NASCAR teams prepare for grueling 28 weeks of racing with no breaks

With only one week off during its entire 36-week season, the NASCAR Cup Series drivers and teams have a long road ahead of them in 2025. That one-week vacation is now behind them, which means they are now facing 28 straight weeks of racing until the November 2nd finale at Phoenix Raceway.

NASCAR has been dealing with a 36-race schedule for over two decades now, but usually with off-weekends sprinkled in to break up things and allow for a reset. This year, teams are staring down what appears to be the longest uninterrupted stretch of races (in terms of weeks) in the entire history of the sport. Drivers reacted with both surprise and wariness when the schedule was first revealed last fall, and for good reason.

NASCAR by the numbers

No other major motorsport touches this kind of schedule, and that’s not a boast. Even Formula 1, which has expanded its global schedule rapidly in recent years, does not quite reach what NASCAR is demanding of its competitors this season.

By comparison, 2025 matches the longest schedule ever for F1 with a total of 24 Grand Prix planned. But at no point does F1 race more than three consecutive weekends during the year, and they also have their annual summer break in August.

Spire Motorsports pit crew member

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

There are 36 full-time NASCAR Cup Series teams, and although NASCAR has put a cap on the number of individuals allowed at the track, it’s still several hundred people just to work on the cars every race weekend. Add in other organizational personnel, pit crews, drivers and their entourage, media, NASCAR officials, VIP guests and so on, we’re reaching into the thousands for weekly travelers — before counting hundreds of thousands of fans. Oh, and that doesn’t even cover the entire NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series fields, which often accompany Cup on race weekends.

Non-stop travel for teams

Now, NASCAR isn’t crisscrossing the globe like F1, but they are crisscrossing the third-largest country on the planet, going from east coast to west coast and everywhere in-between several times throughout the year. What lies ahead of them now is quite daunting, and will push everyone in the industry to the absolute limit. The remaining 28 races will take NASCAR to 21 different states and another country entirely as the Cup Series races down to Mexico City for the first time ever.

There’s also the logistics of that voyage, as most of these teams have never had to plan for an international race before. Hauler drivers will be covering tens of thousands of miles, drivers won’t get a single week to take a breath, the news will be constant, and if you fall behind, you’re being left behind. There is literally no time to regroup.

Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Things are already tense enough entering the playoffs and that’s when teams usually have some sort of reset in the weeks letting up to the chaotic ten-race postseason. Last year, they even got a rare two-week break due to the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In the years prior to that, there was an off-week normally scheduled for the beginning of August. But this time around, they will go straight from the regular season after going non-stop from the end of April and dive directly into the high-intensity playoffs. There won’t be a moment of rest for those involved in the sport.

Drivers under constant pressure

Obviously, this will take a massive mental tole on everyone in the industry, stretch teams and their resources to the breaking point, and force drivers to remain in high gear for seven straight months. That’s likely to result in some unforced errors from drivers — and, following NASCAR tradition — even shorter fuses when on-track incidents occur.

If previous years and series are any indication, fatigue will be a real issue, and mistakes could become more prevalent at pivotal moments in the championship, potentially even having an impact on who eventually takes home the title. 

So, if you’re a fan or crew chief — a driver or NASCAR official — take a breath while you still can, because whether you’re a watching every Sunday or working in the garage, NASCAR will dominate the conversation for the next 28 consecutive weeks.