NASCAR released its 2025 schedule on Thursday, and its drivers have studied it – for the most part. While a few drivers admitted that they hadn’t had a chance to look at it before Saturday at Darlington, most had and shared positive opinions.
The biggest theme was one of diversity. Including the non-points-paying Clash and All-Star Race, the NASCAR schedule comprises 38 races, meaning the premier Cup Series is racing almost a full three quarters of the year.
That number, more than other racing series of its size, means NASCAR is able to visit a diverse list of tracks. In recent years, the Cup Series has competed on ovals of every length, dirt, road courses, and street courses. No other series has quite the same breadth.
The 2025 schedule continues that trend for diversity. The tracks that have been added are ones that appeal to very different segments of the fanbase.
On the one hand, headlining the schedule is a trip to Mexico City, the sanctioning body’s first international event since the ‘90s and first points-paying international race since the ‘50s. That appeals to new fans and NASCAR’s large international audience.
But on the other hand, NASCAR will now race at four tracks in North Carolina alone – the sport’s heartland – next year across its three national divisions. That list includes new additions in Rockingham and the Bowman Gray Stadium alongside the established North Wilkesboro and Charlotte.
“I feel like it’s a pretty diverse schedule,” Noah Gragson summed it up. “I’ve only taken little peeks at it and haven’t really studied it too hard. But, yeah, I’ve seen Rockingham coming back for Xfinity, so that’ll be cool, and then we go down to Mexico City which is good. It just spreads everything out.”
For Todd Gilliland, more than that, the schedule does the best job possible of being all things to all fans.
“It’s a tough one, right? I think it’s cool. There’s a lot of guys that always press for more short tracks, and we’re going to them, all around North Carolina. And then on the flip side of it, too, we’re going to a bunch of new places. It’s kind of different,” Gilliland said.
“If you told people that we’d be making the schedule appealing to this guy that wants to just race in North Carolina and go to short tracks for every race and also the international fans that want to see us and want us to go to their races, it’s a cool mixture.
“To me, the coolest thing about NASCAR in general is that we do something different every week, we’re not just road courses, we’re not just ovals. It’s such a diverse schedule,” he echoed Gragson’s comment.
While longtime fans of the sport sometimes complain about being left behind with new additions to the schedule that take the sport further away from its southern short track roots, drivers didn’t particularly agree and suggested that the schedule has a lot to like for NASCAR’s traditional fans.
“I feel like they do a really good job of keeping the hardcore fanbase happy but also still going to a lot of new tracks in a lot of new areas, like the Chicago Street Course and what we’ve done with the Clash in LA before and now going to Mexico City and stuff like that,” argued Chase Briscoe.
“Yeah, the schedule definitely has a lot of races close to home which is nice and also goes to a lot of new markets too. So it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.”
To Michael McDowell, any complaints that NASCAR is abandoning its roots, at least when it comes to the racetracks it competes at, is news to him.
“I don’t think about it that way, actually. I think if you look at our sport, we’re still predominantly a Southeast sport and most of our races are in that area,” McDowell pointed out.
“So I guess I’ve never thought about it being any different than that, just because we have so many that are a two-or-three-hour drive. But I think it’s good, to take it to the next level we’re going to have to have international races, we’re going to have to have more eyeballs watching the sport, and this is a great way of doing it.”
The biggest goal for drivers and NASCAR alike is to put on a show for the fans, and Austin Cindric believes this year’s schedule has that as its core focus.
“Yeah, I feel like short track roots are obviously super important, but also some of the shows that we’re able to put on at some of these bigger racetracks are really exciting,” Cindric said.
“So I feel like it’s a really balanced schedule, obviously there’s a lot to be excited about, I’ve never been to Mexico so that’ll be interesting, but otherwise it’s a pretty diverse schedule that gives the race fans something new to look forward to each week.”
