The five most intriguing NASCAR Cup Series races in 2025

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule features new venues, new dates and a host of unknowns. With less than a month until cars are back on the track, here are the five most intriguing races on the Cup Series schedule this season. 

5. Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray | Feb. 2

For the first time since 1971, “The Madhouse” in Winston-Salem, North Carolina will host the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series. It may only be an exhibition, but don’t be surprised if tempers flare on a quarter-mile bullring famous for bringing out the worst in the drivers who compete on it. Not much will be learned from this race, but it will be an entertaining blast from the past that is almost guaranteed to provide a post-race fistfight. 

4. Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway | Sept. 7

World Wide Technology Raceway has only been hosting Cup Series races since 2022, but it has already earned a playoff date, hosting the second race of the Round of 16. The track is another flat oval on the postseason schedule, which could favor teams such as Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing that are typically the favorites at such tracks. If the packed crowds over the past three seasons are any indication, St. Louis’ first NASCAR playoff race should be quite the spectacle. 

3. Grant Park 165 | July 6

The third Chicago street race might be the most important one yet. NASCAR does not yet have a deal done with the city to bring the race back after 2025, and two rain-impacted weekends have left slightly sour tastes in the mouths of fans and officials. Bad weather isn’t the fault of anyone, but the city has yet to see what a full-fledged weekend of racing is like. If NASCAR hosts both races without weather-related issues this year, it could put on a show good enough to lure Chicago into signing a new deal. If weather once more plagues the event, it could be the excuse Chicago needs to ditch NASCAR, which would have to find a new Fourth of July weekend tradition. 

2. Daytona 500 | Feb. 16

As the season opener and NASCAR’s most prestigious event, the “Great American Race” will always be one of the more intriguing races of the season. The 67th running of the race will boast plenty of storylines: Will Kyle Busch or Brad Keselowski finally capture a Daytona 500 victory? Of the drivers in open cars attempting to make the field, who will race his way into the Daytona 500? Which underdog can find his way to the front of the pack and challenge for the win? The Daytona 500 is always exciting, but this year’s edition should be a spectacle not seen at the venue in years. 

1. Mexico City | June 15

NASCAR’s return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is the biggest change on the schedule. The Xfinity Series — then known as the NASCAR Busch Series — raced in Mexico City from 2005-2008. The race will be the first international Cup Series points race in the modern era and the first time Cup Series vehicles will have raced outside of the United States since an exhibition race in Motegi, Japan in 1998. The race is a major step forward in NASCAR’s attempt to expand globally, and will give fans in Mexico the opportunity to see the stars of the Cup Series up close for the first time.