NASCAR’s 50 most memorable moments of 2025

On the whole, the 2025 NASCAR season was a memorable one for a lot of reasons.

There was pretty good competition on the big tracks during the summer months, continued progress on short tracks with the fourth year NextGen and the culmination of a 15-month legal process that made it all the way to trial.

Advertisement

Kyle Larson emerged the champion for the second time in his career, while the entire industry debated all year the process in which those championships should be determined, with Denny Hamlin serving as something of a main character all the way through the campaign.

Here are the 50 most memorable moments from NASCAR’s 76th season.

50. Remembering those lost

This certainly isn’t a highlight of the season but it feels disrespectful to not acknowledge the life and times worthy of celebrating in 2025. NASCAR lost the likes of Greg Biffle, Cristina Grossu, Emma Biffle, Ryder Biffle, Dennis Dutton, Jack Dutton and Craig Wadsworth in a plane crash just a week before the loss of Dennis Hamlin Sr. in a house fire. Rick ‘Otis’ Hodges passed in 2025.

Advertisement

Legendary journalist Al Pearce was lost the same week as admired championship winning team owner Shige Hattori. Daytona 500 winning owner Bill Davis was lost in September.  Team owners Bill Baumgardner, Travis Carter, Charlie Henderson and Larry McClure were all lost to the community. Crew members Steve ‘Birdie’ Bird and Zach Yager were too.

Drivers Martin Truex Sr. Wayne Andrews, Phil Barkdoll and Rex White passed. Xfinity Series winner Michael Annett was lost. Remember the names Jon Edwards of Jeff Gordon Inc. fame in addition to Jerry Petty, Humpy Wheeler and Grant Lynch for their contributions as well.

49. Madhouse legends debut

There is no other scenario in which Tim Brown and Burt Myers would make NASCAR Cup Series appearances but the two winningest drivers in the history of Bowman Gray Stadium were in the field for the pre-season Clash and were celebrated for a lifetime of grassroots accomplishments for one night at the highest level. Who can’t be romantic about NASCAR?

Advertisement

48. Cleetus in ARCA

GettyImages-2199143246

Garrett Mitchell, better known as Cleetus McFarland, made a handful of starts in the ARCA Racing Series this past season and brought literally nearly over a million eyeballs with him. The popular YouTuber and amateur racer has over four million subscribers and his Daytona and Talladega live streams delivered 50,000 and 70,000 live viewers respectively. With the Daytona race airing live on FOX, the TV numbers plus his live stream resulted in 1.1 million viewers overall. McFarland crashed out of Daytona but scored top-10s at Talladega and Charlotte and completed every lap of his final start at Bristol on the way to a 17th place finish.

Advertisement

47. Spring Martinsville Xfinity

Denny Hamlin called it ‘embarrassing.’ Dale Jr. says the track ‘deserves better.’ There were no shortage of commentary like this. Austin Hill won the race but only after Sammy Smith wiped out Taylor Gray on the final corner after a series of bump-and-runs between them. Half of the field crashed on the frontstretch. It was a memorable messy disaster than led to Smith losing 50 points and getting fined $25,000. NASCAR told the drivers at the next drivers meeting in Darlington that this kind of product was not acceptable.

Advertisement

46. Wallace denied 500 entry

Mike Wallace had paid Carl Long up front to compete in the Great American Race a decade after his last Cup Series start only to be denied entry by the Sanctioning Body for not meeting an approval process that required starts in other series at multiple track types. Wallace had not raced in NASCAR in any capacity since 2020. He was going to race in honor of his wife Carla, who passed away in 2024, but was left deeply disappointed when denied immediate entry.

Advertisement

45. Lamar Jackson threatens JRM

Baltimore Ravens QB1 filed a formal opposition claim with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office regarding a specific stylized logo for the number 8 that JR Motorsports had used until 2025. Jackson’s representatives argued the JRM logo was similar enough to his existing ‘Era 8’ brand that it could create consumer confusion on merchandise. JRM released the trademark for that font as it had begun to use the old DEI No. 8 font it had acquired the year prior.

Advertisement

44. Chipper Jones v Joey Logano

This lasted about a month but Joey Logano had a brief online spat with Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, of all people, over the summer. It began at Talladega, when Jones fired off a tweet criticizing a radio rant Logano keyed up about teammate Austin Cindric over drafting tactics. Logano and Jones then went back-and-forth on social media over the next few races, eventually turning into more of a playful jab, with Jones even defending Logano on occasions since. In short, the baseball legend is just a passionate racing fan.

Advertisement

43. Stewart Friesen injured

Friesen was seriously injured in a violent Super DirtCar Modified crash in July at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec when his car hit the wall, flipped, caught fire, and was hit by another car, resulting in a fractured pelvis (unstable open-book type) and a severely fractured right leg (tibia in three spots), requiring multiple surgeries and extensive recovery for broken bones and nerve damage. He won a race at Michigan earlier in the year and would have made a playoff appearance, but instead fielded a car for Kaden Honeycutt when he became displaced after signing a deal with Tricon for 2026.

Advertisement

42. Matt Crafton retires

The 2025 season marked the full-time end for Matt Crafton in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he won the 2013, 2014 and 2019 championships, and holds the record for most consecutive starts. He has 15 wins and has been a mainstay at ThorSport since the turn of the decade.

41. RAM is coming back

Now owned by French automaker Stellantis, the RAM brand is returning to NASCAR in 2026 in the Craftsman Truck Series, where it competed from 1995 to 2013. It is the first step back into NASCAR that is expected to include the Cup Series in the next several years under the Dodge banner. The announcement was confirmed in September with Kaulig Racing becoming the first anchor team partner.

Advertisement

40. The Earnhardt data farm?

Teresa Earnhardt was poised to sell parts of the Dale Earnhardt property into a data farm to developer Tract named the ‘Mooresville Technology Park. However, Tract withdrew from the proposal in August after extreme backlash from local residents, including Kerry Earnhardt, swayed local officials to indicate they would not support the project. Officially, environmental concerns, noise, and impact on the area’s character were listed as reasons Tract did not move forward.

Advertisement

39. Suarez wins Mexico Xfinity

You likely would have had to be at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to really appreciate this moment, but the facility was shaking in a way that television cameras could not convey back home in the United States when Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series race in front of his countrymen.

38. Elliott again most popular

Chase Elliott with fans, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

The most popular driver award is largely won in bunches and is a testament to a driver that becomes one of the faces of his era. In the same way that Bill Elliott won a record 16 times, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning it 15 times, this eight consecutive year stretch is now the Chase Elliott era. Combined with Dale Sr. winning the award posthumously in 2001, the Elliott and Earnhardt families have combined to win this distinction every year since 1991.

Advertisement

37. Larson swears off The Double

Maybe it was the heat of the moment, but it sure seems like it will be awhile for Kyle Larson to return to the Indianapolis 500, certainly as an active Cup Series driver. “I will have FOMO from running the Indy 500. Hopefully, someday I can run that again, but I don’t have any desire to do the Double again. It didn’t go well the last two years.” Larson crashed out in 2025 and pit road speeding penalty denied him in 2024 in a race that a rain delay forced him to miss the Coca-Cola 600 and draw the ire of NASCAR officials.

Advertisement

36. Cup returns to Bowman Gray

Prior to the inaugural Cook Out Clash in February, the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race of any kind at Bowman Gray Stadium came on August 6, 1971. The track, a quarter mile inside of a football field, bills itself as a NASCAR original but had been left as a national touring venue as the sport grew up. Chase Elliott won the season opening exhibition on a weekend that was praised for its energy and race quality.

35. Preece takes flight … again

Ryan Preece flipped at Daytona again, a year and a half after doing so in the summer race in 2023, this time in the Great American Race. On one hand, Preece said NASCAR need to work harder to keep cars grounded but also had fun with the circumstances, adopting an astronaut persona due to his misfortune at The World Center of Racing.

Advertisement

34. RFK’s season

RFK Racing expanded to three full-time cars this season and went winless and missed the playoffs in ways that did not reflect upon their overall speed. Brad Keselowski earned 13 top-10s, Ryan Preece put together 14 top-10s and Chris Buescher matched a successful 2024 with a 14.3 average finish. There were just inconsistencies and near-wins that ultimately denied them wins.

33. Berry’s first Cup win

32. Dale Jr wins as crew chief

JR Motorsports crew chief Mardy Lindley was suspended a race in June for leaving two lug nuts loose for Connor Zilisch. Dale Jr. took over atop the pit box was the next race at Pocono Raceway, with an assist from Steve Letarte, and became the ninth person in NASCAR history to have wins as a crew chief, a driver and a team owner.

Advertisement

31. Austin Hill’s suspension

Austin Hill was suspended for one race in July for an intentional right rear hook on Aric Almirola at Indianapolis. But the implications lasted the rest of the season, as a new NASCAR policy stripped Hill of all playoff points earned over the course of the regular season, and likely led to his elimination in the second round of the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

30. The In-Season Challenge

Ty Gibbs ultimately won the inaugural version of the head-to-head summer bracket tournament but the five-week showdown generated enough moments to be considered a worthwhile inclusion into the season. For example, Ty Dillon made a Cinderella run to the finals that included a last lap divebomb into Alex Bowman to advance, proving how much the million-dollar prize mattered.

Advertisement

29. The Roval finish

Joey Logano advanced in the Cup Series playoffs due to a wild finish that saw Ross Chastain denied due to a pit road speeding penalty that caused him to intentionally spin Denny Hamlin on the final corner for 20th, thinking that was the spot he needed to advance. Hamlin, meanwhile, later suggested he wouldn’t have passed Logano if he had realized it would have eliminated him.

28. Zilisch wins and falls

Connor Zilisch suffered a broken collarbone in August after slipping and falling from his car in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen while celebrating a win. The incident required surgery with a plate and screws but was medically cleared to race again less than two weeks later at Daytona, a race he won with an assist from …

Advertisement

27. Kligerman at Daytona

Remarkably, Parker Kiligerman won two races at Daytona in 2025 but isn’t credited with a single one. In February, Kligerman won the season opening Truck Series race with Henderson Motorsports but was disqualified for rear ride heights. He then took over for an injured Connor Zilisch in the summer Xfinity Series race, driving the car to the win, but does not get credited statistically since he didn’t take the green flag.

26. Hocevar’s work in progress

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Carson Hocevar continues to show a lot of promise at Spire Motorsports but also has a never-ending penchant for drawing the ire of his veteran peers. Ryan Blaney called him a ‘moron’ at Atlanta, a race where he needed to be pulled aside by mentor Ross Chastain. Kyle Busch said ‘I’m over him’ at Atlanta. Zane Smith and Brad Keselowski also expressed similar frustrations.

Advertisement

25. Suarez Out, Zilisch in

Daniel Suarez was the first driver hired by Justin Marks ahead of the 2021 season. Driving the No. 99, he won races at Sonoma in 2022 and Atlanta in 2024 but never consistently ran up front. Connor Zilisch won 10 races in the Xfinity Series, on loan to JR Motorsports, and has been promoted to Cup full-time in the now rebranded No. 88 car. Suarez has sinced inked a deal with Spire Motorsports to replace Justin Haley in the No. 7.

Advertisement

24. CW takes over Xfinity

There was so much about the NASCAR Xfinity Series on The CW that felt throwback and authentic. For the first time in division history, every race was on an over-the-air platform and the broadcast booth of Adam Alexander, Parker Kligerman and Jamie McMurray could stake a claim for the best overall across all three national touring divisions. In true Xfinity Series spirit, The CW broadcast felt like NASCAR at its traditional best and averages over a million viewers all season too.

Advertisement

23. Helio at the Daytona 500

Hélio Castroneves, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Due to the new Open Exemption Provisional rule, IndyCar and Sports Car legend Helio Castroneves made his Cup Series debut in the Daytona 500, but crashed out of a race he started for Trackhouse Racing. The rule was created to allow NASCAR to create a starting spot for legends, who if not otherwise qualified, would run the race ineligible for points or prize money — a way to honor the commitment made by their sponsorship and the eyeballs they would bring to the race.

22. The Legacy, Rick Ware lawsuit

The two parties were briefly embroiled in a legal matter over a disputed NASCAR charter sale, with LMC alleging RWR tried to back out of a $45 million deal for a 2026 charter, while RWR claimed a misunderstanding over transfer years (2026 vs. 2027) and later tried to sell the team to TJ Puchry, leading to injunctions blocking sales and an eventual settlement in September. That settlement called for Ware to provide Legacy a charter for 2026 that Legacy would lease to RFK Racing for the No. 60 team.

21. Heim’s season

Corey Heim, Tricon Garage Toyota

It was the most dominant Truck Series season of all time that produced 12 wins, 19 top-5s and 21 top-10s in 25 races. More importantly, there were numerous races anyone could point to and say they deserved to win those too. Heim won the championship that was twice denied of him and crew chief Scott Zipadelli earned his second title as well.

20. Love denies Zilisch

Jesse Love and Connor Zilisch

Jesse Love won the championship but it was how Connor Zilisch didn’t win it that made the bigger headlines. Zilisch won 10 times in 32 starts with 23 top-10s and 20 top-5s and an 8.0 average finish. In comparison, Love won the season opener and the season finale with nine top-5s and 22 top-10s but won when it counted the most.

19. San Diego announced

NASCAR’s next street course race endeavor, after three years in Downtown Chicago, will come at Naval Base Coronado from June 19-21, 2026, featuring all three national touring divisions on a unique track built around iconic military landmarks like aircraft carriers and San Diego Bay.

18. Rodney Childers’ season

Rodney Childers, Spire Motorsports

It was a whirlwind year for the future Hall of Fame crew chief. He began the season with Spire Motorsports working with Justin Haley and the No. 7 team but they parted ways after just nine races. Haley was struggling to crack the top-30 with regularity and ultimately got released by the end of the year. Childers went on to spend the summer working for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the CARS Tour, leading Landen Lewis to the championship. He spent races Cup Series races close to home searching for opportunities and ultimately found one in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports, where he will lead a car split between Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil next season.

17. Bubba Wallace’s season

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Maybe it’s fatherhood, or just the maturity that comes with your 30s, but Bubba Wallace was a new man in 2025. While Wallace has been very transparent about overcoming mental health hurdles over the years, he was publicly unbothered all season, and genuinely appeared to be having the time of his life. It manifest on the race track with a victory in the Brickyard 400 and spurts where he routinely raced for wins. It was an uneven season in a lot of ways due to pit road issues and performance dips, but through it all, Wallace and new crew chief Charles Denike stayed even keeled through it all.

16. Byron wins Daytona 500 again

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 became the first driver since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020 to score back-to-back wins in the Great American Race. Byron took the lead on the final restart and survived the last lap crash to emerge victorious.

15. SVG’s season

Shane Van Gisbergen won five Cup races this years, all on road and street courses, at Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval. It was the second most number of wins overall behind Denny Hamlin in 2025. But beyond that, SVG also started to show increasing proficiency on ovals too, benefitting from a better qualifying draw as a playoff driver at the end of the year.

14. Bristol Night Race

Goodyear spent a year and a half tying to replicate the conditions of the 2024 spring race at Bristol and succeeded in a race of the year candidate in the Bristol Night Race this past season. Christopher Bell won a race that produced 36 lead changes across 14 drivers and 14 cautions. It was a stark contrast from the spring race earlier in the year that was one of the most lackluster events from recent memory.

13. Coke 600 delivers again

The Coke 600 has become one of the most entertaining races of the year in the NextGen era and the 2025 edition was no exception. Ross Chastain won after starting dead last. The finish featured a thrilling duel between himself and a dominant William Byron, who swept both stages and led 283 laps, but also featured no shortage of dramatic crashes and decisive mechanical failures along the way.

12. Chase Briscoe’s season

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

There were a large number of folks in the community that questioned by Joe Gibbs would hire Chase Briscoe to replace Martin Truex Jr. Both the driver and crew chief James Small suggested they were racing for their careers this season. They delivered three wins, a 12.7 average finish and seven poles en route to a final four appearance that portends good things for their future in the No. 19 together.

11. NASCAR goes to Mexico

The Cup and Xfinity Series went to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in June for an event that was messy at times, but was also equal parts rewarding. The weekend was marred by travel woes for both divisions, a practice day that was completely washed out by predictable June rains in the mountains and occasional SMT woes for teams. But the event was also well attended and felt like a big deal, the first points race for the Cup Series on international grounds since the Canadian National Exhibition Stadium in event in Toronto in 1958.

10. JR Motorsports’ Cup debut

Kelley Earnhardt Miller (left) with Justin Allgaier (center) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (right)

It was a long time coming for the team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, making its Cup Series debut 20 years after starting in the Xfinity Series, and scoring a top-10 in the Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier. The car, which had technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, was crewed by a bunch of Earnhardt adjacent luminaries with Chris Stapleton’s Traveller Whiskey sponsoring the No. 40. They’re going to run it back next month in the Great American Race.

9. Prime wows audience

There was a degree of trepidation surrounding NASCAR’s foray into airing races on an exclusive digital streaming partner but (Amazon) Prime Video knocked it out of the figurative park with a presentation and approached that drew widespread praise from both longstanding and traditional fans alike. Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte delivered in the booth and the studio show featuring Corey Lajoie and Carl Edwards felt like a throwback to the golden years of NASCAR of FOX.

8. Goodyear’s contributions

It was not Goodyear’s responsibility to make up for the deficiencies of the NextGen car but the spec tire provider went above and beyond NASCAR’s asks in improving the on-track product on short tracks and road courses this past season through increased tire wear right up to the limit of what can be safely produced. With a horsepower increase looming, Goodyear’s work will continue to be valued.

7. Kansas Cup playoff finish

There was no such thing as ‘had a good points day’ in the Cup playoff race at Kansas. Chase Elliott won over an equal desperate group of Toyota drivers. Bubba Wallace ran Christopher Bell up the track. A dominant Denny Hamlin, without power steering, squeezed Wallace into the wall. Elliott minded the gap and drove to the win.

6. Hamlin’s 60th win at Vegas

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Denny Hamlin said all year that the Cup Series championship, especially in the playoff era, was of less consequence to him than reaching 60 wins. That number, combined with three Daytona 500 wins and triumphs in practically every other crown jewel, was enough to make him a Hall of Famer. But Hamlin also dedicated the win to his ailing father and showed a rare display of emotion in doing so to fans, many who embraced him that fall after a decade plus of rooting against him.

5. Larson wins second title

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and hiswife, Katelyn Larson

Kyle Larson won his second Cup Series championship, following his first in 2021, with a three-win campaign and the most points scored over the course of the entire season, indicating season-long success. But the moment was somewhat overshadowed by …

4.Hamlin denied championship

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Denny Hamlin was three laps away from his elusive first Cup Series championship with William Byron suffered a tire failure that set-up pit stops and a restart in which the race would get away from him. Kyle Larson went on to win the title in a race in which Hamlin finished sixth after leading a record 208 laps in the event. At the time, Hamlin said the result made him not want to sit in a race car ever again, before committing to the 2026 campaign.

3. The playoff argument

Every conversation in 2025 ran through the playoff conversation. NASCAR opened the door for a season long debate by creating an industry panel to discuss making changes for 2026. Every race turned into an argument about the merits of a playoff versus the merits of a season long format. NASCAR appears poised to move away from a one-race winner take all finale but is likely keeping a playoff with a larger sample size.

2. The lawsuit

The entire season frequently took a backseat to what was happening in the Western District of North Carolina Courtroom over the course of the entire year. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports had sued NASCAR on antitrust grounds the October before and every day brought forth new legal filings and about a dozen pre-trial appearances before Judge Kenneth D. Bell on the way to December 1, where at which point …

1. The trial

In the same way that the entire NASCAR season builds to the finale at Homestead, all the pre-trial hearings, motions, and injunctions were building to what was intended to be a 10-day over two weeks trial to decide if the Sanctioning Body had used its monopoly power to harm teams during negotiations for the charter document extension. The trial was genuinely a heavyweight duel between the top antitrust attorneys in the country, Jeffrey Kessler and Christopher Yates, with no shortage of high profile specialists examining witnesses over the first eight days of the proceedings. It was at this point, on Day Nine, that the two sides reached a settlement that produced permanent charters, revised governance, and undisclosed financial terms.

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.