 17 – Michigan Int’l Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich.
Aug. 31 – Darlington Raceway – Darlington, S.C.
Sept. 14 – Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.
Sept. 28 – Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Ala.
Oct. 12 – Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

* – Preseason Clash, non-points exhibition race
** – All-Star Race, non-points special event