- San Diego and Chicagoland in, while Mexico City and Chicago Street Race drop out
- Homestead-Miami confirmed as championship finale with Phoenix in playoffs
- Watkins Glen receives new race date in May
- New Hampshire moves to penultimate regular-season race
Nascar has confirmed its 2026 Cup Series schedule, headlined by the All-Star Race moving to Dover Motor Speedway.
In turn, North Wilkesboro Speedway will stage a full-points Cup Series event for the first time since 1996.
Beyond that, the lineup features few surprises. The additions of San Diego and Chicagoland were already anticipated, while neither Mexico City nor the Chicago Street Race return as expected. Both, however, are being targeted for 2027.
As announced in May, Homestead-Miami Speedway will host the 2026 championship finale, with the playoff event at Phoenix Raceway moving to 18th October.
That means that Homestead-Miami will no longer form part of the early-season running. Instead, Watkins Glen International moves to a much earlier date on 10th May to accommodate the reshuffle. Because of this, New Hampshire Motor Speedway – which loses its playoff event next year – will run as the penultimate race of the season.
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“This is a landmark schedule that demonstrates Nascar’s continued innovation with a strong mix of beloved venues and exciting new and returning racetracks for race fans from coast to coast,” said Ben Kennedy, Nascar’s chief venue and racing innovation officer.
“The 2026 Nascar national series schedules celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary with Nascar San Diego, welcome back Cup Series points races to Chicagoland Speedway and North Wilkesboro, takes the Nascar All-Star Race to the Northeast for the first time and brings the Nascar Championship back home to Homestead-Miami Speedway.”
The broadcast schedule will mirror the 2025 season. Amazon Prime Video starts its five-race run with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 24th May, while TNT will cover the In-Season Challenge beginning at Sonoma Raceway on 28th June.
Fox and NBC will once again bookend the season, splitting the remaining races across their broadcast and cable networks.
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