With the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule now revealed (thanks to our Jordan Bianchi on Wednesday), it’s time to assess all the changes. And there sure are a lot of changes heading into 2025 — mostly of the date-moving variety, but some of larger importance as well.
The headlines will be about NASCAR’s new race in Mexico City and a return to Bowman Gray Stadium, but there are also plenty of other nuggets to evaluate. So as per tradition, I’ll list the changes here from my favorite to least favorite (or outright loathed, in one case) tweaks to the 2025 schedule.
Here are 21 of the changes we found for the 2025 NASCAR schedule, ranked:
1. Mexico City (June 15)
Vamos! With apologies to Iowa Speedway, the 2024 version of the schedule lacked the sort of splashy new addition we’d seen in 2022 (Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum) and 2023 (Chicago Street Race).
Well, consider that solved for 2025. NASCAR is taking the Cup Series across the border for its first international points race since 1958 — and adding a world-class track to the schedule in the process.
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has been reconfigured since NASCAR’s last visit (an Xfinity Series race in 2008) and now is an annual stop for Formula One — where it hosted a combined weekend attendance of more than 400,000 people last year.
Mexican fans love their motorsports, and there will undoubtedly be a large and energetic turnout to see favorite son Daniel Suárez and the rest of the Cup stars do battle in the world’s fifth-most populated city.
Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez will host NASCAR’s first international points race in more than 65 years. (Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)
2. Daytona regular-season finale (Aug. 23)
The Olympics messed up what had become a great new NASCAR scheduling tradition: Daytona to end the regular season, the Southern 500 to open the playoffs. With the calendar back to normal now, that one-year quirk was rightfully fixed.
3. Michigan moves earlier (June 8)
Those poor Michigan fans have been like cartoon characters with perpetual rain clouds over their heads — except there’s nothing funny about it. Hopefully moving from August to early June will help Michigan have its first rain-free weekend since before the pandemic.
4. Bristol moves later (April 13)
That early spring date for Bristol (March 17 this year) is always playing with fire (or water, to be more accurate) in terms of weather-impacted races. Having it a month later gives a much better chance of a pleasant spring day.
5. Nashville moves earlier (June 1)
It’s been a rough go at times for Nashville fans, who have had to endure searing temperatures at a track where coolers and loose ice are prohibited. The difference between late June and early June could be enough to provide a more comfortable fan experience.
6. Talladega to Round 3 (Oct. 19)
When The Athletic revealed this change earlier in the month, I was thinking it might go at the bottom of this list. Talladega in Round 3? A superspeedway to determine a Championship 4 spot? Just another hit to the credibility of the playoff format.
But then I heard Denny Hamlin crew chief Chris Gabehart’s interesting comments on SiriusXM Radio. Gabehart said as a competitor, he actually thought Talladega in this spot would be better than in Round 2 for a couple reasons. First, the odds of one of the final eight drivers actually winning the race to claim a final four berth were not all that high. Second, the lack of a playoff-eligible driver getting a victory would open an additional spot to make the championship round on points — which favors the stronger teams being able to race their way into Phoenix.
So while I’m still a bit wary of a random race having a potentially oversized impact on the Championship 4, Gabehart’s comments eased a lot of those concerns.
Anything can happen at Talladega, but its move to the third round might still be better for seeing the best cars through to the Championship 4. (Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
7. Richmond loses a race (Aug. 16)
In the mid-2000s, Richmond was my absolute favorite track on the circuit. Even better than Martinsville and Bristol. Its races were consistently excellent and exciting.
Even though Richmond has fallen off for years now, both in racing product and fan support, it’s still hard to see it like this. It would have been better if NASCAR was able to fix its short-track racing before it was too late, because it’s never good to see a short track disappear from the schedule (especially in favor of a road course).
But as sad as it is, this was absolutely the right call given the current state of Richmond, and Mexico City will be a smashing success as a replacement.
8. Iowa moves later (Aug. 3)
Whether it’s in mid-June or early August, Iowa is probably going to be sweltering either way. But moving the race later inadvertently connects NASCAR to the start of the nearby Knoxville Nationals a few days later. As it stands now, the 360 Nationals (sprint cars with smaller engines) will be the same weekend as this Iowa race, which opens the door for a potential Kyle Larson double-duty weekend.
9. Clash to Bowman Gray Stadium (Feb. 2)
Chilly weather aside, I’m mixed about the decision to move the Clash to Bowman Gray. It seemed like the Los Angeles Coliseum laid the groundwork for some sort of NASCAR Stadium Series, in which Cup cars could go into a variety of major markets and make some waves in the broader sports world to start the season.
Bowman Gray certainly satisfies the traditional crowd, and it will be a heck of an atmosphere, but I’m not sure if it does anything to move the sport forward — which feels like a missed opportunity considering the way this event had gotten reshaped.
Plus, NASCAR now leaves the Los Angeles market behind with no firm plans to return — and its Southern California fans go from two Cup races as recently as 2023 (Coliseum, Fontana) to zero in 2025.
Winston-Salem is also a one-hour drive from five other Cup races (two at Charlotte, two at Martinsville and one at North Wilkesboro), which seems like a lot when other areas of the country are starving for NASCAR racing.
10. Watkins Glen out of playoffs (Aug. 10)
We have yet to see how Watkins Glen’s upcoming playoff race will fare, but it’s fine to already move it back to its traditional month. The Glen attracts a large camping crowd and should be closer to the summer than the fall weather when kids are back to school.
Plus, as long as Charlotte Motor Speedway insists on running the Roval for its playoff race, two road courses in the final 10 races aren’t necessary.
11. Gateway enters the playoffs (Sept. 7)
This was a strange one, as I’d never heard anyone suggest this track belongs in the playoff group. It’s not like this is a gorgeous, brand-new facility with all the latest amenities.
That said, the ownership group has perhaps done more than anyone on the circuit with what they have to work with. And the St. Louis market, with no NFL team, will certainly embrace having a big event there in the fall.
There wasn’t much clamor for World Wide Technology Raceway to get a playoff spot, but it’s a boon for St. Louis-area sports fans. (Logan Riely / Getty Images)
12. New Hampshire returns to playoffs (Sept. 21)
New Hampshire was the opener for the first seven years of the Chase and kept a playoff race for an additional seven years after that. But once the track was cut to a single race in 2018, it hasn’t been a playoff venue.
Was anyone clamoring for it to return to the playoffs? I certainly hadn’t heard it, if so. It’s a bit troubling considering the current racing on shorter, flatter tracks is not very good (the track’s most recent races have each gotten a low 65 percent in my “Was it a good race?” poll). So are we assuming Goodyear and NASCAR will get the tire situation better to make a more compelling race?
Either way, it just seems like sort of an odd move.
13. Dover moves to summer (July 20)
This is another track that hasn’t had the best luck with weather at times, so getting it later in the year might help with rain. Except … well, it’s going to be very hot, and Dover does not have lights. Maybe fans will take heat and humidity over a rainout, though. Plus the Delaware beaches are only an hour away, and it will be the height of tourist season.
14. COTA moves earlier (March 2)
I’d be curious as to the reasoning of this one, as we haven’t yet gotten to ask questions about the schedule as of this writing. Austin now slides into the third points race of the season, bumping Las Vegas two weeks later (Vegas will run after Phoenix instead of before it).
There’s probably a great reason why NASCAR wants to run a road course race this early in the year (it will be the earliest since the COVID-influenced Daytona road race in 2021), but it’s hard to speculate without more details.
15. Mother’s Day race moves to Kansas (May 11)
No complaints in terms of anything related to Kansas, since that is currently NASCAR’s best track. You can schedule all 38 races at Kansas and I wouldn’t complain. But this date is a mild blow for race teams because the moms of the industry won’t be able to be with their Charlotte-based families for Mother’s Day. When this date belonged to Darlington (which is moving to April), there was at least a chance for some additional family time.
Racing at Kansas is never a bad thing with this car, but moving the race to Mother’s Day weekend will pull crew farther away from their families. (Logan Riely / Getty Images)
16. Pocono one month earlier (June 22)
No quibbles with this, other than the three most recent races being in July have seen fantastic turnouts at a rejuvenated track. Hopefully this doesn’t mess with any of the momentum there.
17. Atlanta moves earlier (June 28)
This year, the schedule went until Race 25 (six and a half months) without a repeat venue. Putting Atlanta’s second race earlier in the season moves that to Race 18 (four months between races). It’s probably not a big deal, but in general, it seems better when tracks can space out their dates as far as possible.
18. Sonoma moves later (July 13)
There’s something to be said for date equity, and Sonoma has held its race in June since 1998. The Bay Area’s “June Gloom” often creates cool, cloudy mornings and pleasant, sunny afternoons. July in California is much more of a blue-skies-and-sun-all-day vibe, which could make the Sonoma race much hotter than fans are used to.
19. One off week during season (April 20)
On a positive note, Easter returns to being an off-week after many in the NASCAR industry were upset they had to spend the holiday racing (Bristol Dirt, Richmond).
But it’s quite unfortunate to see this is the only real off week of the entire season (I’m not counting Super Bowl Sunday between the Clash and Daytona 500). Yes, you read that right: The Cup Series will go from April 27 straight through to Nov. 2 without taking a single weekend off in 2025. That’s a 28-week marathon grind, dwarfing even this year’s 22 straight from the Daytona 500 to the Olympic break.
This is already the longest season in sports, but to do it in such a relentless manner is one major reason why careers are being shortened and teams are having a harder time finding qualified employees to join the industry.
Personally, I’d rather see the season have three off weeks scattered throughout to give people a breather. But NASCAR and its TV partner NBC likely want to get out of the NFL’s way as early as possible rather than keep going head-to-head all the way until Thanksgiving.
20. Phoenix retains championship (Nov. 2)
OK, this isn’t a “change” to the schedule like the others on this list. But … why isn’t it? This will be the sixth straight championship race for Phoenix, which continues to put on relatively lackluster shows. Yes, it’s a nice venue. Yes, it sells out. But if NASCAR continues to insist on having the entire season come down to a winner-take-all title race, then the championship event should only be held at tracks with exceptional racing.
21. Homestead moves to late March (March 23)
What a blow for this treasured place. The echoes of all the great modern season finales still linger at this South Florida gem, and it was left to suffer for two years after losing the championship by running spring dates that had no meaning. Simply put, no one cares about Homestead when it’s not in a featured playoff spot — a mistake which was seemingly corrected when it gained a Round 3 race in 2022.
But even that is now going away after this season, with Homestead relegated to an irrelevant March date. Because it’s warm then, I guess?
That said, maybe the long game is for Homestead to regain the championship race in 2026. If that’s the case, then this will all be worth it.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo of the 2023 regular-season finale finish at Daytona International Speedway: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
