The Associated Press

After two decades of the same left turns at the same tracks over and over again, NASCAR finally upended its stagnant calendar with a 2021 schedule that is as radical as the sport has ever seen. It is a true shakeup after a lack of imagination created the most predictable schedule in sports, one that favored new speedways - 1.5-mile ovals that not only all looked the same, but raced the same, too. Not since Indianapolis Motor Speedway was added in 1994 had a Cup race been awarded to a track that was not part of an ownership group for an active speedway.