In 2025, NASCAR visited several new tracks. The Cup Series began the season with a bang at Bowman Gray Stadium and went overseas to Mexico City for a thrilling experience at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack. A plethora of positive responses flooded the sport as Chase Elliott won at the ‘Madhouse’ and Shane van Gisbergen showcased his road course brilliance in Mexico City. Despite these successes, neither of the tracks found its way into NASCAR’s virtual world.

Video games of NASCAR have thrilled fans for decades, and drivers like William Byron and Rajah Caruth developed their skills on iRacing. In October 2025, the sport will unveil its newest gaming innovation – NASCAR 25. And as more information comes out, the hype becomes less for fans.

NASCAR 25’s truncated list is out

iRacing and NASCAR announced their new console game this year. It will launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S on October 14, with PC via Steam at a later date. Many snazzy features increase the anticipation of NASCAR 25. These include multiple racing series, online multiplayer facilities, and a strong career mode. For the first time, the ARCA Menards Series will be a part of the console gaming experience. Even Cup Series veteran driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. praised this new game. He said a few weeks ago, “I drove a little race, and the career mode’s pretty cool. You jump into the career mode… The introduction to the career mode reminded me a little bit of the Gong Show that Roush did, where they hired drivers to come prove themselves.”

Despite the fascinating early impressions, NASCAR 25 may fall out of favor due to the latest fact that was unveiled. iRacing released the track list for the game for all four series – Cup, Xfinity, Trucks, and ARCA. There are 30 unique tracks—91 total when counting duplicates—in the game, with many being available for multiple series. Each track will be available to race in Career Mode, Quick Race, Online, and Championship Mode. There is a lack of clarity about whether different series can race on different tracks. But a NASCAR fan on Reddit noticed the glaring absence of a few tracks. They are Bowman Gray Stadium, Mexico City, Portland, and a few ARCA Menards Series tracks.

This seems like a major blow to fans who were eager to live out the 2025 season in the sim racing world. It also poses great challenges for NASCAR 25 to overcome its predecessor’s popularity. NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona, released in 2002, is still a favorite among drivers. The game featured an interesting career mode, where players not only got to upgrade their cars but also upgrade their pit crews to save precious time during races. The in-depth features made it one of the GameCube’s best releases of the year. Even Christopher Bell, who was featured on NASCAR 25’s cover art, confessed his favorite NASCAR game: “Is it bad if I say Dirt to Daytona? That was my favorite one growing up.”

Now, it seems like the entire NASCAR community may agree with Christopher Bell. The latest information did not produce the best reaction.

A limited driving experience leads to frustration

The diehard fans of NASCAR demand a comprehensive experience, real or virtual. That is why the exclusion of prominent racetracks like Bowman Gray, Mexico City, and Portland riled up fans. The first track was an exhibition race, but it was wildly popular as a short track. And fans also wanted the latter two, being points races in the Cup and Xfinity Series. So one fan wrote, “Not having multiple points races for top series is so stupid. Like it’s dumb that there’s no bowman gray, but it’s just the clash, whatever. But two tracks raced in the top 2 series for points not making the game is just disgraceful.” 

Portland International Raceway attained sensational stories recently, with Connor Zilisch continuing his winning streak there. It also registered 733,000 viewers in its battle against college football. Given the surrounding sensation, one fan wrote, “I was very much looking forward to Portland.” Even Mexico City was thrilling, with Shane van Gisbergen and Daniel Suarez winning the Cup and Xfinity races. So another fan wrote, “Surprised by Mexico and Portland, iRacing added both this year which i figured was mostly for this game. ARCA is light too, theyve had some logical tracks for that in iRacing for years.”

Somebody else was crestfallen because NASCAR 25 probably would not allow crossovers. For instance, the Cup Series may not be able to visit Rockingham, a track that Xfinity visited this year. The comment read, “Also seems you won’t be able to race any series at any track.” Another fan hoped against hope that NASCAR would add the missing tracks on later dates. They wrote, “I hope those tracks are added in via patch updates/DLC scheme packs at later dates.”

Evidently, NASCAR 25 is garnering quite a bit of negativity about its upcoming launch. Let’s see if the video game caters to fans’ demands in later updates.