If you were a fan back in the early 2000s, you’d remember how nearly one-third of all NASCAR races used to take place on a Saturday night. Now, since then, the sport has come a long way both in terms of technological advancements as well as how the races are organized.

While the technological side of things is pretty well documented, especially more so this season because of the Next-Gen cars, let’s take a look at the organizing side of things.

And more specifically, just how does NASCAR decide which races will go under the sunlight and which will be run under the artificial lights under the dark sky?

Why do some NASCAR races have to be scheduled under the sun?

While there are many variables, many reasons why some races take place in the day and some in the night, here are a few of the major ones-

• Lack of proper facilities – This is one of the most basic and fundamental causes as to why some tracks simply can’t host a race at night. And the reason why certain racetracks can’t host races under the lights is simply that they don’t have any.

• Broadcasting – There’s no question that broadcasting is one of the biggest elements of NASCAR. So naturally, broadcasters are also key figures who have a big say in what happens and how it happens, for all the right reasons, of course. Think about it, if you schedule a night race in Las Vegas or Fontana, how many viewers could catch it on the east coast?

• Local Government Permissions – This is another major reason why certain racetracks simply cannot host night races. Tracks like Dover and New Hampshire, both have no lights. But the reason they have no lights is that in Dover’s case, there is an Air Force base nearby while in New Hampshire’s case, the rules of the local government don’t allow the track to have lights.

Which races this season will take place at night this season?

In the 2022 season, NASCAR will have five races in the regular season that will take place into the night, namely Martinsville, Bristol, Charlotte, Nashville, and Daytona.

There are also the All-Star events in Texas that will take place under the lights in May.

So which night race are you looking forward to the most?