NASCAR Has an Easter History, But Should It Continue?

There were many things NASCAR fans eagerly waited for each week as the 2023 calendar approached the late summer.

If you are a fan of The Incredibles, you might remember that one scene where the Parr family is on their way to stop the villain in Metroville and Dash continues to ask, ‘Are we there yet?’

That’s how the 2024 schedule release felt.

‘Is it here yet?’ Nope. ‘How about now?’ Nothing. ‘Surely, today is the day.’ No, but it should come out in the next couple of weeks.

Finally, series officials released it on October 4, 2023. Now, as a Virginia boy, my eyes gleamed when I saw that not only was Richmond Raceway retaining two races, but they would both be under the lights.

As I’ve covered in the past, Richmond is my home track. Growing up, I couldn’t wait to get out of school on Fridays to either go watch the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond or the NASCAR Cup Series show on Saturday. The common denominator was that I loved experiencing short track racing under the lights.

After a roughly three-year hiatus, that opportunity for fans arises again this year. However, Richmond’s spring date was one that caught many peoples’ eyes, and it was a bit surprising.

NASCAR will roll into Richmond, Va., on March 30-31 … which happens to be Easter weekend.

This year’s race will be the 13th edition of a NASCAR race on the holiday. There were also several races between the 1950s and 1960s held on Easter. The last case came back in 1989 at none other than Richmond, a race postponed by snow and won by Rusty Wallace.

Now, a race on the holiday is nothing new when related to recent years. In 2022, NASCAR went against a tradition that had held for 33 years when they scheduled the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race on Easter Sunday. It received the same slot in 2023.

Despite NASCAR moving away from the dirt race, it kept a race on Easter weekend. Yet, that has received some criticism.

Just last year, my Frontstretch colleague Michael Massie asked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. if he wanted to continue the Easter showcase.

“I’d like to have Easter off,” Stenhouse said with little hesitation. “That’s been a tradition for a long time that we’ve kind of gotten away from.”

So why did NASCAR go back to racing on Easter?

When it was announced the 2022 Bristol race would be held on Easter, executive Ben Kennedy compared it…