NASCAR is turning several heads towards itself with news surrounding the 2025 Cup Series schedule gaining traction. One of them included the historic move of taking the competition to Mexico next year at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. While it is a welcomed change, the leaked schedule hasn’t impressed from a fan’s perspective.

It is no secret that NASCAR is trying its best to spice things up and attract more fans with its Cup Series lineup next year. Another move in this regard saw the sport transit from the Los Angeles Coliseum to the Bowman Gray Stadium. While this decision was uplifting for the fans, questions have been raised about the alleged disclosed schedule.

NASCAR makes a legendary move with the 2025 Cup Series schedule at the expense of Richmond Raceway

To move from the LA Coliseum to the Bowman Gray Stadium for the annual season-opening Clash exhibition race was an easy decision. After all, moving to Los Angeles in 2022 was a failed experiment from NASCAR’s perspective. While the move was expected to increase the attraction and exposure for the sport, it, unfortunately, didn’t.

Amazingly, Bowman Gray last hosted a Cup Series race in 1971 and it will be interesting to see how things fair out at the quarter-mile short track. On the other hand, moving to Mexico represents the first international Cup points race in 67 years. While these two notable changes were already made public, The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi has come up with the alleged final 2025 Cup Series schedule.

As per Bianchi’s information, the road course race in Mexico comes with Richmond Raceway losing one of its dates in the calendar year. For the sixth consecutive year, NASCAR has added at least one new track to the Cup Series schedule. Clearly, it is trying its best to attract more viewers. Having said that, there are some notable changes as per the schedule disclosed.

After hosting the playoff races this year, Homestead, Watkins Glen, and Atlanta’s second date sees a shift to the regular season in 2025. As for Darlington Raceway, it will return to hosting the inaugural playoff race with its second race. Because of the Summer Olympics, Darlington will host the regular season finale in 2024 as NASCAR wanted to accommodate television partner NBC Sports.

On similar lines, the summer race at Daytona will be seen hosting the regular season final next year. Interestingly, the playoffs witness the return of World Wide Technology Raceway and New Hampshire in 2025. In addition to that, Talladega’s playoff race is shifted from Round 2 to the middle race in Round 3. Most certainly, it will add more spice in the semifinal bracket.

While all these changes have been significant ones, NASCAR made an eye-opening decision during the Easter weekend. Since 2021, it will be the first time that the Cup Series won’t race on Easter Sunday. Not only that, the Easter weekend in 2025 is the Cup Series’ only off weekend. Undoubtedly, it will be challenging for the teams, drivers, and crews. No wonder the fans looked disappointed after the alleged Cup Series schedule came to light.

Fans left baffled by the planning behind the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule

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The 2024 Cup Series has already seen multiple races influenced by the weather and rain. While NASCAR has been criticized severely for planning poorly, the revealed schedule for 2025 has only angered the fanbase more. The chronology of some of the races has been surprising, to say the least. For example, in June, the race moves to Michigan. then to Mexico City, Pocono, Atlanta, Chicago, and then Sonoma.

Clearly, the series of races is more than weird. Given the long plane rides, some of the sequences of races don’t make sense. Highlighting the same, one fan on Reddit said, “So much silly criss crossing and double overlapping of travel. I’ll never understand why Sonoma can’t be in the Spring when it isn’t bone dry in the area.”

As he rightly pointed out, racing at Sonoma in July has been a questionable choice given the heat. One fan said, “Sonoma in July is going to be HOT. Early June is bearable in Northern California, but a weekend at the track in the 100’s sounds like it could be on deck depending on how the Bay Area weather cooperates that weekend.”

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Another fan added, “Mid July Sonoma race? Oof that’s gonna be rough for people going to it.” While the Sonoma date got a negative reaction, so did it for Dover. One fan said, “Can’t wait to burn my a– off in the Dover bleachers next year”. Another one added, “Dover in July. Puke”. However, one fan saw the positive side of this race from Shane van Gisbergen’s point of view.

Given SVG’s stellar road course form, the fan said, “Dega in the round of 8 is chaos in a new form. SVG gone be rubbing some kiwis together seeing three road courses in a one month period. My condolences to anyone going to Dover in July. Bring sunscreen, A/C, shade, and ice, cause the track doesn’t  provide much of it.” At the same time, few fans questioned the shifting of the Talladega race from the playoffs Round 2 to Round 3.

One user said, “Even after getting confirmed I still can’t believe they put Dega in the round of 8 lmf-o, and I’m actually really excited for it tbh, I just thought the track would be a round of 12 date for the rest of existence but here we are”.  Another added, “Seeing Austin and Phoenix before spring Vegas is kind of weird. You know everyone in the round of 8 will have Vegas circled to win at all costs so they don’t have to sweat through Talladega and Martinsville.”

Clearly, there’s plenty of unrest among the fans about the 2025 schedule. Hopefully, NASCAR will ensure that the races are exciting enough next year to take away all the criticism.