NASCAR is set to announce significant changes to the 2025 Cup Series playoff calendar, including the addition of new tracks and the shifting of others to the regular season, according to individuals briefed on the decision.
Both World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, located just outside of St. Louis, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway are set to move from June race dates during the 2024 regular season to hosting one of ten playoff races following fall.
Darlington Raceway’s regular Labor Day race weekend is also expected to return to the playoffs by 2025. This decision, however, was widely expected after NASCAR only removed Darlington from the playoffs this year due to a scheduling conflict with the Paris 2024 Olympics. Darlington first hosted the opening playoff race in 2020, and it will continue to do so until 2023.
To accommodate the three new playoff additions, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International, and Homestead-Miami Speedway will go to a 26-race regular season.
Last month, NASCAR announced that Atlanta’s second of two races would move from the playoffs to June 28, 2025. (Atlanta’s first race will remain in the spring.) NASCAR has not yet made any announcements about Watkins Glen or Homestead-Miami.
That Homestead is no longer in the playoffs is likely to be an unpopular decision within the industry. The South Florida 1.5-mile oval is a favorite among drivers and fans, regarded as one of the best in the sport. Homestead hosted the championship finale from 2002-2019 and has been in the playoffs for 18 of the past 20 years.
Both Atlanta and Watkins Glen were new to the 2024 playoff schedule. The removal of these two tracks from the 2025 playoff schedule leaves just a single drafting track (Talladega) and road course (Charlotte Roval) in the 2025 playoffs.
Other expected changes to the 2025 schedule, according to industry sources, include the non-points Clash being held at Bowman Gray Stadium and Daytona International Speedway’s annual summer race reverting back to hosting the regular-season finale.
NASCAR is also working to add an international race for 2025, with negotiations progressing with promoters in Mexico City and Montreal. If a deal is finalized, it would mark the first time since 1958 that a NASCAR premier series points race has been held outside the United States. As The Athletic previously reported, expanding to either Mexico City or Montreal would come at the expense of Richmond losing one of its two races.
NASCAR is hoping to unveil its 2025 schedule in the coming weeks.
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