We long ago came to grips with NASCAR coming off the blocks with its “Super Bowl” to begin each season.
When the playoffs were changed (again) in 2014 to include a final race for the championship among four remaining contenders, a Super Bowl of sorts had arrived for NASCAR, and it began feeling a little less weird to start the season with the showcase event.
Scheduling was always a procedure, but when NASCAR got its wall-to-wall network coverage beginning in 2001, the process took on a whole new level of complexity. They must juggle the availability of the host tracks, the potential of weather issues in some locales, and beyond all that, the wants and needs of the networks.
Oh, and also the desire for the industry and its assorted partners to expand into potential hotbeds of marketing potential, as you’ll see in mid-June.
February through April: Three ‘plate races’ and some antiques, beginning with Daytona 500
The early weeks of NASCAR’s regular season has something for everyone — the biggest tracks, the smallest tracks, a road course. There’s new-age (Vegas and COTA) and the oldest of old-school (Martinsville and Darlington).
With Atlanta becoming a “restrictor plate” track a few years back, thereby inviting big packs of traffic at high rates of speed, this early chunk of races includes two such animals to start the season, with a road course (Austin’s Circuit of the Americas) immediately following. Then the Talladega tightrope to end this stretch.
Feb. 16: Daytona 500, Feb. 23: Atlanta, March 2: Austin (COTA), March 9: Phoenix, March 16: Las Vegas, March 23: Homestead-Miami, March 30: Martinsville, April 6: Darlington, April 13: Bristol, April 27: Talladega
May through June: Stretching NASCAR’s southern boundaries
North Wilkesboro gets the All-Star Race again, and most folks are happy about continuing that throwback.
Feelings are more mixed on the addition of Mexico City’s road course to the schedule. Plenty of quality venues remain in NASCAR’s home country, but international exposure is a big deal for professional sports leagues, and we’ll all likely learn that our southern neighbor has a lot of passionate auto-racing fans.
May 4: Texas, May 11: Kansas, May 18: North Wilkesboro All-Star Race, May 25: Charlotte, June 1: Nashville, June 8: Michigan, June 15: Mexico City, June 22: Pocono, June 28: Atlanta
July through August: From Lake Shore Drive to 31-degree banking
Back to the streets of Chicago for a third and possibly final time. Maybe the weather will cooperate this time.
Three road courses in this group, plus the Brickyard and Richmond, which is now host to just one Cup race a year.
After a one-year hiatus, Daytona returns as the final race before the playoffs. And, of course, the final chance for some non-contender to crash the playoff party and, along with that, kicking some other team to the curb.
July 6: Chicago, July 13: Sonoma, July 20: Dover, July 27: Indianapolis, Aug. 3: Iowa, Aug. 10: Watkins Glen, Aug. 16: Richmond, Aug. 23: Daytona
Playoffs Round of 16: Heat ramps up at summer’s end
The playoff drivers are tested right out of the gate as the Lady in Black gets the opening spotlight.
Has the short-track package been tweaked to the point we’ll get a better Bristol this year?
Aug. 31: Darlington, Sept. 7: St. Louis, Sept. 13: Bristol
Playoffs Round of 12: Lobster, anyone?
This round includes the lone playoff road-course race, at Charlotte’s Roval.
New Hampshire, host to NASCAR’s only New England presence (and home to “Loudon the Lobster,” the most unique Victory Lane reward) moves back into the playoff rotation for the first time since 2017.
No one was clamoring for that, but hey, maybe it’ll work out.
Sept. 21: New Hampshire, Sept. 28: Kansas, Oct. 5: Charlotte Roval
Playoffs Round of 8: Biggest, smallest and in between
The Talladega wild card is dealt later in the playoffs this year, moving here from the Round of 12. It’s anybody’s ballgame at that place and a chance for any of the eight remaining contenders to reach the championship race.
The Martinsville bull ring again provides the final chance to crash the championship gate.
Oct. 12: Las Vegas, Oct. 19: Talladega, Oct. 26: Martinsville
Championship Round: One last desert go-round?
NASCAR moved the championship race from Homestead to Phoenix in 2020, and that’s where it remains.
For now.
Word on the street says the finale may begin rotating among a few different tracks beginning in 2026.
Nov. 2: Phoenix
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500 to the desert | 2025 NASCAR schedule includes Mexico City
