It has taken longer to announce than in past years, but the final puzzle pieces of NASCAR’s 2024 National Touring Series schedule are falling into place.

Tuesday the sport announced that it will hold its first-ever NASCAR Cup Series race to Iowa Speedway in 2024.

The 7/8-mile trioval opened in 2006 and hosted the Xfinity Series and NASCAR Truck Series from 2009-2019. NASCAR bought the facility in 2013 and there has been speculation that the Cup series would be racing on the track, designed by former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace, someday. The speculation will become a reality on Sunday, June 16, 2024.

“Today’s announcement is an exciting one for NASCAR and for race fans in the state of Iowa,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s senior vice president, Racing Development and Strategy at a press conference featuring Iowa governor Kim Reynolds. “They have long sought a NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, and we’re happy to deliver that for them.”

Next year’s race weekend will also include the NASCAR Xfinity Series and ARCA Racing Series to the town of Newton, 30 miles from Des Moines.

“The things Iowans value most are what NASCAR represents best—hard work, family, and community—which is exactly why our partnership has always been a natural fit,” Reynolds said. “We’re thrilled to bring a NASCAR Cup Series race to Iowa Speedway next summer and for this incredible opportunity to introduce millions of racing fans to our great state.”

Putting Iowa Speedway on the Cup series calendar could be the final part needed to finalize the 2024 schedule. NASCAR had been working on going international with the Cup series hoping to host a race in Canada on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, and those talks have held up the rest of the schedule from coming together.

Announcements had already been made that the exhibition Clash race will return to the L.A. Coliseum in early February for a third year. Also, the traditional season opening Daytona 500 will be held on February 18, and the season will once again conclude in Phoenix on November 3.

Two more dates were filled when NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports announced last week that the All-Star Race will be on May 19 and once again be held at North Wilkesboro. That same day, Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that NASCAR Cup Series will return to the 2.5-mile oval layout in 2024 just in time for what will be the 30-year anniversary since NASCAR’s inaugural running at the track and the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 will run Sunday, July 21.

As for the rest of the schedule, as they did in 2020, there will probably be two off weeks during the Paris Olympics which take place from July 26 to August 11, and the Playoff tracks may be shuffled. There is speculation that the Texas Motor Speedway race could be moved from the fall to the spring, opening up a Playoff date for an existing track.

Finally, the Chicago Street Race which held its inaugural race this past July will need to get a date. This year it fell on July 2 near the July 4th holiday. In 2024 the Fourth of July falls on a Thursday, leaving it unclear which weekend it will be. Or if it will get a date at all.

The city of Chicago and NASCAR have an agreement to host an event through 2025 but some residents and city officials, including newly elected mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office this past May long after the agreement had been made with former mayor Lori Lighfoot, might be pushing back on a return.

With the announcement of Iowa Speedway taking a spot on the Cup calendar for next year, however, that should mean that impasse with Montreal has been pushed aside. Unless Chicago is still unsure of another street race, the release of the 2024 schedules should be imminent.

No matter the reason, the track’s designer, and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver, is happy with the results so far.

“This is a dream come true for me as a track designer to finally get a Cup race here at Iowa, and there's one thing I do know,” Wallace said Tuesday. “We've seen enough races here at Iowa to know it's going to put on one heck of a Cup race. There's no doubt about that. We've seen some fantastic side-by-side racing, great finishes.

“For me and everybody that had anything to do with this Iowa Speedway, getting it going, today is our day. We finally got it. Here we are.”