By Keith Waltz

This weekend’s ISM Connect 300 will be the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ final fall visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the foreseeable future.

The track has hosted two NASCAR premier series races each year since 1997, but there is only a single visit to the 1.058-mile oval on the 2018 calendar.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule has featured 36 races each year since 2001, but NASCAR has occasionally allowed a company to shuffle dates among its portfolio of tracks.

That’s what’s happening with New Hampshire’s second race.

The track in Loudon, New Hampshire, is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. and officials have opted to move New Hampshire’s fall event to one of the company’s other properties – Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

SMI officials formally submitted a change-of-venue request to NASCAR and it was eventually approved, giving LVMS two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races for the 2018 season.

“It’s taken a tremendous amount of work to make this happen, and we are very thankful to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and NASCAR for their support in our endeavor to create a tripleheader NASCAR weekend in such a world-class destination,” Marcus Smith, president and CEO of SMI, said at the time of the announcement.

The Las Vegas 400 on Sept. 16, 2018, will be the opening race of the NASCAR playoffs.