If you’re a NASCAR junkie and find yourself already needing a fix now that the 2025 season is over and you’ll be in withdrawal for nearly the next three months, we have prepared a list of five of the season’s most memorable races and the highlight moments contained within.

Obviously, such a list is very subjective. What I pick may be totally opposite of what you may choose. That’s why my five choices should be taken with a grain of salt; I based my picks not so much on the best races overall, but also the most emotional races as well. If I chose against one or more of your personal highlight races, that doesn’t mean my choices were better or yours were.

Regardless, to kick things off, here are five races from this past season – including some of the key moments that made each event so memorable (click on the link for each race name to get the full replay) that will hopefully quench your hunger for speed, crazy passing … and yes, wrecks, sometimes lots of them.

Until next weekend at least, right? And with that, let’s look at some of the most emotional and memorable races from this recently completed season:

NASCAR Cup Championship Race:

We really hate to start with this one because it still hurts – and likely is going to continue to hurt for a long time – but Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was three laps away from finally winning his first NASCAR Cup championship in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, only to have William Byron blow a tire and wreck, the race went an additional nine laps into overtime, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson snuck by to steal the championship away from Hamlin.

Race fans are going to talk about how this one ultimately played out for years. Hamlin dominated with 204 laps led and had it not been for a decision to go with four tires in the final pit stop in overtime – rather than matching Larson taking just two tires, which ultimately proved to be the difference between the two drivers to win the title – he woulda, coulda and shoulda won this one.

Not to make Denny or his rabid fan base feel any worse than they already are, but the most telling part of the race actually came after it, when, while an ebullient Larson celebrated on the frontstretch, Hamlin meanwhile sat virtually motionless in his car on pit road in shock and disbelief for what seemed like hours, but was only for about two minutes.

With a series high six wins, including a milestone 60 of his lengthy Cup career, what was arguably the best chance Hamlin has ever had to finally break the championship jinx ended like every other time he’s come close: essentially, once again, close but no cigar.

Is it any wonder that he said after the race he doesn’t ever want to touch a race car again? But of course, we know he’ll be back next year to try again.

Coca-Cola 600:

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron had the car to win, led a race-high 283 of 400 laps, and was just six laps away from taking the checkered flag.

But Ross Chastain had other ideas. Even though he started last in the 40-car field of NASCAR’s longest race each season, Chastain passed Byron with those six remaining laps, and then the Florida watermelon farmer held off a last-lap charge by Byron to earn his first and only win of the season

It was Chastain’s sole win of the season, but it was crucially important as it qualified the TrackHouse Racing driver for the Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, Chastain would fail to advance past the Round of 8, ultimately ending 10 in the final standings.

One other key point is that this race was the first ever aired by Prime Sports – part of the streaming service’s five-race part of the overall NASCAR broadcast rights package – and it drew rave reviews for great camera and announcing work. It was indeed a nice job for a NASCAR “rookie.”

Brickyard 400:

From a technical standpoint, this wasn’t necessarily the most exciting race of the season.

But it stood out for a number of reasons, including being Bubba Wallace’s first win of the season (and first since the 2022 season), his third career Cup triumph, and punched his ticket into the playoffs.

Winning one of NASCAR’s crown jewel races showed that the 23XI Racing driver, who had a terrible first two-thirds of the season (finished 19 or worse in 13 of the first 22 races), was able to beat the best of the best in one of the biggest races each season.

Wallace, who started on the outside pole (tied for his best start of the season with his start at Austin), passed best friend Ryan Blaney with 26 laps remaining and then held on to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the most renowned racetrack in the world.

Perhaps the most fitting and emotional ending was when Wallace, with tears of joy in his eyes, lifted his 10-month-old son, Becks, above his head in triumph.

Viva Mexico 250 (and “Mas”, which is Spanish for “more”):

This was not only the first Cup race ever to be contested in Mexico, but how winner Shane Van Gisbergen won it was a textbook lesson for all of his fellow Cup competitors on how to win on a road course.

In his first full NASCAR Cup season, the man known with the simple nickname of “SVG” naturally qualified first and led five different times in the 100-lap race, including the final 32 laps around the 2.420-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City.

Van Gisbergen dominated this race like none other that he’s won thus far in his Cup career, winning by an unheard of 16.5 seconds over runner-up Christopher Bell.

But there’s more to the tale of SVG than just this race. In the six road course events on the NASCAR Cup schedule this season, the New Zealand native and former three-time Australian Supercars champ won five of them and also qualified either No. 1 or 2, also in five of them. Even when he failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs, Van Gisbergen still won the second round playoff race on the Charlotte Roval.

One other point to make: had it not been for a poor pit stop late in the Austin race (which ultimately led to a sixth-place finish), there’s a good likelihood that the driver of TrackHouse Racing’s No. 88 Chevrolet would have made it six-for-six wins on road courses this season.

There’s always next season to run a perfect slate – and to come even closer, if not surpass, NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon’s record of most road course races in the Cup Series: nine. But SVG is in good company with six career Cup wins thus far, as there are only a few others ahead of him with more (or at least he’s tied with six) wins on road courses: in addition to Gordon’s nine, there’s Tony Stewart (eight), Chase Elliott (seven), and six each by Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison, Kyle Larson and Richard Petty.

We might point out that, aside from Larson, Elliott, and now SVG, all of whom are still active, all the other drivers with six or more career road-course wins are NASCAR Hall of Famers.

South Point 400:

Yes, I concede there likely are several other races that were more competitive or action-packed that could – and perhaps should – be in this top five list, including Atlanta 2, Bristol 2, Daytona 2, and Richmond, among others.

But the second Las Vegas race (and the first one earlier in the year gave Josh Berry his first Cup win and short-lived playoff berth) was among the other most emotional finishes of the season. Normally very measured and even grizzled at times, race winner Denny Hamlin broke down in tears of joy and happiness after taking the checkered flag.

The reasons for Hamlin’s emotional display were several. First, it was his milestone 60 career Cup win (earned from the pole). Kyle Busch (63 wins) is the only other active full-time driver to achieve or exceed the 60-win mark. And given that the next closest behind Busch and Hamlin is three-time Cup champ Joey Logano with just 37 career wins, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see another driver reach 60 wins.

It was also the third time in Hamlin’s career that he earned six or more wins in a season and appeared to finally be on the precipice of earning his first career Cup championship.

Unfortunately, it would ultimately prove not to be in the season finale at Phoenix.

Perhaps the most touching aspect of Hamlin’s win several weeks ago at Las Vegas was how he dedicated the win to his seriously ill 75-year-old father, Dennis. It was Hamlin’s parents who took out a second mortgage and did other things to ensure that their very talented son would not only financially be able to continue racing but also that he’d ultimately become a success, which he definitely has been and will unquestionably be a future first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer.