Before a Horsepower Increase, NASCAR Wants to Determine What Tracks are Eligible
What’s Happening? Though there is growing optimism that NASCAR will increase horsepower for its short track package, the sport still has…
Despite NASCAR fans’ hopes that an increase in horsepower could be on the way this season, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer recently claimed that the sport is looking to 2026 to make the change.
The NASCAR Next Gen, or Generation Seven, car’s tenure as NASCAR’s premier stock car has been unstable to say the least.
While fans love the car’s performance on intermediate tracks, its showings on short tracks, road courses, and superspeedways have been hit or miss with the fanbase. Road courses and superspeedways have had their moments, but short-track racing, once the hottest ticket in NASCAR, has taken a major hit since 2022.
Every time NASCAR heads to a short track, the same back-and-forth seemingly ensues. Drivers fail to pass one another on Sunday, and come Monday, fans and drivers hand out their suggestions to save short track racing in the Cup Series.
While several severe changes, ranging into the realm of overhauls, are often suggested, one change that many agree on is an increase in horsepower beyond the current 650 to 670 HP package. This grassroots campaign has pushed from social media and into the NASCAR offices, with an increase looking ever more likely.
In May, Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates Engines, claimed that a slight increase “wouldn’t be much of a change,” adding fuel to the fire of a hopeful fanbase. Shortly thereafter, NASCAR’s Mike Forde even suggested that this change could happen before years end.
But with just four traditional short tracks left on the calendar, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, has clarified that a horsepower increase would be for the 2026 season.
Sawyer told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday morning, “I feel like we’re having positive conversations. There’s still a lot that goes into that. Obviously, it’s a 2026 initiative to get that across the line.”
Sawyer said that the sports stakeholders are trying to determine which tracks will receive an increase based on what they deem to be eligible short tracks.
What’s Happening? Though there is growing optimism that NASCAR will increase horsepower for its short track package, the sport still has…
NASCAR has tried several methods to fix the Gen Seven car’s short track racing issues. As part of these conversations with the sports stakeholders, NASCAR wants to make sure that they agree that an increase is the right change. While horsepower may not increase in 2025, Sawyer ensures that NASCAR is on the side of an increase, saying that they believe it is the right call.
“We still have to make sure that, first and foremost, that it is the right thing, which we believe it is,” Sawyer said.
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