Is NASCAR Making Changes to Rear Windshields For 2026?

What’s Happening?

A new NASCAR diecast render has fans wondering if NASCAR is changing the Cup Series rear windshield for 2026.

The 2026 @DEWALTtough x @CBellRacing diecast is officially up for grabs! Be among the first to lock in your #20 Toyota Camry https://t.co/4slyng9nWo pic.twitter.com/gevjthNpEn

— Lionel Racing (@Lionel_Racing) September 23, 2025

Around this time of year, Lionel, the exclusive producer of NASCAR diecasts, begins to release more renders for the 2026 NASCAR season.

While this may be easy to overlook, in the past, these releases have revealed impending changes NASCAR, teams, and OEMs plan to make for the coming year. For example, last season, Ross Chastain’s 2025 render revealed that Chevrolet was removing all Camaro branding, aside from the ZL1 badge, from their cars.

This year, the first diecast render of the 2026 season, Ryan Preece’s Trimble paint scheme, came on August 13, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Pre-orders are open for the No. 60 Ryan Preece 2026 Trimble die-cast!

➡️ https://t.co/dc2STUQACY pic.twitter.com/G9lKO4d2xw

— Lionel Racing (@Lionel_Racing) August 13, 2025

But on Tuesday, when Lionel released their second render for the 2026 season, Christopher Bell’s DeWalt No. 20, fans quickly noticed a small change. On the rear window, the top banner, usually reserved for the driver’s last name, now features Toyota branding.

Though this is not that noteworthy of a change, and one still unconfirmed by NASCAR, it is, once again, another change to these banners in NASCAR, as they have seen multiple tweaks since their introduction to the Cup Series in 2013.

Notable Changes to Windshield Banners in the NASCAR Cup Series:

• 2013 | NASCAR introduces Name Banners with Generation 6 race car; the banner is only on the front windshield and features OEM logos on either side.
• 2017 | NASCAR introduces the rear windshield name banner after shifting the front windshield banner to the new series title sponsor, Monster Energy, with OEM logos remaining unaltered.
• 2020 | The Front windshield banner is changed to read CUP SERIES with OEM logos, after NASCAR introduced their new sponsorship model, the rear banner remains the driver’s last name.
• 2021 | The Front windshield banner is changed to be the driver’s last name with OEM logos again, and the rear banner remains the driver’s last name.
• 2022 | The front windshield banner sees the name shifted to the driver’s left-hand side, the OEM logo is removed from the left-hand side, and the rear banner remains the driver’s last name.

What is interesting, however, is that Preece’s 2024 render does not feature Ford branding. Though this shift to OEM branding could be a recent change, and Preece’s render will be updated in the near future, there is a chance, a highly unlikely one, that NASCAR is letting OEMs decide what goes on the rear banner.

Nonetheless, NASCAR will likely remain uniform in the name banners, and this potential, yet unconfirmed change will end this odd period of last names on both the front and rear name banners.

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