What’s Happening?

A new rumor circulating in the NASCAR community suggests that drivers may finally get to see more on-track practice time during NASCAR race weekends in 2026.

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Over the past decade, NASCAR fans have become accustomed to the decline in on-track activity during any given race weekend.

While the number of on-track sessions declined in the late 2010s, the first major hit to practice and qualifying came during the COVID-19-affected 2020 season.

After the pandemic hit, NASCAR revised the 2020 schedule, eliminating all practice and qualifying sessions. Despite the hopes of fans and drivers, a slimmed-down version of practice and qualifying remained in 2021, with only eight races hosting a cut-down version of practice and qualifying.

In 2022, practice and qualifying returned for all races; however, since then, sessions have been cut down, with the field split into two groups for two 25-minute practice sessions at all tracks except superspeedways.

While fans clamor for more on-track time, the cost of adding more on-track time, alongside the integration of sim time into teams’ weekly regimens, has led fans to feel that the addition of more practice time for drivers is a lost cause.

But, in a surprising twist, a new rumor claims that NASCAR could be looking at giving all cars 50 minutes of on-track time in 2026.

Talk of More Practice

The wording of this rumor, from the well-known nascarrumornostalgia account, suggests that this might be available at select tracks and would involve a combined practice, rather than two 50-minute sessions for two groups of cars, as indicated by the poster’s use of the phrase “more 50-minute practice sessions.”

For example, by using the term “more”, they might be implying select races could have a setup similar to the 2025 Daytona 500, which featured three 50-minute combined sessions, with no groups.

Though NASCAR has not announced such a change as of press time, this is far from the first time a practice extension has been discussed this season.

During the September 30 episode of The Dale Jr Download, NASCAR legend and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr claimed that he had heard rumors of an expanded practice format for the OAP Series in 2026.

“Also hearing a little rumor, there could be a little more practice back on the schedule next year. . . I’m hearing this more so in Xfinity, that there’s just conversations around, ‘Should we have more weekends [that] there are more practice?’” — Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Much like the wording of the latest wording, Earnhardt suggests this could be at select tracks, with some events maintaining the group practice and qualifying format.

While this would not be an improvement for the fans, it would, of course, give drivers behind the wheel of the car at different tracks throughout the season.

Though this would be a compromise with fans from a competition aspect, if this expansion is one all-car 50-minute session, fans will likely be hungry for more on-track time, with some, in reaction to this rumor, already suggesting NASCAR keep the two groups of 18 to 20 cars and have two 50-minute sessions during a race weekend.

Nonetheless, NASCAR has not announced any changes to practice or qualifying for 2026, though, if they do change the format, as they have done somewhat consistently throughout the past five years, the announcement has come as early as late November (for the 2022 season) and early December (for the 2025 season).

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