2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season Preview
By Michael Gaston
North Wilkesboro in 2024: Photo by Michael Gaston
The 2025 NASCAR season is here with the Clash at the Bowman Gray Stadium happening this past week with Chase Elliott dominating to take home the first trophy of the season. After an eventful 2024 season that led to one of the more controversial champions under this playoff format, what could 2025 have in store for us. Let's take a look at some major stories and driver changes that happened this offseason.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Closure
Former Stewart-Haas Drivers in their new rides: Photos by Charlie Haywood & Michael Gaston
At the end of the 2024 season, we saw 2-time NASCAR Cup Series Championship winning team Stewart-Haas Racing close its doors, leaving many drivers and personnel without jobs for the 2025 season. Now as we head into the 2025 season, all six of their contracted drivers have found a ride in the Cup Series. 2023 Xfinity Series Champion Cole Custer will, in a sense, be staying with the team renamed Haas Factory Team to drive the #41 Haas Tooling Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the Cup Series, returning to the series following a successful two year stint in the NASCAR Xfinity Series which saw him win a championship and five races throughout those two years. His teammate Riley Herbst will be joining 23XI Racing in a new third entry for the team, the #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota Camry. On the Cup side, Josh Berry has joined the historic Wood Brothers team to drive the #21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the 2025 season, replacing Daytona winner Harrison Burton. Noah Gragson will move to Front Row Motorsports to drive the new #4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse and look to build on the momentum of a solid 2024 season. Chase Briscoe arguably got the biggest upgrade this offseason has he has moved to Joe Gibbs Racing to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr in the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry. Lastly, Ryan Preece joined Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and their new #60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for the 2025 campaign.
Driver’s on the Hot Seat
Photo from The Frontstretch
Entering the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, there are a few drivers on the hot seat, those being Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Riley Herbst, and John Hunter Nemechek. Alex Bowman has been great for Hendrick Motorsports at times, but has been closer to average. He has two top 10 points finishes with the team in 2020 and 2024 but has no top 5 points finishes and no Final Four appearances while his teammates have a total of seven Final Four appearances and two Championships during Bowman’s time with the team. Bowman has been the weak link at the team for the last few years and with top Chevrolet talents like Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar looking to have breakout years at Spire, Bowman’s ride could be in jeopardy. Alex Bowman will have to take that next step forward if he wants to secure his standing at Hendrick Motorsports for the years to come.
Daniel Suarez is definitely on the hot seat at Trackhouse. Surrounded by two top level NASCAR drivers in Ross Chastain and one of the greatest wheelmen to exist, Shane Van Gisbergen along with one of the greatest prospects motorsports has ever seen in Connor Zilisch waiting in the wings, Suarez needs to have a breakout year in 2025. Since joining the team in 2021, Suarez has two wins, two playoff appearances, and one top 10 points finish in 2022. The biggest issue for Suarez has been consistency; he has struggled at times to rack up multiple solid races in a row often having a solid finish then being dominated by his teammate the next week. Now, with Shane Van Gisbergen making his rookie campaign in the Cup Series in 2025, if Suarez finishes behind SVG in points or misses the playoffs entirely, we could see Daniel Suarez be moved on from following the 2025 season.
Photo taken from Daniel Suarez’s Wikipedia.
This is a big year for Ryan Preece. A new team, a familiar sponsor, and once again, sitting on the hot seat. Ryan Preece will drive the new #60 for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as stated earlier and is under the watchful eyes of Ford and RFK. Preece is under the hot seat for two reasons: One, the #60 is a new team for RFK and they have not yet bought the charter from Rick Ware Racing as it seems like 2025 is a test year to see whether RFK can function as a three car team, and two, there is plethora of young Ford development drivers waiting in the wings for an upgraded seat or to make the move to the Cup Series. With young drivers like Zane Smith and Noah Gragson sitting at other Cup Series teams and potential rookies like Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, and Sheldon Creed sitting in the Xfinity and Truck Series along with Harrison Burton who could eye a potential return to the Cup Series for 2026. While this could be one of Ryan Preece’s best opportunities at the Cup level, it could very easily end as quickly as it started.
Photo taken from RFK Racing’s Facebook
Now, Riley Herbst is an interesting case as you would not think a rookie driver in the Cup Series would be on the hot seat, but Riley is different. Herbst struggled to find success in the Xfinity Series for a long time, not winning a race until the end of his fourth season in the series at his hometrack in Las Vegas. He ended his Xfinity career with three wins, a best points finish of seventh, and two top 10 points finishes, which seems decent in its own right, but when you consider the equipment he was in, it could be seen as a massive underperformance. Driving for the likes of Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing where the expectation is to contend for championships, Riley did not do that. He often struggled with consistency and failed to live up to expectations, including when he missed the playoffs entirely in 2023 while his teammate Cole Custer went onto win the Xfinity Series Championship that same year. Riley has been the weak link wherever he has gone and with a lot of talent waiting in the wings at Toyota like Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich, Riley needs to make an impact at 23XI right away or else his ride could be in jeopardy.
Photo Taken from Riley Herbst’s Instagram
Lastly, we have John Hunter Nemechek. The second generation driver has to be under the hot seat following a disappointing 2024. While Legacy Motor Club as a whole struggled in 2024, JHN struggled to a different degree. John Hunter finished thirty-fourth in points, last among the full time drivers in 2024 and the 42 car that he drove finished thirty-fifth in owners points, only beating the Rick Ware Racing #15 out of the thirty-six full time chartered entries. 2024 was an utter failure for John Hunter and with Corey Heim waiting in the wings for a Cup Series opportunity, if JHN does not perform in 2025 we could see him be pulled from the Cup Series and lose his last chance at making it at the top level of stock car racing.
Photo from John Hunter Nemechek’s Facebook
Shane Van Gisbergen
Shane Van Gisbergen at Bowman-Gray Stadium: Photo by Charlie Haywood
One driver everyone will be watching in 2025 is Trackhouse’s Shane Van Gisbergen. The former Supercars driver introduced himself to the NASCAR world in the best way possible, by winning his Cup Series debut at the Chicago Street Course in 2023. He then ran in the NASCAR Xfinity Series full time in 2024 for Kaulig Racing and won three races at Portland International Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, and, once again, the Chicago Street Course, showing off his road course prowess. Before entering the world of stock cars, SVG had very limited experience at asphalt ovals, so he spent most of 2024 learning how to tackle this new type of race track for himself. Now he may not have found that same success he had on road courses but grabbing five top 10s on ovals, including two top 5s at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway was enough for Trackhouse to promote Shane to the new #88 Chevrolet in the Cup Series. With the rookie of the year title on the line, Shane looks to be the clear favorite to not only win the rookie of the year, but to also make the playoffs in 2025 as there are five road courses in the regular season and Shane can most likely go out and win any of those. A lot of eyes will be on Shane Van Gisbergen in 2025 and we look forward to seeing what will become of the driver from New Zealand.
Now, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of major stories to look forward to in 2025, but these are just a few that stuck out to us. 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons in NASCAR to date with the playoff race seemingly being closer than ever. Get ready for a fast paced and exciting 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Let's go racing boys.
