How to Build a Run and Set Up a Pass in NASCAR 25

Blasting up behind someone and diving to the inside has never been a real passing strategy. In NASCAR, you build a run. You set up the corner before the pass happens, not during it.

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Building a run starts two or three corners before the pass. You need to be faster than the car in front, but being faster isn’t enough on its own. You need to be faster at the right moment, which means managing where you gain and where you hold.

Don’t use all your momentum on the first opportunity. If you close up behind someone entering a corner and you’re right on their bumper, you’ve just spent the run and there’s nowhere to go. Back off slightly, let a small gap open, and take a cleaner line through the corner. You come off the exit with more speed and more options.

The pass happens off the corner, not in it. If you can get alongside someone exiting the corner, you have the run. If you’re still trying to get alongside in the braking zone, the timing is off and you’re probably going to lock up or get shut down.

On ovals, the high lane and the low lane both work depending on the track. Study which lane the fastest drivers are using. Passing on the outside is possible but you need a clear run and entry because you’re carrying more speed through the middle. Passing on the inside requires getting alongside early enough that the car in front has to respect your position.

One of the most overlooked moves in NASCAR 25 is the fake. Drive to the outside of the car in front, get them to cover that lane, then go back underneath. It works because the AI (and other players online) react to where you are, not where you’re going.

Patience wins more passes than aggression. Set it up right and the pass takes care of itself.