NASCAR race weekends will look different in 2025.
In a press release sent Thursday, NASCAR announced that practice and qualifying procedures will be varied in the 2025 season, depending on what type of track they’re racing at for the race weekend.
The most significant changes for practice and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series include:
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Group practice goes from 20 to 25 minutes.
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Single-round qualifying at every track except for superspeedways, which will still implement a final round of time trials for the fastest 10 cars.
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Starting position based solely on qualifying results, rather than row-by-row designations according to qualifying group.
Cup Series director Brad Moran said that settling on the new procedures was the result of collaboration across the NASCAR industry, including involvement with new broadcast partners who will begin their first season of a seven-year media rights deal in 2025.
The slight bump in pre-race track time, Moran says, is a small step toward where at-track schedules were previously before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted industry-wide streamlining for race weekends.
“I think it’s going to be welcomed by the industry,” Moran said in the press release. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback throughout the year, and we made a couple of adjustments through the year, and we really wanted to take a whole fresh look at it. A lot of this came into play back in COVID, when we tightened things up, so we’re kind of going back a little to what we used to do again. We’re going to have a little more practice, which is obviously better for the fans and the partners.”
Here are the procedures for different types of track in the 2025 NASCAR season.
NASCAR standard practice and qualifying, including Nashville Superspeedway
For the races at intermediate tracks, including Darlington Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway, the procedure is largely different from 2024.
There will be 25-minute practices each for two groups of cars. The groups will be determined by metrics (70% based on previous race finish by owner; 30% based on owner points position. The best scoring cars in metrics will be placed in Group 2).
Qualifying will be straightforward, one lap and one round of qualifying, similar to how qualifying was run in the past.
The standard races include Las Vegas, Phoenix (spring), Miami, Darlington, Texas, Kansas, Charlotte oval, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono, Gateway and New Hampshire.
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NASCAR short track practice and qualifying
At short tracks, including Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, there will be 25-minute practice sessions each for two groups of cars.
Qualifying will feature two laps per car and one round of qualifying.
The short track procedures will be run at Martinsville, Bristol, Dover, Iowa, Richmond, North Wilkesboro (Trucks) and Lucas Oil IRP (Trucks).
NASCAR superspeedway qualifying, including Daytona 500
There is no standalone practice, however there will be a 50-minute pre-qualifying session for the NASCAR Cup Series at the Daytona 500.
Qualifying is one lap per car and two rounds. The fastest 10 cars from the opening round advance to the final round. The starting spots for 1-10 will be based on the final round and the rest of the field will be determined by the first round. This qualifying format is closest to the 2024 season.
This format will be run for three race weekends: Atlanta, Daytona summer race and Talladega.
Road course practice and qualifying, including Mexico City
Road course races will have 25-minute practices each for two groups and a single round of qualifying with 20 minutes for two groups of cars, with multiple cars on track. The qualifying order will be determined on time, regardless of group.
These tracks include Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Charlotte ROVAL, Portland (Xfinity) and COTA (Xfinity, Trucks; Cup Series will have expanded practice procedures).
NASCAR expanded practice weekends
Here are NASCAR race weekends scheduled to have separate practice and qualifying sessions:
NASCAR Cup Series: The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Daytona 500, COTA, All-Star Race, Mexico City, Indianapolis and Phoenix championship weekend.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Daytona, Rockingham, Mexico City, Indianapolis, Gateway and Phoenix championship weekend.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Daytona, Rockingham, Michigan, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, New Hampshire, Charlotte ROVAL and Phoenix championship weekend.
NOTE: The NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Circuit of The Americas will feature expanded road course qualifying, with cars assigned to two groups. Two 20-minute practices will be held for each group (40 minutes total per car), with those sessions leading into qualifying.
How to watch NASCAR practice, qualifying in 2025 season
The new media rights deal will have race weekends shown on a variety of channels and networks, including streaming services.
NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions will be shown on Prime Video in the first half of the season. TNT Sports on Max streaming service and TruTV in the second half.
FOX Sports will have exclusive broadcast rights for practice and qualifying for The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR All-Star Race.
All Xfinity Series practice and qualifying will be broadcast on The CW, and FOX Sports will broadcast all Truck Series sessions.
Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at achastain@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR announces new practice, qualifying procedures for 2025 season
