NASCAR is expected to make big changes to the 2025 Cup Series playoff schedule, including adding new tracks while others move to the regular season, sources briefed on the decision told The Athletic.
Both World Wide Technology Raceway in Gateway, outside St. Louis, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway are expected to move from June race dates during the 2024 regular season to hosting one of 10 playoff races on next fall.
Darlington Raceway’s annual Labor Day racing weekend is also expected to return to the playoffs in 2025. However, this change was widely anticipated after NASCAR only pulled Darlington from the playoffs this year due to a quirk. scheduling with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Darlington began hosting the inaugural playoff race in 2020, holding that spot through the 2023 season.
To accommodate the three new additions to their playoff schedule, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Homestead-Miami Speedway will transition to the 26-race regular season.
Last month, NASCAR announced that the second of the two Atlanta races would move out of the playoffs to June 28, 2025 (the first Atlanta race will remain in the spring). NASCAR has not yet made any announcements about Watkins Glen or Homestead-Miami.
Homestead no longer being in the playoffs is likely an unpopular decision within the industry. The 1.5-mile oval in South Florida is a favorite among drivers and fans, considered one of the best in the sport. Homestead hosted the championship game from 2002 to 2019 and has been in the playoffs for 18 of the last 20 years.
Both Atlanta and Watkins Glen were new to the 2024 playoff schedule. The removal of these two tracks from the 2025 playoff schedule leaves only one Draft track (Talladega) and one road course (Charlotte Roval) in the 2025 playoffs.
Other expected changes to the 2025 schedule, according to industry sources, include the non-points Clash taking place at Bowman Gray Stadium and the annual Daytona International Speedway summer race once again hosting the regular season finale. .
NASCAR is also working to add an international race by 2025, and negotiations are moving forward with promoters in Mexico City and Montreal. If a deal is finalized, it would be the first time since 1958 that a NASCAR premier series points race has been held outside the United States. As The Athletic previously reported, expanding to Mexico City or Montreal would come at the expense of Richmond losing one of its two races.
NASCAR expects to reveal its 2025 schedule in the coming weeks.
(Darlington Raceway Photo: Jared C. Tilton//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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