Written by Gabriel Tsui, Edited by Tarun Suresh
NASCAR recently announced their 2025 schedule, with huge shuffling of the races from 2024. They also announced two new tracks for the 2025 season. Therefore, in correspondence, two races have been taken off the calendar. Let’s analyse the schedule and take a look at what has been changed compared to 2024
Playoff Races Replaced
One of the largest announcements was Homestead, Watkins Glen, and Atlanta’s second race being moved into the regular season.
Homestead has been one of the most beloved tracks in the NASCAR schedule, hosting the season's final race from 2002 up until 2019, as it was replaced with Phoenix in 2020 and beyond.
Watkins Glen made its first playoff appearance in 2024 due to scheduling clashes caused by the Olympic break, but it is announced that The Glen will return to its regular spot, held during mid-August.
Similar to Watkins Glen, Atlanta’s second race was held during summer time in 2023, but was granted a playoff spot for 2024 due to the schedule shuffling caused by the Olympic break. It will return to the regular season in 2025, holding a race during the early summer times.
In corresponding moves, the Darlington 500, Gateway, and New Hampshire will be moved into the playoffs. Darlington 500 will return as the playoffs opener, while Gateway and New Hampshire will be held during the second and the fourth race of the playoffs respectively.
This will mark New Hampshire’s return to the playoffs ever since its second race was replaced by Las Vegas in 2018. Gateway will make its playoff debut in the round of 16 after Gateway and NASCAR agreed on a deal to bring the track back for 2025.
Brand new races
The clash has been held at the LA Coliseum, the home of the USC Trojans, ever since 2022. However, the preseason race will be moved to the Bowman Gray Stadium in WInston-Salem, North Carolina for the 2025 season.
The stadium was built in 1938 to provide jobs during the great depression, and it hosted American Football games and horse races within the stadium.
The founding fathers of NASCAR raced on this track in the early days of the series and hosted Cup Series races from 1958 until 1971.
The stadium hasn’t hosted a NASCAR-sanctioned race since ARCA Menards East (Then known as K&N Series East) in 2015 but has been the home stadium for the hometown university’s football team.
NASCAR announced the return of Bowman Gray in early August of 2024, hosting the clash in the first week of February 2025.
On the other hand, NASCAR also announced their first ever Cup Series race outside of U.S. soil in the modern era, a race in Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.
Though NASCAR originally planned for a race in Montreal, failed negotiations saw them turn towards Mexico City, where they agreed to host a NASCAR race in 2025.
The layout of the track for both the Cup Series race and the Xfinity Series race is currently still in the planning phase, with the announcement expected before the start of the 2025 season.
In order to fit the Mexico City race into the calendar, Richmond's Spring race will be taken off the calendar.
And Everything Else…
After months of speculation on whether NASCAR would decline the option to return to the streets of Chicago, instead opting for Chicagoland Speedway, the schedule release showed that Chicago Street Race will return for the second season in a row.
Talladega’s playoff race will be moved from the round of 12 into the round of 8. The superspeedway has been a track where chaos and uncertainty ensues, so a move into the round of 8 could lead to shocking results alongside surprising knockouts.
Although there has been a huge outcry within the fanbase to move the championship race back to Homestead, Phoenix continues to hold the responsibilities of the championship race, with the championship race being held on November 2nd, 2025.
After Bristol, NASCAR will have a one-week break during the Easter Holiday weekend, before heading back down to Alabama for the Talladega 500.
On the Cup Series’s off week during the Easter weekend, Xfinity Series and Truck Series will make a return to Rockingham Speedway, for the first time since 2003 and 2013 respectively.
The Trucks Series will also head to the Lime Rock Park road course in Lakeville, Connecticut during the Cup Series’ Atlanta summer race weekend. In correspondence, they will drop the Milwaukee Mile from the Trucks Series schedule.
The Complete Schedule for the Cup Series
Clash at Bowman Gray, February 2nd
Daytona 500, February 16th
Atlanta, February 23rd
Austin (COTA), March 2nd
Phoenix (Spring), March 9th
Las Vegas (Spring), Match 16th
Homestead, March 23rd
Martinsville (Spring), March 30th
Darlington (Spring), April 6th
Bristol (Spring), April 13th
Talladega (Spring), April 27th
Texas, May 4th
Kansas (Spring), May 11th
All Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro, May 18th
Charlotte 600, May 25th
Nashville, June 1st
Michigan, June 8th
Mexico City, June 15th
Pocono, June 22nd
Atlanta (Summer), June 28th (Saturday)
Chicago Street Race, July 6th
Sonoma, July 13th
Dover, July 20th
Indianapolis, July 27th
Iowa, August 3rd
Watkins Glen, August 10th
Richmond, August 16th (Saturday)
Daytona 400, August 23rd (Saturday)
Playoffs:
Darlington, August 31st
Gateway, September 7th
Bristol (Summer), September 13th (Saturday)
New Hampshire, September 21st
Kansas (Summer), September 28th
Charlotte Roval, October 5th
Las Vegas (Summer), October 12th
Talladega (Summer), October 19th
Martinsville (Summer), October 26th
Phoenix (Championship Race), November 2nd.
Conclusion
The schedule shuffling will change the way drivers approach the regular season, with another road course added to the schedule and a lot more travelling, adding more uncertainty to the regular season.
The influx of new tracks in playoffs into the early rounds will also be a challenge for most teams, especially with the departure of Talladega. With all these changes in mind, the 2025 season may shape up to be yet another interesting season for NASCAR fans.
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