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NASCAR releases 2017 schedules; LVMS race lands during Vegas Madness

NASCAR got a jump on releasing its 2017 schedules Thursday, with Las Vegas’ three races occupying their usual spots.

The 400-mile Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Sunday, March 12 — six days later than this year’s race, won by Brad Keselowski. It again will be slotted between races at Atlanta and Phoenix. The traditional Xfinity Series race at LVMS is set for March 11.

The quirk in the calendar will push NASCAR Weekend back onto the same weekend as the Pac-12, Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference college basketball tournament hoopfest in Las Vegas for the first time in many years.

The Camping World Truck Series will return for its usual LVMS fall date — Saturday night, Sept. 30, in 2017. (This year’s truck stop is Oct. 1.)

Tickets for the 2017 NASCAR Weekend can be purchased at lvms.com. Single-day race tickets and tickets for the 2017 Truck Series race will go on sale at a later date.

The most noteworthy revision on the 2017 Cup schedule — NASCAR is in negotiations for a new title sponsor, replacing Sprint, which is leaving after the 2016 season — will see Talladega and Kansas flip-flopping October dates. The second Talladega race will be Oct. 15, 2017; the second stop at Kansas is Oct. 22. The spring race at Texas will switch from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon on April 9.

The NASCAR schedule normally isn’t released this early. The sanctioning body said “unprecedented industry collaboration” allowed the 2017 schedule to be released months in advance.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. His motor sports notebook runs on Friday. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.

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