Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic just dropped what he’s been hearing from insiders about the 2025 NASCAR schedule, and some of these updates are not at all what fans were expecting. Here are the biggest takeaways from the most recent 2025 NASCAR schedule update.
Bianchi reports that, according to his sources, NASCAR is “close” to a deal to race in Mexico City. However, Bianchi gives, at best, coin-flip odds to race in Montreal, Canada in 2024, even if the door isn’t shut. Steve Phelps said during the pre-race for the 2024 Daytona 500 on Fox that he “Would be surprised” if NASCAR was not racing in BOTH Mexico and Canada in 2025.
It seems NASCAR could get half of their wish, and it’s understandable to see why. Due to the local climate, NASCAR can race in Mexico at any point in the season, and, with Mexican-born Daniel Suarez on the grid, NASCAR has an incentive to be in Mexico. Canada is tougher to schedule with the climate allowing NASCAR to only race during the summer, and there are currently no Canadian drivers on the grid.
Bianchi seemingly confirmed the rumor Mike Joy disclosed during the Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway. The current favorite, with the LA Coliseum likely out of the picture, is Bowman Gray Stadium, but, that’s far from a done deal at this point.
This would be an interesting decision by NASCAR. While it would bring the Clash to a historic short track where tempers often flare, early February is quite early for a race in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Bianchi confirmed an earlier report he made following the Richmond race in March. Should Mexico join the schedule, he predicts Richmond will lose its’ spring date.
This would be a break from tradition as NASCAR has hosted 2 races at Richmond every year since 1953. However, Richmond has not brought in good crowds in recent years, and the racing product has been hit or miss, especially in the Next-Gen era. Richmond simply isn’t what it was during NASCAR’s boom.
Perhaps Bianchi’s most eyebrow-raising report was that it is “Increasingly likely” that NASCAR will not host a race in Southern California in 2025. This directly contradicts Steve Phelps, who said before the 2024 Daytona 500 to Fox Sports’ Chris Myers on racing in Southern California, “We’re not going to miss a year.”
However, this is not a surprising report as the options are limited for NASCAR in Southern California. If the LA Coliseum and Auto Club Speedway are both not available, there’s no other race track NASCAR can realistically go to. Thankfully, with Sonoma likely still on the schedule, NASCAR will not be totally absent from California in 2025.
Two races fans were looking at potentially changing hands in 2025 were the All-Star Race and the Championship weekend at Phoenix. Well, according to Bianchi, North Wilkesboro seems likely to retain the All-Star Race and Phoenix will keep the Championship race, at least for now. For North Wilkesboro, Bianchi cited the investment SMI put into the track, and, for Phoenix, Bianchi pointed to local support for the weekend,
Keeping these races at these two venues does make a lot of sense. North Wilkesboro is an SMI track, and, there are no SMI regular season dates in jeopardy for NWB to slot into the regular season. Phoenix sells out the Cup Series Championship race every year, even if the racing product is questionable. However, Bianchi did say that Homestead-Miami is lobbying to get the finale in 2026, and, there is support in the industry to move the Championship race to the venue.
Bianchi reported that NASCAR will likely not race on Easter in 2025. NASCAR had traditionally not raced on Easter, but, they broke that in 2022. They have raced on Easter every year since with two races at Bristol Dirt and the most recent at Richmond.
There’s a double-edged sword to this move. On one hand, sports normally play on holidays, and they often stack those days with marquee matchups for TV audiences. On the other hand, it’s nice for those in the industry to count on being able to spend Easter with their families.
Bianchi reports that Daytona is “All but certain” to return as the regular season finale in 2025. This would likely put the Southern 500 at Darlington back into the Playoff opening slot. There may be other shifts if NASCAR keeps the second off-weekend on the schedule, but, there’s nothing reported on what that looks like yet.
This move always felt like a one-year move. NASCAR’s schedule was pushed back a week due to the Olympics, so, that’s why the end of the regular season shifted. Darlington was immensely popular as the Playoff opener, and bringing that back would be well-received by fans.
The 2025 schedule is starting to take shape. Speculation will continue to run rampant throughout the summer.
NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell claims that he feels NASCAR “got a little lazy” in its attempts to keep growing the sport during a recent interview.
NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell is entering his first full season as NASCAR President, after taking over the post from former President Steve Phelps in March 2025.
O’Donnell took over his post during a turbulent time in sports history, as schedule changes and car generations compounded fans’ growing issues with things such as the 2014 playoff system.
To add to his troubles, NASCAR was in the midst of a heated antitrust lawsuit with two of its teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, that was bound for court in late 2025.
Ultimately, NASCAR would manage to put a bow on most of its troubles before the start of the 2026 season, settling the lawsuit with the two teams, changing its points format, and expressing an openness to explore changes to its NASCAR Next Gen car, such as increased horsepower on short tracks and road courses.
This whirlwind of change is turning gears in the NASCAR fanbase, with many fans saying a lot of the reshuffling is just as good for the sport as putting things such as the lawsuit and playoffs in the rear-view mirror, a sentiment shared by O’Donnell.
During an interview with Sports Business Journal on Monday, the long-time NASCAR executive said, “This is the first year I can remember where we’re going into the season, just talking about racing and what’s great about NASCAR.”
This isn’t the only shared feeling between O’Donnell and NASCAR fans, as prior to that, he said he felt NASCAR had grown “a little lazy” after overtaking IndyCar as the top motorsport in America, something he has even told NASCAR employees.
“When I started at NASCAR, we were chasing IndyCar, and the goal was, if we can just kind of surpass IndyCar, and we did that, and, you know, I’ve told our employees, I think we all got a little lazy.” — Steve O’Donnell
While many fans would agree that NASCAR has turned around for the better, there is still work to be done, and in O’Donnell’s eyes, the sport is in a prime spot to grow.
“My job and all of our jobs is to bring the industry together and talk about, we got a pretty cool thing going here, and we can really grow it,” O’Donnell said.
NASCAR isn’t exactly setting lofty goals for itself in 2026, at least in public, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the attention of its fanbase.
While the revived Chase format has drawn back some eyes, things like NASCAR’s “Hell Yeah” advertising campaign were the talk of the NASCAR community entering the 2026 Daytona 500.
That race also produced a finish that saw NBA legend, team owner, and former NASCAR lawsuit plaintiff, Michael Jordan, bring home another major race win on National TV with driver Tyler Reddick.
This race also saw a slight increase in viewership from the 2025 Daytona 500, one hurt by a major rain storm that blew in early in the race’s running.
Though TV ratings may not be skyrocketing, NASCAR has early momentum to make 2026 good enough to set a firm foundation for O’Donnell’s goals of growth, but maintaining that momentum will be another challenge in and of itself.
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The NASCAR Truck Series breaks off from the main touring series schedule this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series aren’t racing. So, whether you are going to be at the track or home, what does the forecast look like for the race weekend in Austin, Texas?
Before the OAP Series Race (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the OAP Series Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
After the OAP Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
Before the Cup Series Race (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the Cup Series Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
After the Cup Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
When the three NASCAR National Series rolled into Austin for COTA’s first NASCAR race weekend in 2021, no one could have guessed the chaos that lay in wait. A major rain shower did not prevent the series from racing that day, as, though it was still somewhat foreign at the time, NASCAR sent the Cup Series out in the rain for a chaotic race, ultimately won by Chase Elliott.
Note: This article will be updated with a more accurate and detailed forecast as the race weekend nears.
After back-to-back drafting tracks, NASCAR’s three National Series split ways as the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series head for Circuit of the Americas, and the Truck Series makes its debut at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
This information will be available when NASCAR releases it on Monday afternoon.
Note: This article will be updated as more information about the weekend comes out.
