This weekend is a rarity for NASCAR. A split schedule. The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in Georgia. Meanwhile, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series will be in Connecticut.
Outside of NASCAR, Formula 1 will be back in action at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. There will also be plenty of racing on the loose surfaces to keep you satisfied if that’s your thing.
NASCAR Atlanta/Lime Rock TV Schedule
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 1:05 p.m. ET Friday on FS2
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: 3 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:05 p.m. ET on TruTV/Max
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250: 7:30 p.m. ET Friday on The CW
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series LiUNA! 150: 1 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX
- ARCA Menards Series Lime Rock Park 100: 4 p.m. ET Saturday on FS2
- NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400: 7 p.m. ET Saturday on TNT/TruTV
This is the first of only a few split race weekends in 2025 in NASCAR. The primary show will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway as the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will make their second visit of the year to the 1.54-mile quad-oval.
In addition, it is the beginning of the second half of the season. This week starts the Warner Bros. Discovery portion of the season with races on TNT.
For NASCAR Cup Series teams, there will be no practice. Instead, teams will qualify Friday afternoon starting at 5:05 p.m. ET. Coverage will air live starting at 5 p.m. ET on TruTV with streaming on Max.
Coverage of the Quaker State 400 will begin with NASCAR Nation Pre-Race at 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday on TNT, TruTV and Max. Race coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:15 p.m. ET.
The TNT and Max broadcasts will be the regular race broadcast. The TruTV broadcast will be focused more on the In-Season Challenge, which also debuts this weekend.
For the NASCAR Xfinity Series teams, they are spending Thursday working on their cars and going through inspection. There is no on-track activity scheduled.
Qualifying is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. The session will stream live on The CW App and The CW’s website. Some CW affiliates may also air the session live, but check your local listings to ascertain whether this will happen.
Coverage of the Focused Health 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 7 p.m. ET Friday evening on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET while the green flag will fly at 7:40 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, at Lime Rock Park, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will make its first-ever visit to the Bullring of road courses. Teams will race for 100 laps around the 1.478-mile traditional circuit.
On-track activity will begin with practice at 1:05 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. That session will air live on FS2. Qualifying is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday morning and will air live on FS1.
Coverage of the LiUNA! 150 will air live on FOX starting at 1 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The green flag should fly in front of one of the biggest crowds at Lime Rock in decades at 1:20 p.m. ET.
When this broadcast was announced last year, the track indicated that it will be the first-ever live race on over-the-air television from the venue. That said, some affiliates may choose not to carry the race. If they don’t, the race should be available at FOXSports.com.
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Supporting the Truck Series at Lime Rock will be the ARCA Menards Series. While the National-level series has never raced at Lime Rock previously, what is now ARCA Menards Series East raced there every year between 1993 and 2010.
ARCA teams are scheduled to practice for 60 minutes starting at 2:30 p.m. ET Friday. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Neither session will be televised.
Coverage of the Lime Rock Park 100 will air live on FS2 starting at 4 p.m. ET Saturday. The green flag should come out around 4:10 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Looking Like?
In Atlanta, it’s going to be hot and humid. Then again, that’s pretty much normal for the end of June.
Friday will have partly cloudy skies with a high around 90°. There is a 30-50% chance of showers and thunderstorms, though. Any precipitation could wreak havoc on the schedule.
Saturday is looking similar. Partly cloudy skies with a chance of thunderstorms and a high around 90°. If you’re going, pack rain gear and hydrate since the sun is pretty fierce during the daytime. That said, it’ll be a little bit cooler by the time the races start.
In Connecticut, things will be much different. The heat wave that hit earlier this week will be gone.
In fact, it’ll be well below normal, temperature-wise. Friday’s forecast is for cloudy skies with a high around 67°. There’s a 40% chance of showers as well.
Saturday will be warmer. There will be mostly cloudy skies with a high around 78°. However, there is a 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms. Both the Truck and ARCA races will run rain or shine, but if lightning is in the vicinity, that could cause problems.
Lime Rock Park operates under unique rules. For one, no racing on Sundays. Secondly, all engines must be off by 6 p.m. ET. If there’s a lightning delay during the ARCA race, that could create a situation similar to the Xfinity race in Chicago in 2023 where it is declared complete prior to halfway due to running out of time on Saturday and not wanting to force teams to stay in Connecticut until Monday.
Will We See Wheelies at Lime Rock?
It’s possible, but not guaranteed. You will not see them in the Truck and/or ARCA races if it rains Saturday.
That said, Friday will be mostly dry. We will be stationed at the Climbing Turn for part of practice with a camera. If it happens, we will capture it.
TV & Streaming Ratings Check — Pocono
Amazon Prime Video’s broadcast of Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 from Pocono Raceway had 1.869 million viewers. This is down more than 500,000 viewers from last year’s race that aired on USA Network. The race also occurred three weeks later last season.
The Cup race was delayed by a little over two hours due to rain and lightning, which could also have affected viewership.
Saturday’s broadcast of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 had 1.12 million viewers on The CW. That is an increase of 10.2% over last year’s race on USA Network, which had 1.016 million viewers.
Ratings for Friday afternoon’s MillerTech Battery 200 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from Pocono are currently unavailable.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.