The wait is finally over! NASCAR has revealed its 2025 schedule and the season is set to feature a groundbreaking international race in Mexico City. This will be the first Cup race held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez on June 15, replacing one of the Richmond races. Additionally, the pre-season exhibition, the ‘Clash,’ that earlier took place at the Coliseum will take place at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 after over 50 years.

However, these are not the only exciting changes. The long and strenuous NASCAR Cup Series season will have only one break, and it is on the Easter weekend! Since 2022, NASCAR planned to not have that weekend off but is now bringing it back!

A breather on Easter!

The Easter weekend used to always be a break! NASCAR has traditionally avoided scheduling races on Easter Sunday, using the week as a natural break in the season. While weather-related rescheduling has occasionally led to races on that day, such as in 1989. NASCAR has never intentionally chosen Easter for a race until 2022. This was NASCAR’s attempt to rope in the holiday fans and hope that viewerships go off the charts. This is a proven formula used by the other big leagues. Like the NFL on the Thanksgiving weekend and the NBA on Christmas.

As planned, NASCAR did get some initial success. NASCAR’s dirt race at the 2022 Bristol Motor Speedway held on Easter weekend attracted an average of 4 million viewers, marking the highest viewership for the track since 2016. However, the numbers should have grown year by year. But they did not!

In 2023, the viewership dropped to 3.5 million. And in the current year, it garnered a viewership of 3.8 million. Although the numbers saw an increase this year, those aren’t headline-toppling numbers, nor does it put an Easter race in the same category as the NBA on Christmas or NFL on Thanksgiving.

• Easter is a big holiday, and drivers in the past have voiced their displeasure at not getting the weekend off. Joey Logano, back in the day, had said, “Not a big fan of racing on Easter.”
• Even Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had shared about not liking to race at Easter. He had said, “I’d like to have Easter off. That’s been a tradition for a long time that we’ve kind of gotten away from.” With poor TV numbers and aiding the drivers’ demands, the Easter break is back!

As reported by NBC, Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, talked about getting the Easter weekend back. He said, “I think as we’ve gone through some of the past few years, some of the feedback we’ve received — and received in particular on the Cup side — is trying to find a way to get that Easter weekend back off for them. This move, according to Kennedy, has worked perfectly if the entire schedule is considered.

He further added, “So, we’re able to achieve that. I think as you look at the domino effect of the entire schedule, you can add more of those off weeks. That also has a trickle-down effect of where Daytona lives and where Darlington lives, opening up the playoffs on Labor Day weekend, which has always been a traditional weekend for them, and then all the way down to Phoenix for our championship venue.” 

Surely many are pleased by this move. However, the ones most delighted are the Truck Series and Xfinity fans! Yes, they won’t get a break then, but it will allow the lower divisions to return to a popular track.

The much-awaited Rockingham Speedway is back!

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Over Easter, NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series are returning to Rockingham Speedway, a track they haven’t raced on since 2013. It’s a big deal for fans of ‘The Rock.’ Plus, the Truck Series is heading to Lime Rock Park for the first time. It’s going to be an exciting Easter weekend for NASCAR fans!

The Trucks will run on Friday, April 18, and the Xfinity cars will serve as the main event on Saturday, April 19. “Rockingham Speedway has a storied history in NASCAR, so we look forward to the return of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Truck Series to the famed racetrack,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President, on the return of the iconic track.

This will be the first Truck Series race at Rockingham since 2013 and the first Xfinity race there since 2004. The track has a rich history, having hosted Cup races from 1965 through 2004. A previous attempt to revive the track with the Truck Series in the early 2010s was unsuccessful because of financial difficulties leading to multiple auctions of the property. However, the North Carolina government found a way.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper provided $9 million to Rockingham Speedway as part of a larger funding package for race tracks in the state. This investment led to a complete repaving of the track, along with other upgrades like new garages, a media center, and other improvements.

Stay tuned for more 2025 spoilers!