NASCAR has released the 2025 schedules for its Cup, Xfinity, and Truck series championships.
While NASCAR largely preserves a key slate of standard races, there are some big changes shaking things up next year, including new tracks, old tracks, and a ton of new broadcasters to pay attention to.
A return to NASCAR’s roots
The NASCAR Cup Series has been looking to expand its horizons in recent years — and in some cases, that has involved looking back to NASCAR’s past to see what heritage tracks may be worth reviving. In 2025, we’ll have two heritage tracks on the calendar for exhibition events.
In 2024, NASCAR introduced North Wilkesboro Speedway as the host for its All-Star race weekend. The 0.625-mile first debuted in 1947 but was left abandoned by 1997. Several drivers and fans mounted a campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic to refurbish the track — and it returned to Cup Series schedule in 2023.
For 2025, the Cup Series will kick off with its annual Clash, the non-points paying race that serves to kick off the season and built interest for the Daytona 500, at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Bowman Gray is a quarter-mile flat oval and football stadium, and it served as a NASCAR track beginning in 1949, but NASCAR departed the track in the early 1970s. The track has since hosted local racing events ever since, but NASCAR’s return is a welcome surprise.
NASCAR goes international
Earlier this week, NASCAR announced that it will compete on a slightly altered version of Formula 1’s Mexico City track, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. It’s the first time the Cup Series will host an international points-paying race since the late 1950s, though Xfinity did compete at Mexico City in the mid-2000s.
Though NASCAR is generally considered an American sport, there are regional NASCAR series in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Europe that have all drawn dedicated slates of drivers and fans.
Further, NASCAR has been pushing hard to make its product more appealing to international audiences with the addition of road and street courses, as well as by introducing the Next-Gen car, which is designed with international GT3 regulations in mind.
NASCAR introduces a new in-season tournament
New for 2025 is the introduction of an in-season tournament that is distinct from the Playoffs. A $1 million prize is on the line for the winner of the five-race tournament, for which 32 drivers will be seeded and compete to move through the elimination rounds starting in Atlanta.
Drivers will be seeded by their best finish in three races: Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono. As the tournament kicks off, drivers will compete head-to-head, with the highest-finishing driver in each head-to-head lineup moving on to the next round.
Ultimately, the driver that wins the bracket challenge will come home with a whopping $1 million prize.
The whole goal of the tournament is to generate further interest in the NASCAR Cup Series at a point in the season where the regular season has moved into a lull period before the Playoffs kick off in full force.
The start of the tournament will also coincide with the start of TNT Sports’ NASCAR coverage. The tournament then continues into the Chicago street course, Sonoma, Dover, and, finally, Indianapolis.
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There are plenty of new broadcasters to pay attention to
For the past several years, NASCAR has split its annual coverage between FOX and NBC — but 2025 is bringing a massive amount of broadcast diversification.
The Cup Series will kick off on FOX Sports before hopping to Amazon Prime Video starting with Memorial Day’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Prime coverage will run until the start of the in-season tournament at Atlanta, when TNT Sports will take over coverage.
NBC Sports will return beginning with Iowa and lasting through the remainder of the season.
Meanwhile, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be aired on the CW, while the Truck Series takes place on FS1.
Miami out of the postseason, New Hampshire is in
Homestead-Miami was long the season finale for NASCAR, but that high-profile event has since been moved to Phoenix. Now, Miami is no longer included in the postseason — or the Playoffs — starting in 2025. Instead, Homestead has been moved all the way up to March.
Instead, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been pushed down into the postseason for the first time since 2017.
Rockingham returns for the lower tiers
The NASCAR Cup Series isn’t heading to Rockingham, but during Easter weekend in 2025, both the Xfinity and Truck Series will be competing at the historic track.
In 2018, Rockingham was effectively dead. The track had been left abandoned for several years, and when Rockingham Properties LLC bought the track and received $8 million from to renovate the facility.
The track that initially opened in 1965 will now host a NASCAR event for the first time since 2013, much to the delight of longtime American stock car racing fans.
2025 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule
- Feb 2: The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium
- Feb 16: Daytona 500
- Feb 23: Atlanta
- March 2: Circuit of The Americas
- March 9: Phoenix
- March 16: Las Vegas
- March 23: Homestead-Miami
- March 30: Martinsville
- April 6: Darlington
- April 13: Bristol
- April 27: Talladega
- May 4: Texas
- May 11: Kansas
- May 18: All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro
- May 25: Charlotte
- June 1: Nashville
- June 8: Michigan
- June 15: Mexico City
- June 22: Pocono
- June 28: Atlanta (start of in-season tournament)
- July 6: Chicago
- July 13: Sonoma
- July 20: Dover
- July 27: Indianapolis (end of in-season tournament)
- Aug 3: Iowa
- Aug 10: Watkins Glen
- Aug 16: Richmond
- Aug 23: Daytona
- Aug 31: Darlington (start of Playoffs)
- Sept 7: World Wide Technology Raceway
- Sept 13: Bristol
- Sept 21: New Hampshire
- Sept 28: Kansas
- Oct 5: Charlotte Roval
- Oct 12: Las Vegas
- Oct 19: Talladega
- Oct 26: Martinsville
- Nov 2: Phoenix (Championship race)
2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Schedule
- Feb 15: Daytona
- Feb 22: Atlanta
- March 1: Circuit of The Americas
- March 8: Phoenix
- March 15: Las Vegas
- March 22: Homestead-Miami
- March 29: Martinsville
- April 5: Darlington
- April 12: Bristol
- April 19: Rockingham
- April 26: Talladega
- May 3: Texas
- May 24: Charlotte
- May 31: Nashville
- June 14: Mexico City
- June 21: Pocono
- June 27: Atlanta
- July 5: Chicago
- July 12: Sonoma
- July 19: Dover
- July 26: Indianapolis
- Aug 2: Iowa
- Aug 9: Watkins Glen
- Aug 22: Daytona
- Aug 30: Portland
- Sep 6: World Wide Technology Raceway
- Sep 12: Bristol (Start of Playoffs)
- Sep 27: Kansas
- Oct 4: Charlotte Roval
- Oct 11: Las Vegas
- Oct 18: Talladega
- Oct 25: Martinsville
- Nov 1: Phoenix (Championship race)
2025 NASCAR Truck Series Schedule
- Feb 14: Daytona
- Feb 22: Atlanta
- March 14: Las Vegas
- March 21: Homestead-Miami
- March 28: Martinsville
- April 11: Bristol
- April 18: Rockingham
- May 2: Texas
- May 10: Kansas
- May 17: North Wilkesboro
- May 23: Charlotte
- May 30: Nashville
- June 7: Michigan
- June 20: Pocono
- June 28: Lime Rock Park
- July 25: Lucas Oil IRP
- Aug 8: Watkins Glen
- Aug 15: Richmond
- Aug 30: Darlington (Playoffs begin)
- Sep 11: Bristol
- Sep 20: New Hampshire
- Oct 3: Charlotte Roval
- Oct 17: Talladega
- Oct 24: Martinsville
- Oct 31: Phoenix (championship race)
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