Why Texas Motor Speedway is moving this race from fall to spring in 2019

Texas Motor Speedway is changing its schedule in 2019.

No, there hasn't been a decision made on the future of IndyCar returning to the track. Instead, the track announced that its fall NASCAR truck race will move to the spring race weekend beginning in 2019.

That means the tripleheader race weekend, featuring all three NASCAR national series, will run in the spring.

TMS president Eddie Gossage said the decision was made as a way to accommodate NASCAR and its television partner, Fox Sports 1, in the early part of the season timeframe.

"NASCAR asked if we could help and we wanted to be a good partner to the sanctioning body, network and the sport as a whole," Gossage said in a statement.

Since getting a second NASCAR Cup race in 2005, TMS has always had the tripleheader weekend in the fall. Next year will be its first to have it in the spring.

The summer NASCAR truck race at TMS will remain the same. For now, it's scheduled for next June 7, although Gossage has expressed interest in Texas hosting the first IndyCar following the Indianapolis 500.

That would mean Texas would bump its summer date up a week, something that should be possible with the NASCAR trucks off the prior week.

This story was originally published June 13, 2018 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Why Texas Motor Speedway is moving this race from fall to spring in 2019."