"Phoenix having 2 dates is such a waste"; "The championship being there is even worse.": Fans react to NASCAR's 2025 Cup Series schedule

Yesterday, NASCAR unveiled its calendar for next year, featuring a 38-race slate across 10 months. The 2025 Cup Series schedule highlighted some interesting tweaks and fans have given their take on it.

A few days after announcing Mexico's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit's inclusion in the 2025 Cup Series calendar, NASCAR announced its entire schedule. Evidently, the upcoming season will witness many changes concerning the addition and removal of tracks and date tweaks.

Bowman Gray Stadium will return to the sport and replace the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the preseason Busch Light Clash. Mexico will mark its first-ever Cup Series race and Richmond Raceway will lose one race to it. Compared to the 2024 schedule, the Daytona International Speedway will host the regular season finale instead of Darlington Raceway. Instead, the latter will open the playoffs' Round of 16.

Talladega Superspeedway will decide the drivers for the Championship 4 battle as it has moved from Round of 12 to Round of 8. Phoenix Raceway retains the season finale spot.

Worldwide Technology Raceway will enter the playoffs for the first time while Watkins Glen International will be out from the Round of 16 and will feature in the regular season schedule. New Hampshire Motor Speedway will return to playoffs after getting snubbed in 2018.

The new schedule attracted varied responses from the NASCAR fanbase. Some fans were unhappy with the Championship 4 race slated again at the Phoenix Raceway.

"Phoenix having 2 dates is such a waste. The championship being there is even worse," a fan wrote.

"Phoenix with two dates and the championship race is ridiculous. Every time the Cup Series is there, the racing is not all that exciting, outside of the restarts," another fan commented.

"This Schedule is Hot AND Cold, no where in between. Playoffs look Awful. Charolette Oval is miles clear of the Roval , Talladega Before Martinsville is an L, New Hampshire being there is LOL, and Phoenix Finale is Bad," a fan reacted.

On the other hand, some fans were pleased with New Hampshire's return to playoffs and wrote:

"Yes New Hampshire playoff race! I’m going to that," a fan commented.

"Finally New Hampshire is back in the fall where it belongs," another fan wrote.

The off week will be after the first ten races and from there, 28 back-to-back race weekends will run throughout the 2025 schedule.

“It’s no secret we’ve been bullish about growing NASCAR beyond our borders”: NASCAR executive VP on the inclusion of the Mexico race

Mexico didn't have a Cup Series race on its schedule before the high-octane motorsport announced the inclusion for the 2025 season. However, they host NASCAR-warranted Mexico Series races, considered among the country's most prestigious stock car racing series.

The Hermanos Rodríguez circuit hosted four Xfinity Series races from 2005 to 2008 and saw the current Cup drivers, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex Jr. ace the debacle.

Amid the unprecedented inclusion of Mexico, Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, and chief venue and racing innovation officer, said:

“It’s no secret we’ve been bullish about growing NASCAR beyond our borders, and the 2025 schedule is an important and thrilling first milestone in that journey. In addition to racing in Mexico, we’ve been able to bring back more historic and fan-favorite venues for the first time in decades across our national series.”

Moreover, this season's championship contender, Daniel Suarez graduated to Xfinity in 2015 after winning ten races in the Mexico Series.