Another season of NASCAR gets underway this weekend.

Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano begins the chase for his fourth career title in the Daytona 500 at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, kicking off an unprecedented year for the sport. Stock car racing’s highest circuit is set for a novel in-season tournament and will compete internationally, while the sanctioning body introduces several competition changes.

Here are 10 storylines to follow in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season:

Five races for $1 million: NASCAR to debut in-season tournament

There will be a bracket, and a champion, long before the playoffs start in the fall.

NASCAR’s new in-season tournament begins June 28 at Atlanta and will feature races at the Chicago Street Course, Sonoma and Dover before concluding July 27 with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Drivers will compete head-to-head, starting with a field of 32 drivers, shrinking to 16, eight, four and then the final two remaining drivers will battle for a $1 million prize.

Seeding will be determined by the results of races from Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono in June that precede the five-race event.

Lawsuit continues between Michael Jordan’s team and NASCAR

NASCAR’s motion to dismiss the case was denied Jan. 10 by U.S. District Court judge Kenneth Bell.

A jury trial is now set for Dec. 1, before the 2026 season. NASCAR is appealing injunctions in the U.S. Court of Appeals that require the sanctioning body to allow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to compete this Cup Series season with three chartered cars each.

23XI, the team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, jointly filed an antitrust lawsuit on Oct. 2 against NASCAR along with Front Row.

NASCAR set for international Cup Series points race

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City will host NASCAR for a historic weekend in June.

The first international Cup Series points race since 1958 is set for 3 p.m. June 15. An Xfinity Series race will be run that weekend in Mexico City, as well.

Bristol will host a Major League Baseball game

On Aug. 2, the Atlanta Braves play the Cincinnati Reds in a regular-season game inside Bristol Motor Speedway.

It will be the first Major League Baseball game in the state of Tennessee, held at the race track that previously hosted a college football game between the Volunteers and Virginia Tech that shattered the single-game attendance record.

Coke 600 will be first NASCAR race to stream exclusively

NASCAR is now under its new media rights deal through 2031.

Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery will now each broadcast five races in the middle of the season, respectively, as longtime partners Fox Sports and NBC Sports are only carrying 14 of the 38 races each.

The Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 in Concord will be the first race that streams on Prime Video, followed by Nashville, Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. TNT Sports takes over for the aforementioned five-race tournament, starting June 28 at Atlanta.

A wreck doesn’t necessarily remove a car from the race

Cars may now re-enter the race after going to the garage for repairs.

Previously, a trip to the garage would remove that car from the race and end that driver’s day. Under the new damaged vehicle policy, damaged cars that are either driven or towed to the garage may continue in the race following repairs.

NASCAR expands practice time and simplifies qualifying

Practices will now be 25 minutes, and most tracks will host qualifying with single-lap trials.

Cup Series’ practice and qualifying sessions will be shown on Prime Video during the first half of the season and on Max and TruTV for the second half. Fox Sports still has the rights to practice and qualifying for the Daytona 500 and All-Star Race.

World-class drivers are guaranteed entry before qualifying

A new provisional will increase the Cup Series field to 41 cars for some races.

Special or invited entrants to NASCAR races are now guaranteed starting spots under the “open exemption provisional.” It only comes into play if the entry list exceeds 40 cars — like in Sunday’s Daytona 500 — and the driver is not eligible for prize money, championship points or playoff eligibility if he ends up winning the race.

Hélio Castroneves, the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion, is expected to attempt to qualify his way into the Great American Race.

NASCAR playoffs’ waiver policy has changed

Should drivers need a waiver for a non-medical reason, they lose all their playoff points for the season.

All playoff points will be forfeited if a driver chooses to skip a race — like Kyle Larson missing last year’s Coca-Cola 600 to compete in the Indianapolis 500 — and following suspensions.

Larson received a waiver last year after flying into Concord on a helicopter late as rain had impacted both of the prestigious races. Under the new policy, Larson would have started the playoffs with no points.

No changes to NASCAR’s playoff format this year

NASCAR is not making any changes to its playoff format until at least 2026.

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