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Well, the NASCAR off-season is here. Yeah, no more races on the weekends, but that doesn’t mean the storylines and the chatter surrounding the drivers and teams are going to go away. A lot has happened this year, and we’re trying to unpack the storylines that we might have missed.
From a big shift in broadcasting to the changing landscape of sponsorship in NASCAR, the sport is undergoing a major overhaul. And talking about racing, we have another big finale week coming up that will have race fans on the edge of their seats.

We have covered the power rankings, the big performers, and the entirety of the playoffs in depth. But if we are to exclude the big teams and star drivers, there are a few who have stood out with their performances. Similarly, some just couldn’t live up to the billing throughout the 2025 campaign.

Big Winners

Joe Gibbs Racing made a bold call in trusting Chase Briscoe to take command of the No. 19 car. The first half of the season was somewhat okay, but everything changed after the win in Pocono. Briscoe went on to win the Southern 500, and a crucial win at Talladega saw him race for the championship in Phoenix. Yeah, he couldn’t deliver the Cup, but all in all, this was the biggest swing in a positive direction for the No. 19 JGR team.

Now comes an unpopular pick, Shane van Gisbergen. Fresh from his Xfinity Series run, the Kiwi speedster found himself in the big leagues. Many people expected him to win races on road courses, but no one knew he would just sweep all the races where drivers don’t turn left. Five race wins, Rookie of the Season honors, and a steady progression on the ovals, this was a good season. Mind you, Trackhouse Racing wasn’t on its A-game this season, but SVG’s wins sort of overshadowed that trend.

Big Losers

There were a few teams and drivers who entered the season with a lot of optimism. We had Spire Motorsports make big changes with the departure of Corey Lajoie. The Justin Haley and Rodney Childers pairing never really worked out for the No. 7 team. Even the addition of veteran driver Michael McDowell didn’t result in big leaps. For all the resources and star power Spire had deployed this year, the only big highlight for them was the three-pole wins.

Another team that sort of faded as the season progressed was Front Row Motorsports. They expanded to a three-car operation, bringing in Noah Gragson along with a Tier-1 Ford partnership. This was supposed to elevate their on-track performance, but it never materialized. A couple of top-fives at Talladega were perhaps the highlight of the season. 

Xfinity/Trucks Series

In the Xfinity Series, the big winner has to be RCR, as they were able to topple the mighty JRM in the championship race. Meanwhile, the Tricon garage was the class of the field in the Truck Series, with Corey Heim rounding off the season with a clutch win and title celebration at Phoenix Raceway.

Heim not only bagged his first championship trophy, but also delivered the move of the season at Phoenix Raceway. Mired in traffic during the restart and banking on a four-tire strategy, the young driver pulled off a 7-wide move that allowed him to clinch the title.

This year, NASCAR fans had to deal with something new. For the first time in the sport's history, the races were shifted to streaming partners like Amazon Prime Video, and TNT was also involved, cutting down on the races on traditional TV networks. Understand this, NASCAR put fans in a situation where they would need to pay extra to watch races, and that too on different platforms.

The entire concept behind the major shift in the $7.7 billion media rights deal was to attract more fans to the sport, to make NASCAR more accessible. But was it justified in doing it at the expense of the long-time fans? It’s tough to judge the impact of this shift just based on the first season of a seven-year-long deal. But some concerns cannot be ignored.

The season average came in at 2.45 million viewers, which marks the first year that NASCAR has failed to hit the 2.5 million viewer mark. Also, this is a 15 percent decrease compared to last year. Interestingly, Prime Video and TNT had decent debuts, averaging 2.1 million and 2.6 million viewers, respectively. That’s roughly in line with what USA Network brings in.

Fans have been outspoken about the downward trend and took to social media to share their thoughts and concerns. Yet, NASCAR leadership didn’t look particularly bothered by this. In fact, Steve Phelps addressed it during the championship weekend, and his explanation was based on a prediction. Here, check out what NASCAR had to say about the drastic shift in TV viewership.

It’s fair to say that a larger distribution of races across multiple platforms has resulted in a decline in viewership. 2025 was always going to be a tough year, given the changes they made. However, next year’s races will be important to reverse this trend and generate better averages.

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Not just TV and media, but NASCAR’s business model as a whole has changed a lot this year. Gone are the days when Fortune 500 companies would line up to be featured on the race cars or be associated with NASCAR. However, since NASCAR discarded the idea of having a title sponsor for the Cup Series, they had a new plan in place.

They had four premier partners: Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, GEICO, and Xfinity. All of them had an exclusive deal with the sanctioning body, and they were integrated to be featured on multiple platforms. From broadcasts to social media channels and on-track activations. These companies have to cough up $15–20 million to acquire premier partner status. But even this system has seen shuffling this year.

GEICO has decided to pull the plug on its connection with NASCAR, and they are no longer a premier partner. There were similar concerns surrounding Xfinity when they announced plans to give up the title sponsorship. However, they extended their premier partnership support with a new deal, marking the beginning of the Xfinity Fastest Lap Award. At the same time, O’Reilly Auto Parts has replaced Xfinity as the title sponsor for the second division series in NASCAR.

With GEICO’s departure, there was a big void that NASCAR needed to fill before the 2026 season. This is where Freeway Insurance stepped in and got connected to NASCAR as a premier sponsor. Here’s everything you need to know about this new partnership and how it will change the sponsorship scenario.

We also saw Anduril come on board as the presenting partner for the 2026 San Diego race. And Arby’s might also look to feature in a new role after ending its stint as the founding partner for the Chicago Street Race. Of course, a lot of things could change given that NASCAR is involved in an antitrust lawsuit against 23XI Racing. So, there is a possibility that the financial model could look very different from what it is right now.

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While the racing on the ovals has come to a halt, the dragsters are getting ready for the finale weekend. NHRA is preparing for the big weekend to crown the champions in the Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle divisions. This mega event will be held from November 13–16 at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragway in California.

Doug Kalitta is in the driver’s seat to secure his second championship in the Top Fuel division. All he needs to do is make a qualifying pass. Although Brittany Force isn’t a big factor in the title race, she would like to end this season on a winning note. The two-time champ is going to retire to start a family, which makes this weekend a special one for her.

Given her record and the momentum heading into Pomona, she is among the top contenders. Here, take a look at her winning moves from the Las Vegas race. With the 19th win, she became the winningest female driver in Top Fuel.

Meanwhile, Tony Stewart has the opportunity to end the season in fifth or sixth place in just his second full-time ride in the Top Fuel division. The NASCAR Hall of Famer will be stepping out of the TSR dragster and handing the reins back to his wife, Leah Pruett. But this isn’t the last time we will see Stewart racing, as he’ll race for Elite Motorsports in 2026.

Austin Prock is the leading contender in the Funny Car championship. He has a strong 101-point lead heading into Pomona over his trailing rival, Matt Hagan. There’s an exciting contest brewing in the Pro Stock title decider between Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson. Glenn has a 92-point advantage, but a win by Anderson could lead to a nail-biting affair.

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