I also found this strange.
The Busch North/East series has been in trouble the past few years for a few reasons; after last year's scheduling probems I think they're still trying to recover.
I exchanged e-mails with Mark Aumann of NASCAR.com and he said that once released, NASCAR's schedules are usually set in stone-though you also must remember that nascartouring.com released the schedule as a "preview"-I think they're gonna be coming, but just have to work out some logistics (as in, where the series is going to end the tour this year).
LRP's insistance on promoting the race/race weekend tells me that.