NASCAR Crosses the Boarder | Running with the Pack | 2025 NASCAR Schedule Reveal and Analysis

the schedules for the NASCAR truck exity and Cup series are in and I am not that upset so let's talk about it and more on this episode of Running With The Pack all right so NASCAR schedule has dropped we're going to go through it not necessarily going to touch on every race mainly because there some races where it's just another race but I want to highlight a couple of key ones and we're going to start off by talking about The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium and as some of you guys may know I was a big proponent of the Clash at the Coliseum over the last three years that they've been doing it I am not exactly a big fan here and I will let you guys know why so Bowman gry Stadium absolutely is an is a historic RAC track back but the reason why I feel like the LA Coliseum worked so well for what it was which was an exhibition race to get the NASCAR in front of more people you had the fact that you were racing right in Downtown LA a market that really doesn't get NASCAR all that often especially right now while uh while uh autoc Club Speedway is under is under uh Construction for its reconfiguration which should maybe come at some point yeah so I think that race you giving a race to Southern California was big and I just feel like if with moving it to uh Bowman gry Stadium I feel like you're missing the trick a little bit with what the uh what this race is supposed to be which is the season opener trying and get as many fans eyes on the sport announced that hey we are back NASCAR is back and announcing that in the not to try and make this sound too negative but in the Echo chamber that is North Carolina for NASCAR fans and the South those people already 99% of the time those people already know when NASCAR is coming back and especially the Die Hard fans which there are many of down there already know that hey NASCAR is back doing it in the middle of La you absolutely get a very different op you get a very different emphasis on that you get you're right in a lot of people's backyard that don't normally follow an NASCAR don't kind of just know what Nascar is so I think that's a big trick that Bo Gray Stadium will struggle to keep up with I just hope that the race is halfway decent because that's the other thing is that the racing at the LA Coliseum hadn't been spectacular it had been serviceable and again it had been I had made up I had kind of made up reasons to try and help defend it when it comes to the quality of the actual ra onrack racing it wasn't great but it served a purpose I don't feel like this race serves nearly as much of a purpose in this uh in this spot so but ultimately I'm okay with Bowman gry stadium in that spot to an extent and the fact that I can't change it kind of means I just kind of have to live with it I will watch it I'll probably enjoy it because I enjoy almost every NASCAR race but yep then we have a few races that are kind of status quo Daytona Atlanta back to back at was the case this year then we go to the West Coast Swing of Kota Phoenix and and Vegas not a whole lot to talk about there you Vegas and Phoenix have been part of that early West Coast Swing for a while now adding Circuit of the Americas to that early in the year helps uh helps one extend the West Coast Swing a little bit and also just helps uh space out the uh the races and in the Southeast because that early in the year you can't race everywhere around the country when it comes to uh when it comes to finding places that you can actually uh race in the United States um you can't race in every single state in February or March for example circulate America on March 2nd So to avoid it being all Southeast Southeast Southeast Southeast to start the uh year yes it's three races in the quote unquote Southeast with Bowman Gray Daytona and Atlanta but then you get three races out west where the weather is also tends to be at least somewhat dry then we come back and we go to our next big change which is Homestead Miami Speedway is out of the playoffs and I sincerely hope that that is not a long-term change I hope that this is only a small stay on the schedule for Homestead in the in the regular season ultimately I've said this a couple times now that if Homestead is losing its playoff date I would hope that that is almost a pension where it is paying that do in order to become the championship race again because I think Homestead Miami especially with this new car races so perfectly that there is very little reason why it shouldn't be considered as a part of the championship race or at least part of the conversation as to what track should get the championship race so and if it can't be a championship race I'd like to see it in the playoffs especially looking at the playoff schedule there's a track that I don't I think you could move to the regular season to make room for it but I also do like rotating the uh playoff races around so we'll get to the playoff races in a minute but Homestead Miami I'm okay with it in March I just kind of hope that maybe it can get at least a in the conversation for potentially the title race in the next couple of years obviously Phoenix has it for this year but then we got Martinsville Darlington and Bristol uh leading up to Easter um nothing really to mention there aside from the fact that I'm a little disappointed that they uh moved Darlington off of Mother's Day I felt like Mother's Day weekend plus throwback weekend made for a very good combo helped build it up as an event now maybe if you can Market whatever race you put on the schedule for Mother's Day into a better spot or if you would and move that to a Saturday night for the Mother's Day race I think you can you can win me back there a bit but as of right now I kind of wish Darlington had stayed on Mother's day but ultimately those three races no real changes and then we go to the first and only listed off week in the the NASCAR schedule which is Sunday April 20th Easter Sunday weekend but don't worry if you're a Nascar fan and you uh aren't busy on Easter Weekend first off you probably should be but that's neither here nor there um there is still some on track racing at a historic NASCAR venue for the truck andex City series they will be having a double header weekend at Rockingham spe Speedway in North Carolina on Easter weekend I think that is a great way to take advantage of of Easter especially if you're not going to race the cup series on Easter Sunday like they've done the last couple of years I think having the xinan trucks having a standalone race at at Rockingham there I think works beautifully for that off weekend and the off week for the cup series allows for you to start building up the hype and the and the interest in the following race which is Talladega Super Speedway having an off week before that again assuming that they're using it to Hype up that race I think that is absolutely an okay uh decision and again I want to see hype around every single NASCAR race but in particular if you can hype up your races like Talladega your crown jewels like Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400 if you can hype those up I think that makes it even better then we go into Texas and Kansas two mile and a halfs uh to bring us to the Allstar race I think that is a okay there no real complaints and then we've got the uh North wilksboro Allstar race again that's kind of just a as per standard I might like to start seeing them start to rotate it around I think Bowman as if you can f enough of a field at Bowman gry for the All-Star Race I'd like to see maybe Bowman Gray Rockingham and North willsboro basically rotate the allstar date because all three of those tracks are very similar they're all in North Carolina they're all very much catering to the older more experienced Nascar fan I think that is the right spot for it so that would be my only comment or concern on that one and it's the last Fox race of the Season before before we head on to the Amazon Prime portion of the season so all in all Fox's part of the schedule very solid no real complaints again outside of Bowman Gray yeah there really isn't much of a complaint in that first half of the Season then we got Charlotte 600 over on Memorial Day weekend on Amazon Prime no real surprise we've heard we heard that coming for couple of months now that once Amazon Prime bought into the uh TV SCH scheduling that they were going to get one of the crown jewels so Charlotte there then we go to Nashville Mi and Michigan the next two weeks two very solid races although racking up the mileage between those two and the reason why I'm saying racking up the mileage is because after Michigan NASCAR goes International as they head South of the Border after being in Michigan but NASCAR heads to Mexico and the Mexico uh City uh Street circuit there I'm excited to see what that track ends up producing for a race I think NASCAR going International is a great way for NASCAR to gain back some of that um some of that credit and Intrigue from the international fans and some respect maybe from the F1 and international racing fan portion of the fan base because well NASCAR isn't just the an American sport at that point they are a North American Sport and potentially in the future maybe getting a race overseas would be nice but I like the first step being to expand either north or south of our borders and ideally I'd like see it both ways but we only got the race in Mexico nothing in Canada for this year but big props to NASCAR for getting a race in Mexico going June 15th Mexico City Grand Prix and the xanity series is is also going to be going to Mexico with the cup series for that race weekend then we got poke note around out Amazon's uh portion of the schedule nothing really to report about that I think the Amazon Prime races are an amazing group of five and speaking of amazing groups of five then we head into the TNT and HBO Max portion of the season and their inseason tournament that they have brought to NASCAR it sounded goofy it sounded gimmicky I have not looked into the exact format that they're going to be using to do it but I've I would be lying if I said I hadn't looked at the idea of a potential uh for a uh NASCAR type tournament I've played around with a couple different ideas over the years and ultimately just haven't found a format that I quite like the uh the way it works but ultimately NASCARs decided that they're going to try an inseason tournament for five for the five weeks of the Season that TNT Sports is covering the series starts at Atlanta in July and that same uh weekend the NASCAR Truck Series has a uh special race over at the uh Lime Rock Park up in Connecticut up in my neck of the woods not sure if I'm going to be able to go to that race or not but uh yeah when it comes to the End season tournament though having your first round or your Wild Card round start at Atlanta a wild card track I think that is an absolutely perfect combination Chicago street race on July 4th weekend we've kind of come to expect that I think that a street circuit adds some uh would add some legitimacy to this inseason tournament no matter how goofy it sounds yeah I think that does that would do wonders for making it a more legitimate result and similarly somoma getting pushed back about a month from its current date in June to now being in July July 13th for Sonoma uh your weather is still going to be just as terrible we aren't going to see that lush green somoma that I've always dreamed of but somoma again add some legitimacy to the inseason tournament portion of the SE of the schedule so no real complaint there and then we head to Dover for do for the second to last race and then the Brickyard 400 to close out the uh inseason tournament I gotta say NASCAR you really hit the nail on the head there uh being able to make the uh Brickyard 400 a key impactful race the championship race of the uh of the inseason tournament tournament that gives hype that gives Prestige to the Crown Jewel races and that is something I've been clamoring for all offseason has been I want to see the inseason tournament or I want to see the uh crown jewels more specifically get the respect they deserve and I think that having it as the uh Championship race for the End season tournament is a great way to do that then we head on to Iowa nothing really special there it's just Iowa hoping for a better race than we had this past year but nothing uh really to say about that one Watkins Glenn being out of the playoffs I don't mind it again it's one of those things where you kind of rotate them in but I do feel like we'll have a better idea as to whether or not we liked it in the playoffs in a few weeks when we actually get to see it in the playoffs I do have concerns though about two road courses in the playoffs feeling like potentially just too many but again we'll have to wait and see on that one but all in all though I'm not upset about Watkins Glenn Watkins Glenn being run in the regular season similarly Richmond is is down to Only One race giving up one of its dates to uh the Mexico City race um I'm I'm a little disappointed in that Richmond lost a date for Mexico City although I think that's a very worthy race to end up on the schedule and then you've got the uh fact that Richmond is going to be a Saturday night race which I think is a massive plus I think NASCAR having Saturday night short track racing is a plus I have no real argument there and it just happens to be a raceist happening on my birthday so cool uh maybe I'll end up there maybe I'll end up celebrating from here so and speaking of Saturday night racing Daytona regular season finale we've been over this quite a few times here nothing really to uh report on that one and then we head into the Nascar Cup series playoffs with Darlington to open them up the uh the southern 500 your crown jewel race being the opener for the playoffs I think that is a great spot for it and the only reason it isn't in that slot this year is because of the Olympics pushing the entire schedule back an extra week which leads to um stuff like which leads to it being in the regular season because it is always scheduled for Labor Day weekend wow I love having Gateway Motorsports Park in the playoffs considering the fact that there's another race that we will get to in a moment in the playoffs I would have lik to have maybe seen Gateway take its turn take a turn in the uh right in the regular season um in it for one more year before rotating it into the playoffs potentially as a way to try and keep Homestead in the playoffs but ultimately I hope that uh Gateway puts on another great race and it'll be a playoff race this year and then we head on to Bristol final race of the round as per usual I'll be at the Bristol raceing next month so looking forward to it and then speaking of races I will be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway gets a playoff date and that's the one I was referring to when I said that there was a track very similar to Gateway Motorsports Park uh already in the playoffs New Hampshire was getting a turn in it now if they wanted to rotate in and out say Gateway in New Hampshire I would have no problem with that basically odd number of years New Hampshire gets it even years Gateway would get it going forward I think that is a great combination but to have them both in the playoffs again is one of those things where you want to try and make every race in the playoffs feel different nothing's really going to feel different about those two races particularly then we got Kansas great track glad to see it back in the playoffs and then the Charlotte roal to end off the round of 12 again as per usual there's not a whole lot of change there but I don't I don't hate the way the playoffs are I like the roal uh we'll have to wait and see how the new layout works for the roal as they reconfigured the Ral uh layout um this past uh season so now there will be a different Charlotte layout when we get there in in October this year then we go into the round of eight where there's a little bit of debate here Las Vegas no problem Martinsville no problem I skipped over talad Taladega is the middle race of the round so don't worry Talladega is not like the last chance but Talladega being in the round of eight in the first place is not my favorite I I like the fact that talad gets a playoff date I like right now that it's in the round at 12 so that drivers kind of have to prove themselves good enough to get through the first round to be able to potentially lock their way into the round of eight by doing well at Tal GA but yeah I don't like the idea that someone could potentially luck into a championship birth because of Talladega or and this would be the more likely uh situation someone like a Kyle Larson someone like a William Byron on an absolute tear um ends up missing the championship 4 because of a unavoidable wreck at Talladega that was nothing they did wrong I mean how often do we say oh yeah there was just nothing this guy could do ended up in a wreck at Talladega and yes while that could eliminate someone at the round of 12 with 12 playoff spots available there's a lot more room for error and a lot more room for Recovery in a 12 person round versus a eight person round where if you're the only person knocked out at Talladega or the first one knocked out of the playoff drivers you're in a really rough spot and then to end off the video we unfortunately it's a pretty boring note but uh yeah we get Phoenix uh Raceway for the championship race we've known that for quite a while but uh yeah Phoenix is the championship race um I'm okay with it I'm not the I'm not super thrilled about it I again I've said I think Homestead Miami should get that date here sooner rather than later but uh until further notice homestead's not getting it and Phoenix has the date so again I'm not thrilled but I'm not overly upset about it so ultimately that is the Nascar Cup Series play uh playoff schedule and regular season schedule we also again went and talked about a couple of those races so let me know what races you guys are planning on going to what races you guys are excited about maybe what races you guys would schedule differently but until next time hopefully you guys enjoyed and I will see you guys in next video live stream what if you guys decid to do with the rest of your day have a great day everybody and goodbye