Nextel Cup's 2006 schedule virtual repeat of 2005

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR released the 2006 Nextel Cup Series schedule Tuesday, a 36-race slate that is virtually identical to this season.

The only changes are a pair of race date swaps.

Richmond International Raceway's spring race will move up to May 6 and Darlington Raceway's race will follow on May 13, again the night before Mother's Day. Also, Kansas Speedway's 2006 event will switch weekends with Talladega Superspeedway. The Kansas race will be Oct. 1, while Talladega will be run Oct. 8.

Next season will begin with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 19, at Daytona International Speedway and end with the Ford 400 on Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

There also again will be two non-points events: the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 11 and the All-Star Challenge on May 20 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Also, the two 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 will be Feb. 16.

The 26-race regular season will again end at Richmond on Sept. 9, while New Hampshire International Speedway again will host the initial event in the Chase for the championship, the 10-race stretch that ends the season and determines the series champion. The third annual Chase will begin Sept. 17.