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The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule was among the most highly anticipated schedule drops in recent NASCAR history. That was for a good reason, as the schedule featured more changes than most expected. Here are some of the highlights:
The NASCAR Playoffs saw major changes for rounds and the addition or subtraction of select tracks.
Notable playoff changes include the addition of New Hampshire and Gateway, alongside the subtraction of Watkins Glen, Atlanta, and Homestead.
NASCAR is removing Watkins Glen from the NASCAR Playoffs after one year in the playoffs. In doing so, NASCAR leaves on Road Course race in the Playoffs.
Atlanta, one of two drafting tracks in the Playoffs, will move its date into June, and Homestead, a fan favorite, will move to March.
In exchange, the Playoffs have added Gateway, which is known for its massive crowds despite the blistering heat of its previous race dates. The date places it as the second race of the Round of 16.
New Hampshire moves into the Playoffs, having been out of the playoffs since 2018. It will be the first race of the second round of the playoffs, the Round of 12.
The Playoffs also saw major changes to its rounds.
The first round of the Playoffs sees Darlington rejoin the Playoffs after being the cut-off race this season. Darlington replaces Atlanta in the first race of the Playoffs.
World Wide Technology Raceway will join the Playoffs, replacing Watkins Glen, while Bristol remains the third race of the Playoffs.
The Second round of the Playoffs maintains both the Roval and Kansas. However, Kansas will replace the departing Talladega as the second race of the round.
In Talladega’s place, New Hampshire will triumphantly return to the playoffs. This round may be the most diverse, featuring a Road Course, a Short Track, and an Intermediate track.
This round could be the “chaos” round of the Playoffs. With a spot on the line in the Championship Four, which returns to Phoenix this season, drivers will face a paper clip and a Superspeedway.
While race one remains the same in Las Vegas and race three in Martinsville, race two is now in Talladega. This move feels intentional by NASCAR, as the chaos manufactured at Talladega feels like the opposite side of the same coin as Martinsville.
Outside of the playoffs, NASCAR made major changes to the schedule, assigning new race weekends to a majority of races. However, this is partly due to the 2024 Olympic break, and some are moving to slots they have held in the past.
Early on, the West Coast swing will be more gradual, as after Atlanta, rather than going straight to Las Vegas, the Cup Series will race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Phoenix, and finally Las Vegas.
Just that next weekend, Homestead-Miami Speedway returns to the spring schedule. April will see an entire shakeup, losing Martinsville to March and Texas to May while gaining Bristol and Darlington.
As rumored, the Cup Series will not race during Easter weekend. However, multiple rumors suggest that Rockingham will get Xfinity and Trucks that weekend.
Sonoma and Dover move to July, Dover having seen poor weather with its spring date in recent years. August adds Iowa and Watkins Glen to complement Richmond, which now has one race a year.
Daytona will once again be the cut-off race after the Olympic break moved it to one race before 2024.
NASCAR previously announced both new additions to the schedule before Bianchi’s release.
During Michigan’s race weekend, NASCAR announced that the Clash would head back to the East Coast. Bowman Gray Stadium will host the 2025 Clash.
However, NASCAR is not new to Bowman Gray, as it is an original from the early days of NASCAR. The track will not be much of a change from the LA Coliseum, which are both a quarter-mile long.
However, some are worried about the weather, as North Carolina is much colder in February than Los Angeles.
Most notably, on Tuesday Morning, NASCAR announced that the Cup Series would race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from June 13 to 15 in Mexico City. That will be a triple-header with the Xfinity and Mexico Series, a first for NASCAR.
Next year will not be the first time the Cup Series has raced outside the U.S., doing so at Exposition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1958.
While the Cup Series has not done so in the modern era. The Xfinity Series raced at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from 2005 to 2008.
While this schedule was a major leak, the highly anticipated Xfinity and Truck Series schedule has yet to be released. Leaving hopes for more changes still on the table for eager fans.
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