By Jim Foose – Speedway Action Magazine

The Dawn of a New NASCAR season brings renewed optimism for the entire series, from the reigning champion Joey Logano to rookies Shane Van Gisbergen and Riley Herbst, hopes are high as the new season takes the first green flag.  Let’s take a look at the upcoming season and what we expect to see in 2025!  New tracks, new drivers and new teams all bring a fresh look to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.  

What’s New in 2025?

The TV landscape is going to look alot different in 2025 as Prime Video and TNT join the fold.  Fox Sports will broadcast the first 12 races (plus the Clash at Bowman-Gray, Daytona Duels and the All Star Race), Prime Video takes over at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and carries coverage for five races before passing the baton to TNT for five races, which will also stream on Max.  From there, NBC takes over coverage at Iowa Speedway in August.  NBC and USA Network will broadcast the final 14 races. 

The Coca Cola 600 on Prime Video will mark the first time that a NASCAR Cup Series race will only be available through a streaming service in the 77 year history of the sport.  Prime Video and TNT will share commentators with a familiar group led by Adam Alexander with color commentary from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Steve Letarte.  A mid-season bracket-style tournament will take place during the Prime and TNT portion of the season. 

For teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Richard Childress Racing and Legacy Motor Club, it’s status quo with their driver lineups but four teams are adding a third entry to their lineups and several drivers are on the move.Two new tracks join the NASCAR Cup Series for 2025, Bowman Gray Stadium hosts the Clash to open the season and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City hosts the first Cup Series points paying race held outside of the United States since 1958 on Father’s Day weekend. 

Among other changes to the schedule for 2025 are the shifting of New Hampshire Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway to the Playoffs while shifting Atlanta and Watkins Glen out.  Homestead-Miami Speedway shifts to March, making room for Darlington to once again host the Playoff opener after a one year absence due to the Summer Olympics.  Michigan International Speedway shifts its date to June after hosting the Cup Series in August the past four years.  

Stewart Haas Racing is no more, the four car team closed up shop after the 2024 season and sold the charters.  Gene Haas, former co-owner of SHR kept one of the charters, the shop and some equipment and will compete in the Cup Series in 2025 under the Haas Factory Team banner.  Cole Custer, the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion, will pilot the #41 Ford. 

Former SHR driver Chase Briscoe joins Joe Gibbs Racing as the driver of the #19 Toyota, replacing the retired Martin Truex, Jr.  Briscoe will have sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops in 2025.  Josh Berry, who competed under the Stewart Haas banner in 2024 lands at Wood Brothers Racing as the driver of the #21 Ford.  Former Wood Brothers driver Harrison Burton drops down to the Xfinity Series for 2025.  

Front Row Motorsports will expand to three cars for 2025 with the addition of the #4 driven by Noah Gragson.  This team will have one of the youngest driver lineups of any three car teams with Todd Gilliland taking on the veteran role within the three car organization.  Gilliland, entering his fourth full time season in the Cup Series will take the reigns of the team’s flagship #34 Ford and will be joined by Gragson (in the #4) and Zane Smith in the #38 Ford.  

Michael McDowell, who was the face of the two car Front Row Motorsports team for many seasons moves to Spire Motorsports in the #71 Chevrolet vacated by Zane Smith.  McDowell looks to add to his career while also giving Spire a veteran driver for the first time in many years.  McDowell will join teammates Carson Hocevar (#77) and Justin Haley (#7), the latter of whom jumped to Spire late in the 2024 season.  Haley and McDowell have Cup Series victories on their resume, Hocevar is the hungry sophomore driver looking for his first Cup Series win.  

Trackhouse Racing has expanded to three teams for 2025, with Shane Van Gisbergen joining Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez as drivers for the Chevrolet team.  Van Gisbergen, the inaugural Chicago Street Race winner in his Cup Series debut will pilot the iconic #88 Chevrolet.  Suarez won in a three wide photo finish at Atlanta in the spring while Chastain missed the Playoffs in 2024 before scoring a victory in the fall Kansas race.  

23XI Racing, home to Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick the past two years also expands to a three car outfit with rookie Riley Herbst joining the team in the #35 Toyota.  Herbst, fresh off a two win Xfinity Series season, including the season finale at Phoenix, looks to take on his first full time Cup Season after dabbling part time the past few seasons.  

RFK Racing also expands to a three car team in 2025 bringing Ryan Preece over from Stewart-Haas and Kroger sponsorship for all three RFK entries.  The team will lease a charter from Rick Ware Racing, which will field one full time chartered team and an open team in select races.  Preece joins team owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher as teammates, both of whom won a race in 2024 for RFK.  Kaulig Racing has an all new lineup for 2025,

AJ Allmendinger returns full time to the Cup Series in the #16, in what seems like a bi-annual affair.  Allmendinger raced part time in Cup and full time in the Xfinity Series last year raced to the Championship 4.  Ty Dillon returns to Cup after a year in the Truck Series.  Dillon will drive the #10 car in 2025, the car was previously the #31 driven by Daniel Hemric.  

Corey Lajoie, who finished last season in the Rick Ware Racing #51 vacated by Justin Haley when Haley and Lajoie essentially swapped rides, finds himself without a full time ride for 2025 but will pilot the Open car for Rick Ware Racing (#01) in select races throughout 2025.  

Two teams have different ownership for 2025; Jimmie Johnson is now the majority owner of Legacy Motor Club after Maury Gallagher sold off his stake in the team and became a “Team Ambassador” during the off season.  Perhaps the biggest change of ownership comes with JTG-Daughtery Racing, which fields the #47 Chevy for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. becoming Hyak Motorsports after longtime owners Tad and Jodi Geschickter left the team to Gordon Smith, owner of Hyak Maritime .  

Bold Predictions

Front Row Motorsports struggles with growing pains the first half of this season
Growing from two to three teams is a tall order for any team, but Front Row takes on the task amid an anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR and amid a shift to younger drivers.  Fourth year driver Todd Gilliland leads the team as the veteran, joined by Noah Gragson, who has had a tumultuous Cup Series career, first for Legacy Motor Club in 2023 and then joining Stewart-Haas for 2024 before that team shut down at season’s end.  Zane Smith returns to the team after a Craftsman Truck Series Championship in 2022 and a partial Cup schedule in 2023 for Front Row.  Smith did get a year of Cup Series experience last year at Spire but spent much of the season at the bottom of the points standings.  With such a young line-up, the Front Row team likely will come out strong at Daytona before fading a bit through the first half of the season.  By the time the summer stretch rolls around we will know if this team will be contenders in 2025 or not.  

Spire Motorsports contends for wins
The current line up at Spire Motorsports is the best the team has ever had.  In the team’s flagship #7 Chevrolet is Justin Haley, the driver who scored the team’s first and to date only victory in the rain shortened 2019 Daytona summer race.  Haley had a limited trial in 2024, as he joined Spire for the last handful of races and brings experience as a winner in the Xfinity Series at superspeedways with him.  Michael McDowell joins the team as the driver of the #71 and brings two Cup Series victories with him from his time at Front Row Motorsports, his superspeedway and road course prowess will certainly put the #71 car into contention at those tracks and his consistency could bring the #71 to Victory Lane on any given Sunday.  Carson Hocevar, the 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, collected a top five and several top 10’s in 2024 and brings the hunger and talent to win in the Cup Series.  All three drivers should contend for wins and race around the Playoff cutline on points if they fail to score a victory.  

Alex Bowman has multiple win in 2025:
The driver who seems to be on the hotseat year in and year out is Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman.  Bowman was the driver selected to replace Dale Earnhardt, Jr in the Cup Series and then three years later the diver who took the wheel of the #48 car, vacated by seven time Champion Jimmie Johnson.  Bowman has won atleast one race in every year since 2019 with the exception of 2023 when he was injured racing a Sprint Car and missed several races. 

Up to the time of that injury, Bowman had led the Cup Series points standings in 2023. Winning four races in his first season behind the wheel of the #48 Chevy showed a flash of brilliance in 2021.  But Bowman is always overshadowed by his teammates; the 2020 Cup Series Champion and Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott, 2021 Cup Champion Kyle Larson who contends for multiple wins each season since joining the Hendrick team in 2021 and the young super star, William Byron who drives the iconic #24 Chevy and has qualified for the Championship 4 each of the last two seasons.  Bowman needs a breakout year, even if his job isn’t on the line.  The driver of the #48 is poised to have a breakout year if the cards fall in his favor, remember he was inches away from winning the Daytona 500 in 2024.  

Ty Gibbs wins first Cup race
It’s a no-brainer here that Ty Gibbs is due to visit Victory Lane soon.  The driver who won in his Xfinity Series debut in 2021 and scored the Xfinity Series Championship in 2022, his first full season behind the wheel in that series.  Gibbs has won in every series he has competed in, except the Cup Series.  And the #54 driver is now slouch, qualifying for the Playoffs in 2024 on points, running upfront is the expectation for any Joe Gibbs Racing driver but even more so when your grandfather owns the team.  

Legacy Motor Club Shows Improvement
Legacy Motor Club has struggled the past two seasons, after winning the Southern 500 in 2022 with Erik Jones the former PettyGMS team has been absent from contention.  Adding Jimmie Johnson to team ownership and changing the name in 2023 didn’t yield the anticipated results, nor did switching to Toyota in 2024.  Now, with a full year with Toyota under their belt and Johnson taking majority ownership of the team the future is looking brighter. 

For the first time since becoming a two car operation again in 2022, the driver lineup remains unchanged for 2025 with Erik Jones piloting the famed #43 Toyota and John Hunter Nemechek returning to the #42 Toyota.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see improvement from this team in 2025, a win might be just out reach but Jones has played spoiler before.  Nemechek showed flashes of potential during the 2024 campaign and should be able to build upon that foundation by returning in 2025.  

Hamlin struggles to regain strength, might go winless
The Joe Gibbs Racing ##11 team lost its primary sponsor, FedEx, after 2024.  FedEx isn’t just any sponsor to lose, it’s the founding sponsor of the #11 team and the sponsor that has been splashed across the hood and quarter panels of the #11 for much of the past 20 seasons.  A management change at FedEx led to the change but it will be felt nonetheless at JGR and the #11 team will suffer the most from the loss.  Not only did FedEx leave the #11, Mavis Tire & Brakes the very sponsor that was pegged to replace FedEx as they have scaled back the amount of races over the past two seasons left after the 2024 season, leaving a massive dent in the operating budget of the #11 team.  Hamlin, one of the most talented and outspoken drivers in the garage, is aging. 

Now 44 years old, Hamlin is in the twilight of his career, a career that has not yielded a championship despite numerous appearances in the Championship 4.  Add in the stress of the anti-trust lawsuit against NASCAR that Hamlin is involved in with his 23XI Racing team and there’s alot going on with Denny.  Will Hamlin hold on for years trying to capture a championship or will he retire to focus on team ownership with Michael Jordan?  2025 should be a clear indication of what’s next for the driver of the #11.  

Kyle Busch moves on after 2025
When Kyle Busch goes winless in a Cup Series season, questions have to be asked. And the answers that will be found might point Kyle Busch to move on from Richard Childress Racing after 2025.  Busch has a few more good years left in him but wasting them coming up just short or completely out of contention is not something “Rowdy” will stand for.  After a great start in 2023 at RCR, Busch and the team floundered in 2024, coming up just short two weeks in a row in late August and early September with consecutive finishes of second at Daytona and Darlington. 

Busch should be contending for wins and winning each season, RCR has struggled to show that consistency for years with Austin Dillon scoring the team’s only win in 2024 by bulldozing through everyone in front of him at the end of the Richmond summer race, a style that has become synonymous with Dillon over his career.  

Mexico City is a huge hit, NASCAR expands to Canada for 2026
Fans have been preparing the Cup Series to head North of the border for two years now, first in 2023 as the 2024 schedule was expected to take the Cup cars to Montreal and again in 2024 before the 2025 Schedule was unveiled with a trip to Mexico.  The international appeal of NASCAR is huge, it’s certainly not F1, but it carries weight across the border.  Mexico should be a huge success, despite the absence of IndyCar star and Mexico native Pato O’Ward. 

What NASCAR brings to Mexico is Daniel Suarez, the former NASCAR Mexico Series Champion and Cup Series winner, will be a fan favorite when the Cup Series visits in June.  Suarez should sell some tickets but the fans will return after seeing the cars beating and banging around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.  That excitement should open eyes in Canada with the Montreal circuit unable to find a suitable date for NASCAR in 2024 or 2025.  Watching the fans filling the grandstands and other seating areas in Mexico for the race that could and should have been held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will make it even more of a possibility moving forward for 2026.  Ben Kennedy and his team at NASCAR do a great job of scouting new tracks and working to make things happen, it’s only a matter of time before we see the Cup Series in Canada, whether in Montreal or at the natural terrain Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario.