Realignment 2020 Cup Series The 2020 schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series will undergo a series of significant changes. • The
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway will move behind the West Coast swing to March 15, 2020, returning to its pre-2010 date of mid-March. • The race at
Homestead–Miami Speedway will no longer serve as the final race of the season ending a tradition that dated back to 2002 and bringing an end to
Ford Championship Weekend. The race date will move to March 22, 2020, following the race at Atlanta, and become known as the
Dixie Vodka 400. • After 21 years of being NASCAR's Fourth of July weekend event (and 60 of 61 years overall), the
Coke Zero Sugar 400 at
Daytona International Speedway will move to August and become the final race of NASCAR's "regular season". The
Brickyard 400, run at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will switch race weekends with Daytona. • The
Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at
Martinsville Speedway will be run under the lights for the first time on May 9, Mother's Day Weekend. •
Kansas Speedway's spring race, the
Super Start Batteries 400 that has been run under the lights on
Mother's Day Weekend will move from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon and be held on May 31, 2020, after the
Coca-Cola 600. • Both events at
Pocono Raceway will be run on consecutive days the weekend of June 27–28. •
Dover International Speedway's second date moves to late August, marking the first time the race has not been in NASCAR's postseason. • The
Southern 500 at
Darlington Raceway and the
Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at
Bristol Motor Speedway will both become Playoff races in place of Dover and Homestead. This will mark the first time since the inaugural Chase for the NEXTEL Cup in 2004 that Darlington will host a postseason event (that race was given to Texas in the
Ferko lawsuit in 2005) and the first postseason race of any kind for Bristol. • The Championship Round of the Playoffs will be conducted at
Phoenix Raceway on November 8. This will be the first Phoenix race to close out the season. Due to this and the consolidation of the Pocono doubleheader, the 2020 season will actually end one week earlier than in the past. Usually the season finale is held on third weekend in November. Those dates being anywhere from November 16 to November 22. • The
Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond will move back to Sunday afternoon, similar to 2015-2017 when it was run on a Sunday afternoon. This was done because the two Martinsville Speedway races will be night races in 2020, as both races will start in the day and end at night. • There will be two off weeks between Loudon and Michigan to accommodate the NBC networks coverage of the
2020 Summer Olympics, meaning the off week for the
U.S. Open Golf Championship that Fox instituted will be removed. This prevents a conflict that happened at the 2016 Olympics, when NBC moved the Watkins Glen race to their USA Network. NBC's half starts on the weekend of that golf championship.
Xfinity Series •
Atlanta will no longer be the second race of the season and moves a month later to become the fifth race of the season, and also the first race after the West Coast swing. • The order of races in the West Coast swing changes, with the series now going to
Auto Club Speedway (Fontana) before
Phoenix Raceway (Phoenix) instead of the other way around as it had been in the past. Because there will be no race in between Daytona and the West Coast swing, Las Vegas will now be the second race of the season (instead of the third) and the flip-flop of California and Phoenix will be the third and fourth races. (Phoenix had been the fourth race previously and now is still the fourth race after this switch.) • After being the season-finale for the Xfinity Series since 1995 and all three national series since 2002,
Homestead–Miami Speedway lost its place as the last race of the season and will instead have its race in March between Atlanta and
Texas on a weekend that had previously been an off weekend which will now be in April the week after
Bristol. • After previously having two races on the schedule,
Richmond lost its spring date in favor of a race at
Martinsville in October, which marks the series' first trip to the track in 14 years, when it hosted a race for one year in
2006 (in between when the series stopped going to
Pikes Peak after
2005 and started going to
Montreal in
2007). The race at Martinsville in October will be the second-to-last race of the season and the last race of the Round of 8 in the playoffs. • After being held sometime in August every year it has been on the schedule,
Mid-Ohio moves earlier in the season to become the first race held after
Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend, replacing
Pocono. • Pocono's race will be held on the last week of June, replacing
Chicagoland. The race will be held on a Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday afternoon as part of the new "doubleheader-weekend" where the Cup Series will run both of their races at the track on the same weekend on consecutive days (on Saturday in addition to the Truck Series and Sunday in addition to the Xfinity Series). • Chicago's race moves a week earlier than it was in 2019. It now falls on Father's Day weekend, which had previously been an off-weekend for the series, and that off-weekend was moved to July after the race at
New Hampshire. • After having hosted a night race on the Fourth of July weekend since
2002 in the Xfinity Series,
Daytona's summer race will now be in August, trading places with
Indianapolis. •
Iowa's second race moves back a week, on the weekend where
Watkins Glen had been. • After Mid-Ohio's race moved back to late May/early June,
Road America's race moved into that weekend in August from where it had been previously later in the month. •
Watkins Glen moved two weeks later in place of the
Bristol Night Race, which will now be a month later and part of the playoffs. •
Dover’s second race was knocked out of the playoffs and into the regular seasons as a result of Bristol being put in. That race at Dover will now be held on August 22 (the weekend where Road America had been). • Since Labor Day falls later in the year in 2020, the race at
Daytona (Indy in 2019) will now be held before
Darlington instead of after so Darlington can remain on Labor Day weekend. • The race at
Richmond will now be earlier in September and become the last race before the start of the playoffs based on how the schedule works and
Las Vegas Motor Speedway moves later in the month and into the playoffs. • The Charlotte Roval race is now later in the fall and in October instead of September. • After being the second-to-last race of the season for many years,
Phoenix Raceway (Phoenix) will be the last race of the season after Homestead was bumped back to March. However, because of how the schedule works (only one off-weekend in the playoffs instead of two), it will remain on the same weekend in early November, and the season will end a week earlier than in the past. Additionally, because of the schedule changes, Homestead and Mid-Ohio will now be
Fox races and Pocono as well as the new Martinsville race will be
NBC races. It will be the first time Fox has ever broadcast a NASCAR Xfinity race at Homestead. Mid-Ohio will mark Fox's first broadcast of a road course race in the Xfinity Series since
Mexico City in
2006 (which was under the old 2001-2006 TV contract).
Truck Series • After being the season-finale for the Truck Series since 2002,
Homestead–Miami Speedway lost its place as the last race of the season and will instead have its race in March between Atlanta and Texas • The Truck Series will return to
Richmond Raceway for the first time since 2005 •
Michigan International Speedway will serve as the final race of the regular season •
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will host the Playoff opener for the Gander Trucks • The Round of 10 will end at
Bristol Motor Speedway • The Round of 8 will end at
Martinsville Speedway • The Championship Round of the Playoffs will be conducted at
Phoenix Raceway on November 6. This will be the first Phoenix race to close out the season
2020 coronavirus pandemic changes Cup Series • The
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway and the
Dixie Vodka 400 at
Homestead–Miami Speedway were originally announced on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic to take place without fans in attendance, but one day later on March 13, 2020, NASCAR announced that the two Cup races (including support races) would be postponed. • On March 16, 2020, NASCAR announced all race events through May 3 have been postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. • On April 17, 2020, NASCAR announced that
Martinsville Speedway race weekend on May 8–9 had been postponed, although the sanctioning body affirmed its commitment to running a full 36-race schedule. • On April 30, 2020, NASCAR announced a revised schedule for the month of May, with two Cup races at
Darlington Raceway and two points-paying races at
Charlotte Motor Speedway, including the
Coca-Cola 600 that will be run behind closed doors. The Charlotte races, however, began a new policy that track owner
Sonic Automotive, parent of Speedway Motorsports, would implement at all events behind closed doors. Owners of condominiums and office space at the respective circuits were allowed to attend the races in their respective buildings, which at Charlotte meant spectators would be allowed in condominiums above Turn 1. Darlington's newly added spring date would become permanent in 2021. • On May 8, 2020, NASCAR announced that
Sonoma Raceway and
Chicagoland Speedway would not host Cup races in 2020, and that
Richmond Raceway's postponed spring date would not be rescheduled. Eventually, on September 29, 2020, NASCAR closed Chicagoland Speedway. • On May 14, 2020, NASCAR announced another revised schedule, this time to show the races planned for the end of May through June 21. These tracks include
Bristol Motor Speedway,
Atlanta Motor Speedway,
Martinsville Speedway,
Homestead–Miami Speedway, and
Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR also announced a continuation of its empty stands policy for those races. As was the policy in Charlotte, spectators were allowed in Atlanta at the Turn 4 condominiums (a similar rule was used in INDYCAR at Texas for their Turn 2 units). NASCAR invited guests for Homestead, and began limited spectators at Talladega. • With the exception of the
Coca-Cola 600, all races starting with NASCAR's return at Darlington through the Homestead race at minimum will feature no practice or qualifying. Teams will unload, have cars inspected, and race. The Coca-Cola 600 will feature qualifying only a few hours before the race but no practice. • On July 8, NASCAR announced the next phase of revisions to the schedule through the conclusion of the regular season in August; this includes twin race weekends at Dover and Michigan (with the races shortened to 500 kilometers each), and the
Go Bowling at The Glen being replaced by the
Daytona Grand Prix — NASCAR's first ever road course race at Daytona International Speedway. It was reported that the replacement of the Watkins Glen race was necessitated by travel restrictions imposed by the state of
New York, which currently require 14 days
self-isolation for anyone entering the state from areas designated as having large numbers of recent COVID-19 cases (including North Carolina, where the majority of NASCAR teams and staff are based). Fans may be admitted at events on a case-by-case basis depending on local health orders.
Xfinity Series • The
EchoPark 250 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway and the
Hooters 250 at
Homestead–Miami Speedway were originally announced on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic to take place without fans in attendance, but one day later on March 13, 2020, NASCAR announced that the two Cup races (including support races) would be postponed. • The
Dash 4 Cash races were supposed to be at
Texas Motor Speedway,
Bristol Motor Speedway,
Talladega Superspeedway and
Dover International Speedway, but after all the COVID-19 schedule changes, they changed to Atlanta, Homestead, and Talladega with Bristol now serving as the qualification race for the Dash 4 Cash. Despite being in the middle of the races that do have it, the Saturday Homestead race will not be a Dash 4 Cash race. • On July 8, 2020, NASCAR announced the series' schedule in the month of August. This included the move of the
Watkins Glen race to the
Daytona infield road course as a result of failing to get a waiver of Governor
Andrew Cuomo's 14 day quarantine rule for anyone entering the state of New York from states that are COVID-19 hot spots, which includes North Carolina, where NASCAR teams are based. In that announcement, it was also made official that the standalone race at
Mid-Ohio race would be cancelled and replaced, and the same would go for the June
Michigan race, which had been scheduled in June but when the Cup Series races became a doubleheader, the date clashed with
Road America, despite being a standalone race. • On August 6, 2020, NASCAR announced that an additional race at
Talladega would replace the cancelled Mid-Ohio race and will be part of the Xfinity Series playoffs. An additional race at
Richmond would replace the cancelled Michigan event. In that announcement, it was also revealed that the Xfinity Series playoff opener has been moved to
Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Truck Series • On March 12, 2020, it was announced that the
Vet Tix/Camping World 200 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway and the
Baptist Health 200 at
Homestead–Miami Speedway would take place without fans in attendance due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, the following day, NASCAR announced that those races (along with the Cup and Xfinity races on those same weekends, also at Atlanta and Homestead) would be outright postponed instead. • On July 8, 2020, NASCAR announced the series' schedule in the month of August. This included the addition of a race at the
Daytona infield road course which replaced the cancelled Iowa race. In that announcement, it was also made official that the standalone race at
Eldora would be cancelled and replaced and the same would go for the
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park playoff race.
Gateway remained on the schedule despite being a standalone race. Additionally, because of the loss of these two races, the Gateway race became part of the regular season instead of the first race of the playoffs, and Kansas and Texas will be in the playoffs. The field will be set by a random draw, similar to
NASCAR Cup Series.
Realignment 2021 Cup Series • The Clash will be moved from the Sunday before the Daytona 500 to the Tuesday before (on February 9), in an effort to condense Speedweeks down to one week and also because of
Super Bowl LV scheduling in nearby Tampa. The race will also be moved from the oval to the infield road course for the first time. The original intent of the change was a cost savings move to allow sixth-generation chassis for road course events to be used. NASCAR had intended to launch the new seventh-generation chassis from Technique at the Daytona 500, and with an insufficient number of chassis available, teams would use the sixth-generation chassis for the Daytona race. However, because of the pandemic, the release of the new chassis will be delayed to 2022, but the use of a road course chassis would save costs. For reference, there was one crash-related
safety car at the Daytona road course round, while at the
2020 Busch Clash, four incidents occurred, each between 3 and 11 cars involved during the event, with only five cars finishing on the lead lap, and the winner,
Erik Jones, doing so with a damaged car. The Daytona 500 will be held on Sunday, February 14. •
Phoenix Raceway will host Cup races on March 7 and November 7, the latter being the championship date. •
Nashville Superspeedway will host a Cup race, scheduled for Sunday, June 20 (Father's Day). It will be the first time the speedway will host a NASCAR Cup Series event, and the first time the track has hosted any NASCAR events since
2011. In order to put the track on the schedule, its owner, Dover Motorsports, moved one of their two Cup races at
Dover (a track which they also own) to Nashville. • On September 29, it was reported that
Kentucky Speedway and
Chicagoland Speedway would not be on the 2021 schedule, • On September 30, NASCAR announced that
Atlanta Motor Speedway would expand to two races, picking up the
Quaker State 400 from Kentucky. • On the same day,
Road America was added back to the schedule for the first time since a Grand National race 65 years prior. The race is scheduled for July 4, replacing the race weekend at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. • With the release of the 2021 schedule, NASCAR announced that its race at Indianapolis would be run on the track's road course configuration. • The Cup Series will also race on dirt for the first time since 1970 as the spring race at
Bristol Motor Speedway will have the concrete half-mile covered in dirt. • The All-Star Weekend, traditionally held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, moves to Texas Motor Speedway and becomes the last race weekend telecast by
NASCAR on Fox. The open weekend has its slot filled by a new race at
Circuit of the Americas. As a consequence of gaining the All-Star race, Texas goes down to one points race.
Xfinity Series • Circuit of the Americas (in Austin, Texas) is added for the first time. • Nashville Superspeedway returns for the first time since
2011. • Auto Club Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Kentucky Speedway are removed from the schedule. • Auto Club Speedway was initially on the schedule, but was replaced by an event at the Daytona Road Course due to COVID-19 regulations. • Atlanta and Martinsville will go from hosting one race to two. This is the first time Atlanta has hosted two races, while Martinsville will host two races for the first time since 1994. • Bristol and Dover will go from having two races on the schedule to one as the Bristol race will be the paved event. (The Xfinity Series will not race on the Bristol dirt weekend.) • The Darlington (spring) and Talladega (fall) races added during COVID-19 schedule changes will be kept. • The fall Texas and Kansas weekends swapped spots, with Texas being the Round of 8 opener and Kansas being the middle race.
Truck Series There is one less race on the schedule, as it now contains 22 races instead of 23. This is also the first time since
2000 that the Truck Series has had more than one road course race (when Watkins Glen and
Portland were on the schedule), and the first time since
1999 that there have been three road courses on the schedule (when it had those two races plus
Topeka). •
Eldora Speedway, the series' original dirt race which had been on the schedule since
2013 (except for
2020 when it was removed due to COVID-19), was replaced by a race at
Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, home of the
Knoxville Nationals, which will be run on Friday, July 9. • The series has two dirt races for the first time with the addition of a spring race at
Bristol, which will see dirt temporarily put onto the track's surface. The Cup Series will also be running with the Truck Series on that weekend. This race replaces the race at
Kentucky Speedway, which will not host any NASCAR races in 2021. •
Circuit of the Americas replaces the spring race at
Texas, as is the case with the Cup and Xfinity Series. This gives the series a second road course race. • After a 20-year absence,
Watkins Glen returns to the schedule for the first time since
2000, giving the series a third road course race. The race will be in August on the same weekend as the Cup and Xfinity races there. This race replaces the race at
Michigan, which will not host a Truck race for the first time since
2001. •
Nashville Superspeedway is added to the schedule, replacing
Dover, as is also the case with the Cup and Xfinity Series. This is the first race for the series at Nashville since
2011. The series will not race at Dover at all this season. It is the first time since 1999 where the track has not been on the schedule. •
Iowa Speedway is permanently taken off the schedule after its race on the
2020 schedule was removed as part of the COVID-19 schedule changes. •
Darlington Raceway, which was not originally on the 2020 schedule but added on as part of the COVID-19 schedule changes, becomes a permanent event for the first time since 2011. It will be run on Mother's Day weekend along with the new second race dates for Cup and Xfinity at the track added this year. This race replaces the race at
Chicagoland Speedway, which will not host any NASCAR races in 2021. •
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was initially back on the schedule after being taken off of the 2020 schedule during the season as part of the COVID-19 schedule changes. Due to the continuance of Canadian restrictions, the race was moved to Darlington. •
Homestead–Miami Speedway is being removed in favor of the Daytona road course race. This was made for logistics reasons, as Homestead was moved back a week in order for Daytona's road course to replace the
Auto Club Speedway Cup and Xfinity weekend.
Realignment 2022 Cup Series •
Auto Club Speedway returned to the schedule for the first time since 2020 after
state COVID-19 regulations in California forced the cancellation of the 2021 race. It was scheduled for the weekend after the Daytona 500 (February 25, 26, and 27), which made it the second race of the season for the first time since
2010, replacing the
Daytona Road Course. This was also scheduled to be the last race at the track before its proposed reconfiguration into a short track for 2023, although the project was later put on hold. • On August 21, 2021,
Sports Business Journal reported that NASCAR was in talks to have
World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) in
Madison, Illinois host a Cup Series race in 2022. On September 8, Adam Stern of
Sports Business Journal reported that the 2022 schedule to be announced in mid-September would add Gateway and remove one of the
Pocono races. This was confirmed on September 14 by
The Athletic, with Gateway scheduled on June 5. They also announced that for the first time since 1989, there will be a Cup race on Easter Sunday.
Xfinty Series •
Auto Club Speedway would return to the schedule for the first time in two years as a result of
state COVID-19 regulations in California, forcing the cancellation of the 2021 race. It would be scheduled for the weekend after the Daytona 500 (February 25, 26, and 27), making it the second race of the season for the first time since
2010, replacing the
Daytona Road Course. • The major venue change is a swap of Green Savoree Racing Promotions circuits.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course would lose its date, which would go to
Portland International Raceway, which in return Mid-Ohio would be awarded a
Camping World Truck Series date. Portland would be the only standalone date for the Xfinity Series in 2022.
Truck Series There is one more race on the schedule, as it now contains 23 races instead of 22 from 2021. • After a 23-year absence,
Sonoma returns to the schedule for the first time since
1998 and after a 10-year absence,
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park also returned to the schedule, becoming a playoff race. •
Mid-Ohio earned a Truck Series race and will host the Truck Series for the first time in series history, after losing their date in Xfinity Series.
Kansas also earned a 2nd date permanently, in the playoff, after being added in 2020 as a replacement due to COVID-19 pandemic. On June 17, Adam Stern from
Sports Business Journal suggested that the Chicago Street Course could replace
Road America on the 2023 Cup Series schedule as the street race would likely replace one of the road course races and Road America does not have a contract to have a Cup Series race in 2023. Both the addition of the Chicago street race to the schedule and the fact that it would replace
the race at Road America came on July 19. On September 7, it was revealed that the All-Star race will take place on the renovated
North Wilkesboro Speedway. It would be the first NASCAR Cup race on the track since 1996, after its dates were replaced by races at Texas Motor Speedway and
New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 1997. • Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 • On January 2, 2023, thespun.com reported that the
Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will be reduced to 400 miles. The article states that it is an attempted overall effort by NASCAR to hopefully reduce race times, so that they are closer to 2.5 hours, than the normal 3.5 to 4 hours. • The
Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was likewise shortened from 500 miles for similar reasons.
Realignment 2024 Cup Series • On November 6, 2022, it was confirmed that 2023 would be the last race on
Auto Club Speedway's 2-mile configuration. The track would not be on the 2024 schedule due to being reconfigured into a short track. • On September 15, 2023,
Bristol Motor Speedway announced that the
spring Bristol race would return to being run on concrete, having taken place on dirt the prior three seasons. In the same press release, it was confirmed that Bristol would continue to have two race dates; the spring race reverted back to its old Food City 500 name due to the return to concrete. • On September 28, 2023,
Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that the Cup Series would return to the oval layout in
2024, in time to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the
Brickyard 400. The track hosted NASCAR since
1994 and used the oval layout until
2020. From
2021 to
2023, the Cup Series used the
grand prix circuit layout. • On October 2, 2023,
Fox Sports and
The Athletic reported that
Iowa Speedway was expected to receive a NASCAR Cup Series race in 2024, replacing the
race at Auto Club Speedway. A press conference by Iowa Governor
Kim Reynolds was held on October 3, where she and NASCAR officially announced the inaugural Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway on June 16. • The Cup Series took a two-week hiatus between the Brickyard 400 and the
Cook Out 400, as
NBC covered the
2024 Summer Olympics. • The
Cook Out Clash moved to
Bowman Gray Stadium in 2025, replacing the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was the first NASCAR Cup Series race held at the track since
1971. •
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez hosted a
points paying race, becoming the first points paying Cup race outside the US since 1958.
Richmond Raceway lost a date to accommodate this change. • The races at
World Wide Technology Raceway,
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the
Southern 500 at
Darlington Raceway, was added to the playoff schedule. As part of this schedule change,
Watkins Glen International,
Homestead–Miami Speedway, and the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, moved to the regular season. •
Easter Sunday was a bye week for the first time since
2021, it has been placed between the
Food City 500 and the
Jack Link's 500. • The
Race at
Circuit of the Americas was on a 2.4-mile layout instead of the 3.4-mile layout.
Xfinty Series • The series returned to
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the first time since the
2008 Corona Mexico 200. •
Rockingham Speedway returned to the series for the first time since 2004. •
Gateway returned to the series after a 14-year absence. •
Bristol earned a second date, while
Michigan,
New Hampshire and
Richmond are removed from the Xfinity series' schedule, and
Darlington loses its second date, albeit in a one-year only situation.
Truck Series The schedule has 25 races for the first time since
2011. With the season-finale at Phoenix being on October 31, the season will finish in the month of October for the first time since
2000. • Added races •
Rockingham is on the schedule for the first time since
2013. •
Michigan is on the schedule for the first time since
2020. •
Lime Rock Park, a road course in Connecticut, is on the Truck Series schedule for the first time. •
Watkins Glen is on the schedule for the first time since
2021 and for only the second time since
2000. •
New Hampshire is on the schedule for the first time since
2017. • The
Charlotte Roval will have a Truck Series race for the first time. • Removed races •
Circuit of the Americas will not be on the schedule in 2025. It is the first time since NASCAR started racing there in 2021 that the track will not have a Truck Series race. •
Gateway will not be on the schedule for the first time since
2013. •
Milwaukee will not be on the schedule for the first time since
2022. • The
fall race at
Kansas was taken off the schedule. The track will have only one Truck Series race for the first time since
2021. • Date changes •
Homestead–Miami moves from October to March. •
Nashville moves from June to May. •
Pocono moves from July to June. • The race at
Darlington moves from May to Labor Day weekend and will be run on the same weekend as the Cup Series'
Southern 500 instead of on the track's spring Cup Series race weekend.
Realignment 2026 Cup Series •
Homestead–Miami Speedway will return to its traditional date as the season finale for all three major series. To accommodate this change,
New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be removed from the playoffs. •
Chicago Street Course announced that the
Grant Park 165 will not return in 2026. • The Cup Series will return to
Southern California with a
street race at
Naval Base Coronado near
San Diego. To accommodate this change,
Mexico City was dropped from the schedule due to a conflict with the
2026 FIFA World Cup. • The
NASCAR All-Star Race will be moved from
North Wilkesboro Speedway to
Dover Motor Speedway, giving the former a
points race, the first regular-season race held there since
1996. • The series will join the
Craftsman Truck Series and the
Cup Series at the
Coronado Street Course. • The series will not return to
Portland International Raceway,
Chicago Street Course, and
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the first time since
2021,
2022, and
2025, respectively. • The series will return to
Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since
2019, and the second
Darlington race was readded after a
one-year hiatus.
Truck Series • The series will race at the
St. Petersburg street circuit and the
Coronado Street Course for the first time. • The series will not race at the
Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first time since the series inception in
1995. •
Homestead–Miami Speedway will return to being the season finale for all three national series. • The series will return to
Dover Motor Speedway for the first time since
2020. ==References==