DARLINGTON, S.C. — It’s been a busy week for NASCAR. The NASCAR Cup Series regular season is about to come to a close as the 37-car field chases Southern 500 glory on Sunday (Sept. 1) evening at Darlington Raceway, and on Aug. 29, the all-new 2025 schedules were released for the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series.
Arguably the biggest news is that NASCAR will go international for the first time since 2012, as Cup and Xfinity will compete at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on June 14 and 15.
No one was more ecstatic for the news than Daniel Suarez, who now has the opportunity to compete in a Cup race in his home country.
“This to me is like a dream come true,” Suarez said. “Obviously, coming from Mexico and being born and raised there is something very special. The last time I raced in Mexico City was 10 years ago, so to come back next is year going to be very special.”
It’s a race special enough to where it just might be the crowning achievement of his career if he is able to find himself in victory lane.
“I better win,” Suarez joked. “If we do win that race, it will be — for me — just as important and as big as a winning a championship. It will be huge.”
For some drivers, the trip to Mexico City will mark a new chapter. In Alex Bowman’s case, he will have to get acquire a passport.
“I’ve never been out of the country, so I’m excited for that, for sure,” Bowman said. “I think it will be a lot of fun.”
Ryan Blaney has run races north of the border in the past and won the Truck race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2014. For him, the trip south of the border marks the beginning of a new, exciting opportunity.
“I think it’s neat that we’re going,” Blaney said. “We’ve all been pushing to kind of go international to another country for a while, and I know Canada and Mexico were on the board. I ran trucks up in Canada more than a handful of years ago and it was great. The fans there were awesome, and I think that Mexico is going to be no different. I think the fans are going to be super dedicated for us coming there.”
Martin Truex Jr., who will retire from full-time Cup competition at the end of 2024, won the first Xfinity race held at AHR back in 2005. It’s safe to say that the track won’t be a part of his part-time schedule next season.
“It was great to go there once, win and not go back,” Truex joked.
“I think it’s exciting for the sport. I remember the fans there and just the excitement about that place and how many people were there. I think it’ll be a huge deal for the Cup Series. I’ll be happy to be watching it on TV though.”
A track that Truex might run next year? Rockingham Speedway.
Off the Cup and Xfinity schedules since 2004, it was announced earlier this week that Rockingham will return to the Xfinity and Truck Series for Easter Weekend in 2025.
“I may have to pencil in Rockingham in the Xfinity car,” Truex said. “I did see that, that was pretty fun. I only raced there twice and got beat both times, so I finished second and I’d like to have another shot at winning there. That would be a cool place to win.”
Another new addition to the Truck schedule is Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, a 1.53-mile road course that will make its first-ever appearance in NASCAR’s top three series on June 28.
Joey Logano, one of two Connecticut natives full-time in the Cup Series (alongside Ryan Preece), expressed interest in running the race if the opportunity presents.
“I’d like to [run it],” Logano said. “I think it would be cool to race in Connecticut. I don’t even know where it lines up to where the Cup stuff is. I didn’t go over to schedule that great. But yeah, outside of me running it, it’s awesome that NASCAR is going back to Connecticut and even at the Truck level.
“… There are a ton of race fans in New England that I feel like get overlooked a lot because our sport sometimes is looked at as a Southeastern sport, but it’s so nationwide at this point and New England has some die-hard race fans. It’s cool to have some more racing up there for them for sure.”
But with all the new additions to the schedule, some races had to be cut. Richmond lost one of its two Cup dates to accommodate Mexico City, and 2025 will mark the first time since the 1950s that the Virginia short track will only have one date on the Cup calendar.
Denny Hamlin, who grew up a few miles away from the track, was disappointed but not surprised to hear the news.
“It’s a bummer,” Hamlin said. “It’s an absolute bummer for sure. But if you don’t show up, these things happen.
“My family’s been a season ticket holder at Richmond for nearly 40 years now. We barely could find a seat in turn 2, and [the seating] just got squished and reduced and reduced.
“The world’s different now. There’s just so much competition and content that you’re chasing eyeballs that are glued to their phones and whatnot now. It’s hard to get them to a racetrack.”
Richmond will still have that one date, and for all we know, it could usher in a renaissance for the track. Dover Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway are among the tracks that have dropped from two dates to one in recent years, and the singular date has consistently drawn the largest crowd sizes the tracks have seen in years.
With 2025 marking the fifth consecutive year where the Cup Series has competed at a brand-new track, the schedule’s greatest strength continues to be its diversity.
“There’s a lot of guys that always press for more short tracks, more short tracks, and we’re going to them all around North Carolina,” Todd Gilliland said. “And then on the flip side of it too, we’re going to a bunch of new places.”
“…It’s a cool mixture. It’s a lot of fun and to me, the coolest thing about NASCAR in general is that we do something different every week. We’re not just road courses, we’re not just ovals. It’s just such a different schedule.”
“I think it’s a pretty diverse schedule,” Noah Gragson said.
“… For the most part, I think NASCAR has done a great job with the schedule over the last handful of years, and we’ll see once I look into it more.”
The one thing that drivers aren’t happy about, however, is the number of off weeks.
The good news for the Cup teams is that Easter Sunday will no longer play host to a Cup race, which is a change that many in the industry had longed for. The bad news is that it’s the only off week of the season, and with the Xfinity and Truck Series competing at Rockingham on Easter weekend, there will be racing every single weekend from the Super Bowl to the first week of November.
“One off week is a grind, with 25 in a row,” Gragson said.
“I’d like to have more than just one off week,” Blaney said. “I think everyone would like that.
“But it is what it is.”
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf