NASCAR champion makes his feelings known about COO Steve O’Donnell’s ‘rotate the championship’ revelation

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski recently expressed his views on the Stock Car Racing Association's talks to change the Championship Four Race venue for the coming years. Keselowski gave names of two tracks he would like to compete in in the final race.

NASCAR is in talks about whether to start rotating the Championship Four race venue from Phoenix Raceway or Homestead-Miami Speedway to different markets in the upcoming years. The governing body's chief operating officer, Steve O'Donnell, went on an interview with the Sport Journal Magazine and expressed his views on the big change.

The Stock Car Association has held the Championship Four Race at Phoenix Raceway since 2020 after the track was completely renovated in 2018 with a budget of $178 million. The track has given NASCAR seven sold-out consecutive Cup Series races. Additionally, it also has the most suitable weather in November when the final race is held.

Steve O'Donnell highlighted that the track has been an incredible host for the Championship Four race, giving back-to-back sellouts. He added:

"So it’s going to be hard to replicate, if we were to move. I would not limit something just to Miami if we were to rotate it. I think you’d have a broader look at venues that could host a championship but short term we’re in Phoenix, we’re extremely happy there and we want to make sure that whatever we do, we continue to grow the sport when it relates to the playoffs.” (via SBJ)

Reflecting upon the same, RFK driver Brad Keselowski shared that he would like to race at Darlington Raceway or Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Championship Four race. He was confused between the tracks and mentioned he would do a poll on his social media handle.

However, the 2025 Cup Series season schedule has been released, and the final race will be held at Phoenix Raceway once again. So if there are any changes, they will be reflected in the 2026 Cup Series season. The Stock Car Association could take a look at options outside Speedway Motorsports and legacy ISC tracks.

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NASCAR announced major changes to the 2025 season's qualifying format

The governing body recently released the revised qualifying and practice format for all three series ahead of the 2025 season. The officials increased the duration of the practice session to a total of 50 minutes. Also, the qualifying session has a major change and will be determined on a single-lap session.

The superspeedway tracks, including Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta tracks, will have an exception. There will be two qualifying laps, and only the top ten drivers in the first lap will enter the second round of qualifying. Additionally, the sanctioning body has added a 50-minute practice session at the Daytona 500 before the qualifying laps.

In an X post, NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass shared the in-depth details of the decision made by the governing body. He wrote:

"Qualifying in 2025 (all series): Only two rounds at superspeedways, where top-10 go to final round. The rest will be one round. Road courses will be split in two groups, 20 minutes each group. Order by metric: 70% previous race finish of car; 30% owner pts."

NASCAR will kick off the 2025 season with the inaugural point race at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025. But before the stock car racing association scheduled a race at Bowman Gray Stadium after 71 years on February 2, 2024.