Sports
10 storylines to follow for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series
Nov 10, 2024; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) celebrates after winning the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has a plethora of storylines to follow before cars even hit the track. The fourth season of NASCAR’s Next-Gen car is sure to provide plenty of parity, and every driver in the field has a unique outlook for their 2025 campaign.
Here are 10 storylines and questions to follow throughout the 38-week season.
1. Can Kyle Busch get off the schneid?
Busch is one of the greatest drivers in the history of NASCAR, but even he is not immune to a losing streak. 2024 was the first season in Busch’s 20-year career in which the two-time champion failed to win a race, and there’s no indication that Richard Childress Racing will magically show up with race-winning speed right off the bat. However, a hungry driver is a dangerous driver, and Busch will begin his 21st Cup Series campaign by attempting to win the Daytona 500 for the first time. If Busch struggles again in 2025, expect questions regarding his driving future to be asked on a much more frequent basis.
2. Can Denny Hamlin get back to the Championship 4?
Hamlin hasn’t made the Championship 4 since 2021, and the 54-time Cup Series winner is still searching for his first championship. The changes made to the No. 11 team over the offseason didn’t exactly quell the nerves Hamlin fans feel regarding a potential championship run, either. The loss of a longtime partner in FedEx and a newer sponsor in Mavis serve as a flashback to Busch’s unceremonious, sponsor-fueled departure from Joe Gibbs Racing in 2022. Crew chief Chris Gabehart leaving Hamlin for an executive role with JGR could lead to a lack of chemistry between Hamlin and new crew chief Chris Gayle. Regardless of the extenuating circumstances at hand, there’s still pressure on Hamlin to at least find his way back into the Championship 4. At 44 years old, Father Time is drawing closer in the rearview.
3. Can Ty Gibbs break through for his first Cup Series win?
Many in the NASCAR industry have arbitrarily set a benchmark for young Cup Series talent to start performing at a higher level at 100 starts. Enter third-year driver Ty Gibbs, a veteran of 87 Cup Series starts and the 2023 Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Gibbs made the Cup Series playoffs for the first time in 2024, though a late-season slump was disappointing after a white-hot start. It once seemed inevitable that Gibbs would earn his first win in 2024, but the page has turned to 2025 with Gibbs still searching for that elusive first victory. It would be surprising to see Gibbs go winless this year, though the aforementioned crew chief moves at Joe Gibbs Racing could play a factor in the fate of his season. Gayle was atop the pit box for Gibbs during his 2022 Xfinity Series championship run and his first two Cup Series seasons. With Gayle moving next door to the No. 11 team, Gibbs will have to adapt quickly to new crew chief Tyler Allen in order to earn his first trip to victory lane.
4. Can Chase Elliott return to championship form?
No disrespect to Elliott, who returned to victory lane in 2024 at Texas after a 42-race winless streak, but the 2020 champion simply hasn’t been the same since a leg injury early in 2023. You could argue that Elliott was the best driver in the sport from 2020 to 2022, a three-year span in which he won 12 races and made the Championship 4 in three straight seasons. NASCAR’s most popular driver was undeniably consistent a season ago, but there’s work to be done in order to get back into championship contention.
5. Who will be the top dog at Hendrick Motorsports?
One of the most underrated stories in NASCAR over the past two seasons has been the back-and-forth between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron. Over the past two years, Larson has won 10 races to Byron’s nine. Byron has made the Championship 4 in both seasons, while Larson missed out in 2024. It wouldn’t be surprising to see either HMS driver lead the Cup Series in wins in 2025, nor would it be surprising to see Larson or Byron hoist the Bill France Cup at season’s end. The battle between two of the best drivers in the sport, driving two of the best cars in the sport, is a fascinating story that will add a new chapter on a weekly basis.
6. Can Ryan Blaney continue his ascension?
The best way to describe the last two seasons of Ryan Blaney’s career? Legacy defining. After winning the 2023 title, Blaney came less than four tenths of a second away from becoming the first back-to-back champion of the playoff era. A narrow championship loss to Team Penske teammate Joey Logano should provide a little extra fire in Blaney’s belly as he aims to make the Championship 4 for the third consecutive season.
7. Spire, Front Row on the rise
Front Row Motorsports and Spire Motorsports were once field-filling organizations with little hope of being faster than any other car on the track. Now, both organizations have built driver lineups poised to take them to the postseason. Spire boasts a three-driver lineup comprised of Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell, 2024 ROTY Carson Hocevar and fourth-year driver Justin Haley. Front Row is home to fourth-year driver Todd Gilliland, third-year driver Noah Gragson and 2022 Truck Series champion Zane Smith. Don’t be surprised if both teams put at least one driver in the Cup Series playoffs.
8. Different ends of the rookie spectrum
The 2025 Cup Series Rookie of the Year battle is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing in recent memory. Only two full-time drivers — Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen and 23XI Racing’s Riley Herbst — will compete for the honor, but the drivers come from completely different ends of NASCAR’s rookie spectrum. van Gisbergen is a 35-year-old road-course specialist who won in his first Cup Series start, while Herbst is a 25-year-old who underperformed during his tenure in the Xfinity Series. Herbst has more stock-car experience and will likely be quicker on the ovals, but van Gisbergen’s road-course prowess and ability to learn on the fly will make for a fascinating tussle between the Cup Series’ two first-year drivers.
9. Can anyone defeat Penske when it matters most?
Roger Penske has figured out the secret formula to winning NASCAR championships in the modern era: simply blow the competition out of the water come playoff time. That philosophy has won “The Captain” three consecutive Cup Series championships (Logano in 2022 and 2024 and Blaney in 2023). There’s no excuse for the rest of the field to ignore this trend, and teams will have to decide whether or not going for broke in an attempt to win more races is worth potentially damaging their championship chances.
10. Will the dreaded “championship hangover” bite Joey Logano?
Since the elimination-style format was introduced to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014, Logano has made the Championship 4 six times and won the title thrice. Interestingly enough, none of those Championship 4 appearances have come in consecutive seasons, and Logano is yet to make the championship race in a year that ends in an odd number. That statistic may be coincidental, but Logano should heed prior tales of championship hangovers that have haunted drivers before him. As Tony Stewart (2006), Brad Keselowski (2013) and Logano himself (2023) will tell you, a Champagne shower doesn’t always make the grass greener.
–Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
Sports
Flyers strike in 3rd to snap Bruins' 8-game point streak
Feb 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (27) reaches for the puck against the Boston Bruins in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images The Philadelphia Flyers scored back-to-back goals to start the third period and held on to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Travis Konecny and Jamie Drysdale both scored and assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which has won two of its three games since the Olympic break. Drysdale tallied the eventual game-winner with 8:05 left.
Sean Couturier added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining, Christian Dvorak recorded two assists, and Dan Vladar was excellent with a 26-save performance to help the Flyers win.
Boston’s Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period goal that cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1.
Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves for Boston, which entered on an eight-game point streak (5-0-3).
With the game scoreless through two periods, the Bruins looked to take a 1-0 lead 1:05 into the third as Hampus Lindholm’s point shot beat Vladar, but the goal was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference.
Instead, Konecny scored first at 3:41. After Dvorak’s shot into the zone hit a stanchion behind the net, he recovered the bounce and made a tight backhand feed to his oncoming linemate to bury into an open side of the net.
Drysdale doubled Philadelphia’s lead at 11:55 by slipping down the slot on a Konecny pass and firing an open wrist shot past Swayman’s blocker.
The Bruins found an answer from McAvoy 1:08 later. Pavel Zacha won the faceoff right to Hampus Lindholm, who found his fellow defenseman cutting to the net to make it a 2-1 game.
Swayman followed up that goal by stopping Konecny on a breakaway with 5:36 left, but Boston could not find an equalizer.
Philadelphia had a 7-6 shot advantage in a scoreless first. Swayman made one of his best early saves halfway through as Trevor Zegras fired a turnaround shot from the slot.
Vladar made two close-range stops on Morgan Geekie within the first eight minutes of the second period, including one early in Boston’s second power play. The first stop occurred when David Pastrnak set up Geekie for a one-timer in the slot at the 5:00 mark.
Less than a minute after Vladar’s second stop on Geekie, Swayman returned to the highlight reel at the other end of the ice. Konecny’s wraparound put the puck on goal before Swayman robbed Dvorak with the glove on a rebound effort coming to the doorstep.
After Boston’s first man advantage came up empty, Vladar made another big save as Sean Kuraly separated from the Flyers’ defense for a breakaway with 5:43 left in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Heat rally in 4th quarter to take down Rockets
Feb 28, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) argues with Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Bam Adebayo posted a double-double, and Andrew Wiggins ignited a fourth-quarter rally after returning from an in-game injury to lead the Miami Heat to a 115-105 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Adebayo paired 24 points with 11 rebounds to help the Heat snap a two-game skid. Pelle Larsson (20 points) and Tyler Herro (18) contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Heat, who also received double-digit efforts from Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Kel’el Ware (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) off the bench. The Heat shot 50% overall from the floor.
But it was Wiggins, who took an elbow to the jaw from Rockets center Alperen Sengun and needed stitches in his cheek to close the gash, who led a critical fourth-quarter surge. He assisted on a Ware alley-oop and a Larsson 3 to put the Heat ahead 100-92 before his transition dunk resulted in a three-point play and a 111-103 lead with 2:24 remaining.
Wiggins finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 32 points and added eight assists for the Rockets. Amen Thompson (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tari Eason (10 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles, while Reed Sheppard chipped in 14 points and five assists for Houston.
The Rockets turned an early run, capped by a Sheppard 3, into a 14-4 lead, only for the Heat to respond with an 8-0 rally. Adebayo hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 27-26 lead, and the Heat carried a 32-28 advantage into the second quarter after hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first.
Miami extended its lead to double digits on a Ware tip-in, and led 41-28 before the Rockets scored their first basket of the second quarter with an Aaron Holiday 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark. That ended a 19-2 run by the Heat and sparked another Houston rally, featuring Sheppard and Durant combining to hit three 3-pointers and tie the game at 48.
The Rockets led 52-51 at the intermission after Miami missed 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braeden Carrington explodes for 32 points as Wisconsin routs Washington
Feb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Braeden Carrington (0) shoots a three point shot over Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo (5) during the second half at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Braeden Carrington came off the bench Saturday to score a career-high 32 points and Wisconsin knocked down 17 3-pointers to earn a 90-73 Big Ten Conference road win over Washington in Seattle.
Nick Boyd added 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Badgers (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten), while Nolan Winter chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Wisconsin canned 44.7 % of its 38 3-point attempts, with Carrington going 9 of 15.
Freshman Hannes Steinbach led the Huskies (14-15, 6-12) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, his 18th double-double of the season and the most by a Big Ten player since Jared Sullinger of Ohio State collected the same total 29 years ago. Zoom Diallo scored 21 points.
Washington made 46% from the field but simply couldn’t mute the Badgers’ potent perimeter game. Bouncing back from an 85-71 upset loss Wednesday night at Oregon, Wisconsin earned a 39-35 edge on the boards and committed only six turnovers.
The final margin flattered the Huskies a bit. The Badgers led by as many as 28 points in the second half and cleared the bench by the time Washington scored the final seven points to make the margin more respectable.
Wisconsin set an early tone by stepping up its defense from the loss at Oregon. It held the Huskies without a field goal for a 6:04 stretch of the first half and opened up a 17-4 lead with 13:28 left when Carrington converted a 3-pointer.
Steinbach made two foul shots with 6:51 left to pull Washington within 22-14 but the Badgers pulled away when Carrington hit a 3-pointer and fed Winter for a layup and a 27-14 cushion.
With Boyd canning a short jumper from the baseline, Wisconsin went into halftime with a 36-21 advantage. The Huskies made only 7 of 28 field goals in the first 20 minutes and were outrebounded 25-17.
Boyd led the charge with 14 points in the half, sinking 7 of 14 shots from the field.
–Field Level Media
Flyers strike in 3rd to snap Bruins' 8-game point streak
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