DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has no scarcity of storylines headed into its 76th season and the largest one is the federal court docket showdown between the inventory automobile collection and NBA Corridor of Famer Michael Jordan.
Jordan’s 23XI Cup Sequence staff that he co-owns with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin did not just like the phrases of the take-it-or-leave-it constitution provide final fall and, together with Entrance Row Motorsports, refused to signal as 13 others did. The 2 groups will race this season — 23XI’s driver, Tyler Reddick, was the regular-season champion and a title contender — because the case proceeds.
23XI and Entrance Row head into the season-opening Daytona 500 this weekend coming off a flurry of courtroom victories, together with one which acknowledges and compensates their six mixed automobiles as chartered entries. A trial is ready for December after the season ends.
There are sufficient positives that everybody appeared excited to get again to racing once they gathered this month for a throwback to the early days of NASCAR at historic Bowman-Grey Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
— This 12 months marks the beginning of a brand new seven-year tv bundle that welcomes Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery to a multi-network deal spanning the February by November season.
— NASCAR will take the Cup Sequence outdoors the USA for a race that counts for the primary time within the fashionable period. Its two earlier factors races outdoors the U.S. had been in Canada, in 1952 and 1958, and all different occasions outdoors the nation had been exhibitions. NASCAR will race in Mexico Metropolis in June, an opportunity to stars as Mexican driver Daniel Suarez. NASCAR will use the identical observe that System 1 makes use of, and the hope is to land youthful followers.
“I truly assume issues are in an OK place,” mentioned Chase Elliott, voted the most well-liked driver by followers seven instances. The son of Corridor of Fame driver Invoice Elliott mentioned he believes NASCAR’s present management group “has been open to extra change over the previous three or 4 years” than the previous three many years.
NASCAR has been owned and operated by the Daytona-based France household since its 1948 inception.
“So long as we’re keen to say that a number of the stuff hasn’t been good, then it’s positive,” Elliott mentioned of competitors points the previous few years. “I hope we will proceed to go in path.”
The primary pace bump can be on the Daytona 500.
9 drivers will try and qualify for one of many 4 open spots within the Daytona 500. Among the many 9 are seven-time NASCAR champion and two-time race winner Jimmie Johnson, former Cup Sequence champion Martin Truex Jr., and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in his NASCAR debut.
NASCAR final month went public with a brand new rule that would develop the sphere to 41 to accommodate a world-class driver. It was earmarked for Castroneves, who, if he would not earn one of many 4 open spots, will race as an additional automobile not eligible for cost or factors.
Johnson and Truex may have been thought of for the waiver in the event that they requested not less than 90 days prematurely, language NASCAR mentioned was within the charters signed by groups in September. Trackhouse Racing was the one staff to request the waiver, if wanted, for Castroneves.
“I simply assume it reeks of desperation,” mentioned Hamlin, who as co-owner of 23XI Racing has signed some splashy one-off entrants, together with former F1 drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Kamui Kobayashi.
“I don’t understand how good you’ll be able to actually say it. It simply appears like you’re actually making an attempt to get any form of headline you’ll be able to to be related and I don’t find it irresistible,” Hamlin mentioned of the provisional. “You’re the premier inventory automobile collection within the U.S., the premier racing sport within the U.S. — be the large boys and pressure folks to come back in right here and get their credentials and do it the pure approach.”
The rule can be examined this week at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, the place two open spots can be awarded Wednesday based mostly on pace and the opposite two awarded in Thursday’s two qualifying races.
What to observe for in 2025
— Group Penske has received three consecutive Cup Sequence championships with Ryan Blaney’s win sandwiched between a pair of Joey Logano titles. Logano’s third total title broke a tie with Kyle Busch as the one energetic drivers with a number of championships. Busch is making an attempt to bounce again from final 12 months, when his file run of 19 consecutive seasons with not less than one win got here to an finish.
— Trackhouse, 23XI and Entrance Row have all expanded into three-car groups with the charters from Stewart-Haas Racing, which ceased operations as a four-car program on the finish of final season. Gene Haas will area one automobile branded Haas Manufacturing unit for driver Cole Custer.
— Spire Motorsports partnered with TWG Motorsports, an operation run by Dan Towriss and Mark Walter. The 2 had been granted growth with Cadillac onto the F1 grid for 2026 and are the brand new majority homeowners of Andretti International in IndyCar.
— William Byron is the defending Daytona 500 winner, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson is the most popular driver in motorsports proper now with low season wins in large dash automobile races in Australia and Oklahoma.
— NASCAR will spend 2025 reviewing the playoff construction as a result of followers are displaying boredom with the present format and did not like Logano profitable the title. There was additionally a controversial penultimate race by which NASCAR accused the producers of manipulating the end to set the championship quartet.
— NASCAR vowed to tighten the rule ebook and warned of penalties for anybody who tries to recreation the system to find out an final result. The primary take a look at comes with the Daytona 500, a race by which the automobiles from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota all work inside an total technique for every model.
The drivers should do their half, Logano mentioned, and it begins with navigating all the brand new platforms. It’s as much as the drivers, he mentioned, to ensure viewers can discover them.
“I feel the largest problem I see this 12 months goes to be educating our followers the place to observe the race, that is my primary concern,” mentioned Logano. “I feel that is in all probability the identical for everyone within the business. We have got to speak with our followers the place to observe and the right way to watch.”
