Bob Jenkins, proprietor of Entrance Row Motorsports and Co-Proprietor Michael Jordan, of 23XI Racing, poses earlier than a NASCAR Cup Sequence auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Picture/ Butch Dill)
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has no scarcity of storylines headed into its 76th season and the most important one is the federal courtroom 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 didn’t 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 vehicles as chartered entries. A trial is about for December after the season ends.
There are sufficient positives that everybody appeared excited to get again to racing after they gathered this month for a throwback to the early days of NASCAR at historic Bowman-Grey Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
— This yr marks the beginning of a brand new seven-year tv package deal 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 US for a race that counts for the primary time within the fashionable period. Its two earlier factors races outdoors the U.S. have been in Canada, in 1952 and 1958, and all different occasions outdoors the nation have been exhibitions. NASCAR will race in Mexico Metropolis in June, an opportunity to stars as Mexican driver Daniel Suarez. NASCAR will use the identical monitor that System 1 makes use of, and the hope is to land youthful followers.
“I actually think things are in an OK place,” stated Chase Elliott, voted the preferred driver by followers seven instances. The son of Corridor of Fame driver Invoice Elliott stated he believes NASCAR’s present management group “has been open to more change over the past three or four years” than the previous three many years.
NASCAR has been owned and operated by the Daytona-based France household since its 1948 inception.
“As long as we’re willing to say that some of the stuff hasn’t been good, then it’s fine,” Elliott stated of competitors points the previous few years. “I hope we can continue to go in a good direction.”
The primary pace bump will probably 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 broaden the sector to 41 to accommodate a world-class driver. It was earmarked for Castroneves, who, if he doesn’t 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 no less than 90 days prematurely, language NASCAR stated was within the charters signed by groups in September. Trackhouse Racing was the one staff to request the waiver, if wanted, for Castroneves.
“I just think it reeks of desperation,” stated 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 know how nice you can really say it. It just feels like you are really trying to get any kind of headline you can to be relevant and I don’t love it,” Hamlin stated of the provisional. “You are the premier stock car series in the U.S., the premier racing sport in the U.S. — be the big boys and force people to come in here and get their credentials and do it the natural way.”
The rule will probably be examined this week at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, the place two open spots will probably be awarded Wednesday based mostly on pace and the opposite two awarded in Thursday’s two qualifying races.
What to observe for in 2025
— Crew 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 lively drivers with a number of championships. Busch is attempting to bounce again from final yr, when his file run of 19 consecutive seasons with no 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 discipline 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 have been granted growth with Cadillac onto the F1 grid for 2026 and are the brand new majority homeowners of Andretti World in IndyCar.
— William Byron is the defending Daytona 500 winner, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson is the most well liked driver in motorsports proper now with offseason wins in huge dash automobile races in Australia and Oklahoma.
— NASCAR will spend 2025 reviewing the playoff construction as a result of followers are exhibiting boredom with the present format and didn’t like Logano successful the title. There was additionally a controversial penultimate race wherein NASCAR accused the producers of manipulating the end to set the championship quartet.
— NASCAR vowed to tighten the rule e book and warned of penalties for anybody who tries to sport the system to find out an consequence. The primary check comes with the Daytona 500, a race wherein the vehicles from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota all work withing an total technique for every model.
— The season begins on Fox, which has maintained its lengthy relationship with NASCAR for this new $7.7 billion tv deal. Fox Sports activities will broadcast 12 races this yr, whereas NBC Sports activities has 14. New companions Amazon and TNT every have 5 races, and newly inducted Corridor of Famer Carl Edwards may return to NASCAR as a part of all the brand new expertise.
The drivers need to do their half, Logano stated, and itstarts with navigating all the brand new platforms. It’s as much as the drivers, he stated, to ensure viewers can discover them.
“I think the biggest challenge I see this year is going to be educating our fans where to watch the race, that’s my number one concern,” stated Logano. “I think that’s probably the same for everybody in the industry. We’ve got to communicate with our fans where to watch and how to watch.”