The Complete 2026 NASCAR National Series Schedules: Cup, O’Reilly, & Truck Series
What’s Happening? The official 2026 NASCAR National Series schedules are out, and there are quite a few notable changes for all…
No matter how much NASCAR hypes up its annual schedule release, the final result will never satisfy every fan. The 2026 NASCAR Schedule is no different, with a short list of major changes to the schedule, traditions, and markets, to name a few.
What’s Happening? The official 2026 NASCAR National Series schedules are out, and there are quite a few notable changes for all…
Look, no one is complaining about the addition of another intermediate race to the calendar. While it’s still a pretty good distance from the city of Chicago, Chicagoland, once viewed as a failure of NASCAR’s late 1990s and early 2000s manifest destiny, is returning like a kind to the calendar. However, it is unclear just how long that will be for, as NASCAR would like to return to Chicago in 2027.
That said, the track’s first lifetime, from 2001 to 2019, was plagued by poor racing and poor attendance. While it seems like a guarantee that the track’s first Gen Seven race will be better than past outings at the track, attendance is likely going to be the talk of the town next summer. While fans are already saying that they will go, that is, of course, a lot easier than actually being there.
This addition to the calendar is popular, but if the stands look like they did in 2019 on NASCAR’s fabled July Fourth race date, fan opinions could sour.
For 2026, NASCAR changed the schedule a lot, and one region that saw major changes was the Northeast.
While this region may not be considered the best for late-season playoff races, Watkins Glen and Dover were once staples of NASCAR’s fall schedule. In 2026, NASCAR will remove New Hampshire Motor Speedway from the playoffs again and bump Dover Motor Speedway, now with one non-points-paying race, back to spring (which we will get to in a moment).
But perhaps most interesting of all is that Watkins Glen International, one of the two road courses that has hosted NASCAR for so long, will lose its traditional August race weekend and be moved to May.
While this may not seem like a major change, NASCAR fans are creatures of habit and are, let’s say, disappointed by this news. Overall, it is unlikely that this will affect attendance; fans in the Northeast are weary of the weather that time of year.
NASCAR will race on the streets, tarmac, or commercial roads of San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado next summer. This race technically replaces NASCAR’s international date in Mexico City from this season and, most importantly, returns NASCAR to the ultra-valuable Southern California media market.
NASCAR and SoCal (and racing in SoCal) have a rough history. Riverside International Raceway and Ontario Motor Speedway, the state’s first 2.5-mile oval, are early examples that come to mind. Both were eventually sold and demolished as the city crept closer and closer.
In 1997, Auto Club Speedway in Fontana seemed like a long-term solution before NASCAR sold off large portions of it in 2023. Though NASCAR planned to turn what’s left into a short track, as of press time, there has yet to be any official word on whether that is still the plan. The sport filled that gap for 2024 with the final season of the Clash at the LA Coliseum.
In San Diego, NASCAR has temporarily patched the SoCal market. This is not without controversy, as the state does not have an oval track on the schedule for a second season in a row. No matter how cool San Diego may seem, the sport is approaching a crossroads where a long-term decision must be made about Auto Club and SoCal as a whole.
What’s Happening? EchoPark Speedway, or Atlanta Motor Speedway, is often touted as the most exciting track on the NASCAR circuit. What…
This year, while the Cup and Truck Series race at Darlington in late August, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Pacific Northwest for the final road course race of the season.
Portland International Raceway has been a part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series calendar for four years now, but it will be removed next season. As part of the 2026 schedule for the soon-to-be-named NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Schedule, the Series will race twice at Darlington Raceway, removing Portland from the map.
This removes not only Portland from the equation, but also the entire Pacific Northwest, for at least a season. Much like their friends in Denver and the greater state of Colorado, though fans may not recognize them as the most well-known for racing, this region produces some of the best dirt track races and racers.
Now, during a media availability, Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Venue and Racing Innovation Officer, said that the sport remains interested in racing in that region, “We’re always looking at new markets we could explore in the future, and the Pacific Northwest has always been high on our list.”
But is there really a good reason (beyond it being a major geographical outlier) to remove the Northwest from the 2026 schedule, even if it may be temporary? Furthermore, how much longer can NASCAR overlook an entire portion of the country?
Well, this one blew the socks off everyone, with reports surfacing late last week that SMI and NASCAR were swapping Dover’s final points race weekend for North Wilkesboro’s All-Star race.
While Dover will have a triple header, or as NASCAR calls it, a “Three Wide Weekend,” something uncommon for recent all-star races, it is a shame that one of NASCAR’s most storied venues is off the points-paying calendar. But, on the other hand, Dover’s racing in the Gen Seven era hasn’t been great, and Wilkesboro will complete its redemption arc.
It seems like NASCAR and SMI made this decision based on fans, with Ben Kennedy saying that “about 70 percent of our fans and four out of five 18—to 34-year-olds that asked for North Wilkesboro to move into a points event.” This is reassuring and concerning, as fans may not be the best measuring stick for deciding the future of race tracks, but at least they listened to the voting.
While this is absolutely controversial, and it appears we will have the first All-Star Race during daylight since the 1991 Winston, there is one overlooked aspect of this swap. NASCAR is not hosting the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Wilkesboro in 2026, opting for a Cup and Truck double header.
This is despite past claims from Dale Earnhardt Jr. that he would race at the track if NASCAR’s secondary series got a race at the track. So, it feels like even Wilkesboro still lost out on this deal.
What’s Happening? Though he is technically retired from NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr has laid out the terms for a future return…
Let us know your thoughts on this! Join the discussion on Discord or X, and remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for more updates.
EchoPark Speedway, or Atlanta Motor Speedway, is often touted as the most exciting track on the NASCAR circuit. What was first seen as a Frankenstein experiment, Marcus Smith’s idea to turn AMS into a baby Daytona worked out in the end. We’ve gotten great race after great race and tonight was no different as fans saw Tyler Reddick power by Carson Hocevar to go two in a row to start the season.
But not everyone had a season to remember. Many drivers and teams had a season that they’d sooner forget. These are the biggest losers of the 2026 EchoPark Speedway racing weekend.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race officials rightly got blasted online by fans after they made the extremely questionable decision to put the Truck race on Saturday on the weather clock. That would have been an understandable move if circumstances were different. But they caught flak because 1.) EchoPark Speedway has lights, 2.) the weather had moved out for the weekend, and 3.)…umm…they were only 10 laps shy from the scheduled distance anyway.
Now, we know who the defenders are. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race was slated to follow, but NASCAR has pushed races off in the past. And really, how much time would the CW have lost? Ten minutes? Twenty? If that? That, in my book, makes the NCTS officials some of the biggest losers on the weekend. They owe us fans ten more measly laps for racing!
Also Read:
Of any driver currently in the Chevy ranks, none has had the support thrown behind them like Corey Day. Day, a protege of proven NASCAR champion Kyle Larson, apparently has turned some heads on the dirt scene. Makes sense, since Larson himself said that he’d rather win the Chili Bowl than the Daytona 500. But unlike other drivers, such as Connor Zilisch, who have excelled in other racing disciplines outside of NASCAR, Day’s career so far has been lukewarm at best. And his race yesterday was the epitome of a rookie race, ladened with senseless mistakes.
The incident that hurt the most was the one where he wrecked his fellow HMS/JRM teammates, Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. He simply just took them out while racing for the race lead. Though he was, somehow, able to rebound to finish the race in the 4th position, yesterday was a sloppy performance that even Corey himself acknowledges that he’d rather put behind him.
Also Read:
Chastain did it again! And now, the feelings are mixed. Remember when Ross Chastain used to just send drivers willy-nilly, and it really got on fans’ nerves? Well, thankfully, he’s calmed down in recent years and has become a more respectable veteran of the sport. That is not to say that he still doesn’t have his…moments. Saturday night at the O’Reilly Auto Parts race, Ross Chastain, going for the win, entered turn 1 and sent leader Austin Hill.
Hill was the overwhelming favorite to win this race, and fans have grown sick of him. So, really, this was a welcome return to form for Chastain, a version of him that used to be loathed by fans. Thus, while fans might have won out by Chastain doing what he does best and slaying Austin Hill, the RCR team, and really, anyone who has Chastain in their rearview mirror in the closing laps, are the real losers this weekend.
Also Read:
There were a couple of drivers who ended 2025 on a sour note and were looking to turn things around and start 2026 strong. One of those has to be Josh Berry and his entire Wood Brothers team. After floundering around with Harrison Burton for a few seasons, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford got the shot in the arm that they needed with a new crew chief and Josh Berry as their new driver. They led a bunch of laps at Atlanta in 2025, only for a wreck with 10 laps to go to take them out of contention. Not to worry, though: they followed it up with a win at Las Vegas.
But since that win, the team suffered a steep decline heading into the summer months. By the time the postseason rolled around, they had the single worst Playoff performance in history with three straight last-place finishes. Though he had a promising start to the season with a 9th-place run in the Daytona 500, it was the same old same old tonight. Berry showed some speed in the first stage but ultimately crashed after Christopher Bell forced the issue in the beginning of Stage 2. It’s a familiar routine for the Wood Brothers. Yet another last-place finish. That makes them one of the biggest losers of the weekend. If only they could have capitalized.
Also Read:
This one’s a tired subject, so I won’t dwell on it too long. Kyle Busch’s late career decline at Richard Childress Racing should be studied. Though he showed speed early on, it was yet again a single-car spin that ended his day prematurely. Granted, he didn’t spin completely on his own. He was tagged from behind by Noah Gragson. But, that was after he checked up twice and recklessly pulled up in front of him in a hole that was barely there. Yet another disappointing outing for Rowdy Nation.
Also Read:
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
The checkered flag has flown in the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season. And, at the end of the day, it was Tyler Reddick who went back-to-back to win at EchoPark Speedway. Tonight, Reddick became the sixth NASCAR Cup Series driver to win the first two races of the season. He is the first since NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth did it to kick off the 2009 season.
But, of course, Reddick wasn’t the only one to have a great start to the season. Several drivers leave Atlanta with a great points day, including Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney. Here are the highlights of tonight’s race:
From an awful showing in the 2025 Playoffs to yet another last-place finish, Josh Berry’s 2026 season is off to a rough start. Today, he got together with Ty Gibbs after Gibbs had an awful start to the year last year. The No. 54 was able to turn it around later in the season, though. But, for their 2026 outing, there’s a lot left to be desired. Check it out.
Also Read:
Kyle Busch’s 2025 season was abysmal. But, after he put his No. 8 RCR Chevy on the pole for the 2026 Daytona 500, things seemed to be looking up. He smartly survived last week by lying back on the last lap and safely navigating through the crash, finishing 15th. And he was a contender early in this race. However, late, Kyle Busch continued his dismal legacy at RCR by spinning after contact with Noah Gragson. His day ended prematurely. Check it out:
Also Read:
We got our first big crash of the race at Lap 224 when both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got loose in front of the field. You can read all about that incident with the link below:
Also Read:
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Things started to get real for the NASCAR Cup Series drivers as we got inside 40 laps to go. We got our first Big One of the afternoon at Lap 224. It was triggered as the field came out of Turn 4 and entered the dogleg. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, both whose cars were upset by the dirty air, got together. Logano was able to scoot on virtually unscathed. However, Hamlin turned in front of the pack, collecting several stars and heavy hitters. Here’s what happened:
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
