The NASCAR Cup Series has four key types of tracks that it races at in a season. These are Intermediate, Short Tracks, Superspeedways, and Road Course. As we look ahead to the 2025 season, who are the ones to look at on these different tracks?
Call him Mister Consistency or just plain Good; Christopher Bell managed to have one of his best seasons to date in 2024. This effort included solid work on almost every time track, including Intermediates.
Despite early exits in midseason Intermediate races, Bell started an impressive streak late in the season. Starting at Darlington, Bell rattled off three straight top tens on Intermediate-sized tracks in the Playoffs. Bell had three more top tens during the regular season, including a win in a weather-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Joey Logano’s performance on Intermediate tracks can seemingly come out of nowhere. Thanks to a late-race caution, Logano locked himself into the playoffs at Nashville, and during the playoffs, a win at Las Vegas secured his spot in Phoneix.
While others may have outperformed Logano on these tracks, his ability to win almost out of nowhere makes him a relevant threat week in and week out at the Intermediate tracks.
After a wild 2023 season, Chase Elliott returned to form in 2024 with a championship-caliber season. While he may not have the most stand-out stats at Intermediate tracks, his consistency at the tracks aided in a solid season.
His eight top tens left him with an average finish of 11.6 on the tracks this season, better than his overall average finish of 11.7 throughout the season. He topped this off with a losing streak-breaking win at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
While Kyle Larson might be able to win in almost anything, his 2024 road course record might be the final evidence anyone could need. Larson locked down two wins on two different types of road courses, Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval.
Larson also sat on the pole in the Chicago Street Circuit and walked away with his second career Xfinity Series win on a Road Course. If his efforts continue to trend this way, and with the addition of one more Road course to the circuit this season, look for No. 5 to keep it up next season.
Tyler Reddick has a history of racing well on road courses. In his most recent win at COTA in 2023, he practically ran away from the field. Of his eight career wins, three have come on three different road courses.
While he went winless on the tracks last season, Reddick continued a consistent streak on them in 2024. Reddick had three top tens on road courses last season.
As hard as it would be to replace A.J. Allmendinger on this list, entering his first full-time Cup Series season, Shane Van Gisbergen may have done that. SVG made his name on the street circuit in Chicago, and in the Xfinity Series last season, he didn’t disappoint.
All three of SVG’s wins last season came on road courses, including a streak of three in a row. While his part-time cup series schedule was not the same, at Watkins Glen, he was one move away from winning in back-to-back seasons.
Denny Hamlin fell short of a NASCAR Cup Series title once again in 2024; however, early on, he looked to be one of the people to beat. His solid standings were thanks to his efforts on short tracks, where he had an average finish of 6.9.
All three of Denny’s wins in 2024 came on short tracks. While he cooled off as the season went on, history suggests that Hamlin will find his groove again this season and add to his career 14 wins on short tracks.
Larson was also impressive on Short Tracks this season. With six top-tens in seven races this season, Kyle won one race, and his average finishing position in these races was 7.9.
Larson’s dominant win at Bristol made him a true threat to win the championship. That evening, Larson led 462 of 500 laps; he could ride that wave into 2025.
In 2024, Ryan Blaney averaged an 8.4 finish on short tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series Schedule. Blaney road these wins into the NASCAR Playoffs and, ultimately, the Championship Four.
Blaney’s first win was at the NASCAR Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway. However, the second win was all the more important than his win at Martinsville, which locked him into the Championship Four.
Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 always seems to be at the front of the pack on superspeedways. However, despite his best efforts, Brad has not been able to find victory lane recently.
This season, Brad had three top-fives at superspeedways. However, none hurt more than his second place at Talladega, where Brad was one move away from winning a race that ultimately went to Tyler Reddick.
On the bad end of that Talladega finish was Michael McDowell, who looked to have the win locked down before he found himself headed for the wall.
McDowell’s luck at superspeedways may be worse than Keselowski’s as of late. In 2024, McDowell had an average starting spot of 1.5 at Daytona and first at Talladega. However, McDowell crashed out of three of the four superspeedway races.
While it could be hard to discount his skills lately, a win at Talladega this season proved that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is still one of the best on superspeedways.
All four of his career wins are on the massive drafting tracks, including wins at both tracks. Despite a small statistical drop off at the tracks in recent years, Ricky is still one to watch in 2025.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinions on Discord or X, and don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
