The NASCAR Cup Series season begins Sunday with the Daytona 500, the premier race on the series schedule.
It’s the first of 36 races in the 2025 season, a 10-month journey that will end with the championship race in November at Phoenix.
It was not a quiet offseason, with off-track movements and the 23XI-Front Row lawsuit against NASCAR dominating the news cycle.
The 2024 season also didn’t lack for storylines, with close finishes, controversial officiating decisions and Joey Logano’s third title as the prevailing headlines.
Here are 20 storylines heading into the 2025 NASCAR season:
1. The 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports lawsuit overshadowing the 2025 season
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports jointly filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on Oct. 3, 2024 while not signing the charter agreements for 2025. A U.S. District Court ruled in December that both teams can compete in 2025 as charter teams and could finalize previously-agreed charter acquisitions from Stewart-Haas Racing. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial after the 2025 season is over, but the judicial jockeying will be a shadow over the season for those teams and the field at large.
2. Shane van Gisbergen’s rookie season: A playoff contender?
SVG is the rare Cup Series rookie who already has a victory, two seasons ago at the Chicago Street Course. There’s no doubt van Gisbergen will be a favorite at each road course race this season, but he’ll need to show marked improvement on ovals to become a true contender as a rookie. But don’t doubt his talent.
3. Kyle Busch set for a bounce back season or a late-career slump?
Kyle Busch has not won since June 2023, missing out on the playoffs last season. Whatever could go wrong did go wrong in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in 2024. Is there more of a high-ceiling, low-floor team and driver this season than Busch and RCR? No outcome would surprise.
4. Who will benefit from the new NASCAR playoff schedule?
Talladega moves from the Round of 12 cutoff race to the second race in the Round of 8, which should only further irritate matters more than usual in October. Just as important: There will be three tracks shorter than 1.5 miles in the first round (Darlington, Gateway and Bristol). That’s not a good sign for any potential regular-season winners who lean on their results from either road courses or superspeedways.
5. Chase Elliott and the pursuit of excellence
Chase Elliott had a better 2024 season than his dreadful 2023 that included an injury, a suspension and no victories. But the reality is that Elliott has just one win since the fall of 2022. Elliott’s Cup Series title is now five years in the rear view mirror too. When will the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet return as a multi-time winner and a constant contender?
6. Will the new provisional be used? Context will matter.
Helio Castroneves could be the first driver to utilize the open exemption provisional if he cannot qualify the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet into the Daytona 500 field via speed or the duel races. It’s not expected that too many race fields will be large enough for the OEP to be necessary, though the races at Chicago and Mexico City could create chances for drivers in other series. Will the OEP allow star drivers a chance to be competitive, or will it create a scenario where a driver is out of their depth as a 41st car in the field?
7. Which driver has his breakout season?
A few drivers are primed to have a career-best season and vault into the championship favorite conversation. Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick immediately come to mind; neither have had more than three wins in a season, and few would be surprised to see either post five or more wins in 2025. How about Chase Briscoe in a new ride?
8. Ty Gibbs and the pursuit of a (first) victory
Ty Gibbs enters his third full-time Cup season with one goal: Get his first Cup Series victory. Gibbs is 22, so the best years of his career are well ahead of him. But it’s also rare for a Joe Gibbs Racing race team to go three seasons without victory.
9. Who is the next major star to retire from full-time racing?
In the last decade, the Cup garage has lost a massive amount of starpower via retirement. That list includes Jeff Gordon (2015), Carl Edwards (2016), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2017), Matt Kenseth (last full-time season in 2017), Kasey Kahne (2018), Jimmie Johnson (2020), Kurt Busch (2022), Kevin Harvick (2023) and Martin Truex Jr. (2024). Who’s next? Denny Hamlin turned 44 in November but is still a title contender. Brad Keselowski is already an owner as well as a driver, and he turns 41 on Wednesday. Kyle Busch is 39. Barring a surprise, NASCAR’s retirement parade can halt for a while.
LET’S GO RACING: When is the Daytona 500? See the full NASCAR Speedweek schedule, including Daytona Duels
10. Joey Logano driving for historic fourth Cup title
Joey Logano earned his third career Cup Series title last season, and another will put him in rarified air. Only four drivers have ever won four or more Cup titles (Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon). Despite what some may think about how he performed in 2024 before the playoffs, Logano’s career is befitting of his Sliced Bread nickname.
11. What becomes of the legacy of Stewart-Haas Racing?
Thinking back, it’s surprising that all four SHR drivers from 2024 landed full-time rides in the Cup Series. Chase Briscoe is replacing the retired Martin Truex Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing. Josh Berry is the new driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Noah Gragson joined the now three-car team at Front Row Motorsports. Ryan Preece is the driver of the new third full-time car at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
12. NASCAR race control and avoiding controversy
Too many races throughout the summer last year did NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer speak postrace to the media about a controversial decision related to something that happened on-track. It was even more pronounced at Martinsville, as Christopher Bell and William Byron waited for several minutes on a decision from race control about the legality of Bell’s wall ride on the final lap. If anything improves this season, it needs to be the overall function of race control.
13. What will be the next new track idea on the 2026 NASCAR schedule?
I know, the 2025 season hasn’t began yet. But the rumors and speculation about the 2026 schedule will crank up with the heat once the schedule hits May and June. What else do Ben Kennedy and NASCAR have up their sleeve after adding the Mexico City race and a trip to Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025? Canada is a logical next step.
14. NASCAR’s deep dive into streaming with Amazon Prime Video
NASCAR will have streaming-only Cup Series races for the first time in its history when Amazon Prime Video broadcasts a stretch of the schedule. starting with the Coca-Cola 600 in May. Even with a year’s advance notice, it’s certain that NASCAR fans will be agitated by the move no matter how good the initial broadcast is on the Sunday before Memorial Day. But it’s an established part of the sports and TV ecosystem and increases the available broadcast partners for the sanctioning body.
15. Mexico City should be a spectacle (and very unique)
The Cup Series heads south to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City in June for the first points race outside of the United States in the modern era. It’s a new market (and a very large one), and NASCAR has done well recently in presenting races at new locales. It’s the most anticipated race of the season.
16. Talladega’s presence in the Round of 8
NASCAR announced that the playoff format won’t change, which creates a collision course for havoc and chaos on Oct. 19 in the second race of the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway. This will be the first time Talladega’s fall race takes place in the Round of 8. It’s a recipe for future controversy.
17. Chase Briscoe moves to Joe Gibbs Racing, adds expectations
Chase Briscoe began his Cup career at Stewart-Haas Racing, but expectations were low. Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford never was expected to be a title contender a la Kevin Harvick’s No. 4, and last season was overshadowed by SHR closing at the end of the year. Briscoe now steps into the No. 19 Toyota, driven over the last several years by Martin Truex Jr. We know it can be a strong race team and can contend consistently, and Briscoe should be expected to perform accordingly.
18. Which team adding a third car will thrive?
RFK (Ryan Preece), Trackhouse (SVG), Front Row (Noah Gragson) and 23XI (Riley Herbst) are all adding a third full-time car in 2025. Doing so can be a tricky proposition; all four teams have been trending up in their own ways over the last few seasons, but stretching resources further can be risky. Will the NextGen car help these teams in Year 1?
19. Josh Berry and Wood Brothers Racing try for redemption
Berry struggled in his rookie Cup season at SHR, while the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford struggled all season outside of the shock win for Harrison Burton at Daytona in August. Berry and Wood Brothers Racing both have something to prove.
20. How many late-race cautions will this year’s race at Nashville Superspeedway have?
Rumor has it that Joey Logano is still running on fumes at pace car speed at Nashville Superspeedway, somehow.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR top 20 storylines heading into 2025 season, including Kyle Busch
