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
Tre Carroll helps Xavier continue success over Georgetown
Feb 28, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Xavier Musketeers guard Roddie Anderson III (0) battles for the loose ball against the Georgetown Hoyas in the first half at the Cintas Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images Tre Carroll scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, Roddie Anderson III added 21 points and Xavier powered past Georgetown 91-84 on Saturday in a Big East Conference game at Cincinnati.
Filip Borovicanin added 18 for Xavier (14-15, 6-12 Big East), which beat Georgetown for the eighth time in nine meetings while winning for just the third time in 11 games overall.
Georgetown (13-16, 5-13) dropped its sixth straight while playing its first game without its starting point guard and leading scorer KJ Lewis, who is out for the season with a left ankle injury that occurred in a loss to Marquette earlier in the week.
Kayvaun Mulready led the Hoyas with 19 points while Malik Mack added 17.
Jeremiah Williams replaced Lewis in the starting lineup and scored 10 points while making his second start of the season, and first since the Big East opener. Williams scored seven points and dished out four assists in the first half as Georgetown took a 39-38 lead into the break.
Xavier withstood a five-minute scoring drought in the first half and ended the first half on a 12-5 run that cut Georgetown’s eight-point advantage to one.
Borovicanin opened the second half with a 3-pointer and then a steal and a breakaway dunk on the next possession to cap off Xavier’s 10-0 run bridging the end of the first half and the end of the second half while putting the Musketeers up 43-39.
Following a Julius Halaifonua layup to bring Georgetown within one at 45-44, Carroll scored Xavier’s next 12 points. Isaiah Walker’s mid-range jumper broke the run but put Xavier ahead 59-53 with 11:34 remaining.
Anderson knocked down a 3-pointer with 8:08 left to put Xavier ahead 70-61 prompting a timeout from Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley.
Xavier led 73-63 on a Borovicanin three-point play with 6:58 left before Georgetown closed within 75-72 on a Vince Iwuchukwu three-point play with 4:38 left. Xavier built the lead back to 10 on a Borovicanin 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Wolves, Nuggets each bring an edge into finale of season series
Jan 31, 2026; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) reacts during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images The Minnesota Timberwolves wrap up a three-game road trip at the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon with a chance to improve their seeding in the Western Conference playoff picture.
Minnesota has won the first two games of its trip and now faces a tough task against its Northwest Division rival.
Denver already secured the tiebreaker in the season series by winning the first three matchups. With both teams holding identical 37-23 records, the winner of Sunday’s game will have sole possession of fourth in the Western Conference standings.
The Nuggets have lost three of their first five games out of the All-Star break, including a 127-121 overtime setback at Oklahoma City on Friday night. Sunday’s game gives them a chance to get back some momentum.
The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic appears to already have a postseason mindset after mixing it up with the Thunder during the loss.
Jokic was knocked down when Luguentz Dort hit him with his hip in the fourth quarter and then confronted the Oklahoma City forward. There was pushing and shoving before Dort was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected.
Jokic, who leads Denver in points (28.7), rebounds (12.6) and assists (10.5), has a casual and deliberate demeanor on the court that belies his competitive nature.
“I think he was reacting to what was being done to him,” Denver head coach David Adelman said. “And his reaction’s not going to be to cower away. He’s competitive.”
Playing Minnesota again should keep that fiery spirit alive for Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets. The teams have forged a rivalry over the last four seasons, including two playoff series.
There is no question about the fiery nature and competitive spirit of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
Edwards missed the first game against the Nuggets this season but is averaging 35.0 points in the two games between the teams. That includes a 44-point performance on Christmas night before he was ejected in overtime for arguing foul calls.
Edwards, who leads the Timberwolves in scoring at 29.6 points a game, doesn’t confine his arguments to opponents and officials. He got into a verbal exchange with head coach Chris Finch after hitting a 3-pointer to seal a 94-88 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
It is a feature of their relationship, according to teammates.
“They go at it. Honestly, they do,” Timberwolves guard Mike Conley said. “They go at it… They have days where they’re getting ready to fight, and then after the game they hug each other.”
Finch confirmed that in an interview on Fox Sports Radio.
“We’re both fiery competitors. It’s been part of our relationship since Day 1. … We say these things to each other and we move on,” Finch said. “We don’t take it personally.”
The task of stopping Jokic will fall mainly on Rudy Gobert, who leads Minnesota in rebounds (11.4) and blocks (1.7). Nobody could stop Jokic when the teams met on Christmas, with the three-time MVP recording a 56-point triple-double, including 18 points in overtime.
Jokic has averaged 36.0 points 15.7 rebounds and 12.0 assists in the three games against the Timberwolves.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cincinnati cruises past Oklahoma State with 3-point barrage
Cincinnati Bearcats forward Baba Miller (18) makes a basket from the two point line in the first half of a NCAA men’s basketball game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and Oklahoma State Cowboys, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. Day Day Thomas heated up from long range, draining seven 3-pointers en route to a 26-point performance, Moustapha Thiam added 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and host Cincinnati rolled to a 91-68 home victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.
The Bearcats (16-13, 8-8 Big 12), which entered No. 54 in the NET rankings, have won five of their last six. Jizzle James and Baba Miller each finished with 11 points for Cincinnati.
Oklahoma State (17-12, 5-11), playing its first game since losing big man Parsa Fallah to a torn ACL, was overwhelmed throughout. Vyctorius Miller led the team with 15 points, while Jaylen Curry and Kanye Clary both added 11 points. The Cowboys have lost six of their last seven games.
The Bearcats seized control early, going on an 11-2 run highlighted by 3-pointers from Thomas and Thiam to lead 12-4 less than four minutes into the game.
Those early minutes foreshadowed the rest of the game.
Cincinnati dominated from the start, leading 51-33 at halftime. The Bearcats shot 53.1% from the floor, made seven three-pointers and won the rebounding battle 20-15 in the first half. They finished with a two-handed dunk by Thiam. Miller was credited with an assist on the play as he found Thiam open underneath.
In the second half, the Bearcats pulled away. They went on an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Thomas to lead 65-37 with just under 15 minutes remaining. Cincinnati continued to extend the lead, reaching as many as 32 points, with an 81-49 advantage after another 3 from Thomas at the 8:22 mark.
Cincinnati finished with 14 made 3s, dished out 24 assists, and had a 24-7 edge in second-chance points. The Bearcats also led for 39:24 of the 40 minutes and improved to 14-3 at home.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday. Cincinnati hosts No. 19 BYU, while Oklahoma State travels to UCF.
–Field Level Media
Tre Carroll helps Xavier continue success over Georgetown
Wolves, Nuggets each bring an edge into finale of season series
