NASCAR Cup Series: 5 changes made for the 2025 playoffs
By Asher Fair
Two new tracks are on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2025, though none of the tracks that hosted points races in 2024 have been completely removed from the calendar.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is no longer on the schedule, but it hosted the preseason Busch Light Clash exhibition race, a non-points event. Bowman Gray Stadium, which hasn't hosted a Cup Series race since 1971, has been added in its place.
As for the actual 36-race points-paying portion of the calendar, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been added, and Richmond Raceway has seen its race count reduced from two races to one.
However, there have been a number of schedule changes, specifically centered around the playoffs.
Three tracks are no longer on the playoff schedule, and the four-round, 10-race postseason has seen a total of five calendar changes for 2025.
In the round of 16, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International hosted the first two races in 2024. But Atlanta's second race date has been moved back up to the regular season, which is where it was before 2024, and Watkins Glen's lone race date has been moved back into the regular season as well.
Darlington Raceway, which hosted the regular season finale in 2024, is set to host the playoff opener in 2025. It hosted the playoff opener from 2020 to 2023, but it was moved to the regular season finale this past season since the season was effectively extended by one week due to the summer break caused by NBC's commitment to the Summer Olympics.
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is set to host the second round of 16 race in 2025 after hosting a regular season race from 2022 to 2024. Bristol Motor Speedway is still scheduled to wrap up the round of 16, so there are no changes in that regard.
In fact, no changes have been made to any of the cutoff races throughout the entire postseason.
There are two more changes that have been made to the round of 12 schedule. Kansas Speedway is set to host the second race, not the opener like it did in 2024, but it won't be Talladega Superspeedway, which hosted the second race in 2024, hosting the opener.
Instead, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is set to host the round of 12 opener, which is set to be its first playoff race since 2017. The Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is still scheduled to conclude the second round.
But Talladega is still set to host a playoff race. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has remained in its spot as the round of 8 opener, and Martinsville Speedway has remained in its spot as the round of 8 finale. But the middle race of the round of 8 is set to be contested at Talladega rather than Homstead-Miami Speedway, which has been moved back to the regular season for the first time since 2021.
No changes have been made to the Championship 4, which is set to be hosted at Phoenix Raceway for the sixth year in a row.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, February 16 with the 67th annual Daytona 500, which is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.