Back in 2023, a vision for NASCAR race dates was set. Commissioner Steve Phelps said tracks “where the racing is extraordinary” would survive rapid changes. The Cup Series schedule has undergone furious revamps for the 2025 season – Altanta’s second race was moved back into the regular season while Richmond lost one of two dates to make room for the Mexico City race. Now, Kansas is up next, although it showed “extraordinary” racing before.

Two weeks ago, the Viva Mexico 250 race happened with much pomp at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Shane Van Gisbergen’s skillful road course racing left the audience floored. Now, however, NASCAR is looking forward to more colorful racetracks to the misery of Kansas.

Another trimming session in NASCAR?

Well, Kansas Speedway has a colorful history in the sport. Before 2022, the 1.5-miler was not at all popular due to the track’s unique features and the rules packages. However, the Next-Gen car’s debut flipped this narrative, as it was found that the car performs the best on this track. It gave us iconic moments like Kurt Busch‘s dramatic battle in 2022 that resulted in his final career win or last spring when Kyle Larson ran by Chris Buescher in the closest finish in Cup Series history. But the 2025 race painted an entirely different picture for the same track. As if multiple mid-race mishaps like William Byron’s flat tire or Chase Elliott’s pit road mishap were not enough, the grandstands were glaringly deserted.

Hence, talks of toppling a race date are gathering momentum. In a recent episode of ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’, journalist Kelly Crandall pointed out San Diego, Chicagoland, Canada, and other venues as potential candidates for 2026 – but NASCAR needs to trim its schedule first. She said, “If you sit down and make a list right now of all the scheduled rumors, they all don’t fit…Well, we can’t run all those races unless we’re getting rid of a bunch of existing races.” Then Crandall listed the circumstances that can spur a date’s downfall: “I think anything’s on the table because NASCAR keeps telling us if it’s not putting on good racing and the attendance keeps dropping, then that would be a race that we would look at…We’ve seen it happen, right? Texas lost a date, Pocono lost a date, Dover’s lost a date.”

Kansas Speedway has ticked off those boxes during the 2025 AdventHealth 400 race. It is nowhere close to selling out, and drivers faced a flurry of problems. So Kelly Crandall dropped her view: “I think Kansas is one that a lot of people – I don’t know for sure – but Kansas seems to be the one that now gets talked about as like, could that be on the chopping block?” Spotter Freddie Kraft shared his insights: “And it’s crazy, because it used to be such a good race. But this one this year wasn’t as good as years past for whatever reason, you know…With the cars getting weak, the more time we get with the cars, we’re going to get faster, and the box is going to get smaller. And it’s just going to continue to get harder to pass.”

Clearly, Kansas Speedway’s shake-up may come sooner than expected. It is not the only one – with a hallowed racetrack possibly in line as well.

Making way for a restored beauty

When Dale Earnhardt Jr resurrected a racetrack, he had a purpose. He wanted to restore North Wilkesboro Speedway’s life and energy that it had until 1996. After its resuscitation in 2023, NWS entered NASCAR’s Cup Series schedule to conduct the non-points-paying All-Star Race. Many thrilling moments have unfolded on the track. Kyle Larson picked up his third All-Star Race trophy in 2023. Or who can forget the 2024 Kyle Busch-Ricky Stenhouse Jr fistfight? However, the 2025 race showcased how incredible the racing was at this track. Some telling stats include 59 green flag passes for the lead (most in ASR history) and 18 official lead changes among eight different leaders. The unique combination of tires made for a thrilling strategy race.

After the All-Star Race, almost every driver, columnist, or social media personality agreed the track deserves its own points race. Dale Earnhardt Jr left a short but crisp verdict on X: “I love this racetrack. Really glad we got it back.” This overarching agreement stood against the other poorly performing tracks. Among them is Bristol Motor Speedway. The racing is nothing like the track’s heyday of the 2000s, and the fans are not showing up for the spring race. With profits and attendance at NWS far outranking Bristol, rumors are afloat in the industry. According to a Frontstretch article, this might lead to Bristol losing one of its dates, quite like the possibility that Kansas faces.

Clearly, NASCAR may be up for another wild shake-up. We can only tell with time, so let us see how the 2025 Cup Series season progresses.