Though every track that hosted at least one race during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is on the schedule in 2025, several race dates were shifted around before the season began, and a lot of those changes were made for the playoffs.
Three of the 10 tracks that hosted a playoff race in 2024 will not do so in 2025, as a number of changes have been made to the postseason calendar.
Last year, the regular season was effectively extended by one week (but not one race) due to the three-week summer break caused by NBC's commitment to the Summer Olympics. So instead of hosting the playoff opener like it had since 2020, Darlington Raceway hosted the regular season finale.
Three playoff tracks from 2024 no longer in postseason
Atlanta Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International led off the playoff schedule, but neither track is on the 2025 playoff calendar. Atlanta's second race was moved up to late June, and Watkins Glen was moved back to its usual August slot.
Darlington is once again set to lead off the postseason this weekend, and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is set to host the second playoff race next weekend. It had hosted a June race since being added to the schedule for the first time in 2022.
The other track removed from the playoff schedule is Homestead-Miami Speedway, which had hosted the middle race of the round of 8 since 2022. Homestead was moved to March in 2025, though next year, it is set to return to its old spot as the host of the Championship 4, replacing Phoenix Raceway in November.
Talladega Superspeedway has been moved from the round of 12 to the round of 8 as Homestead's replacement, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway is set to move back to the playoffs in the round of 12. The Loudon, New Hampshire venue hasn't hosted a playoff race since 2017.
Unlike Talladega in the round of 8, however, New Hampshire is set to lead off the round of 12. Kansas Speedway, which had led off the round of 12, is now set to host the middle race of the round.
Five of the 10 playoff races remain unchanged. Bristol Motor Speedway is still set to wrap up the round of 16, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is still set to wrap up the round of 12.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is still scheduled to open up the round of 8, and Martinsville Speedway is still scheduled to wrap it up. Phoenix Raceway is then scheduled to host the Championship 4 for the sixth year in a row.
Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff action on NBC and USA Network, starting with Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington at 6:00 p.m. ET on USA!