NASCAR has made a change for the 2026 season. It has boosted the horsepower for select tracks on the 2026 Cup Series schedule.
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According to a press release, all tracks under 1.5 miles and all road courses will have a 750-horsepower package. This marks an increase from the 670 horsepower used in recent seasons.
The list of tracks featuring this change include:
- Bowman Gray Stadium
- Circuit of the Americas
- Phoenix Raceway
- Darlington Raceway
- Martinsville Speedway
- Bristol Motor Speedway
- Watkins Glen International
- Dover Motor Speedway
- Nashville Superspeedway
- San Diego Street Course
- Sonoma Raceway
- North Wilkesboro Speedway
- Iowa Speedway
- Richmond Raceway
- New Hampshire Motor Speedway
- World Wide Technology Raceway
- Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
Increased horsepower has been a topic of discussion throughout the season. Drivers, in particular, have requested more horsepower so they could have more control behind the wheel. More horsepower would force them to better manage their tires early in a run.
"To me, as a race car driver, it just gives you another tool," Ryan Preece said in response to a question from FanBuzz in May. "It would certainly benefit my style if we added horsepower because there are things I do with the brake pedal or the throttle or brake bias.
"Another tool on how to help your car exit the corner or when you're setting up a pass being able to clear, having that extra horsepower, but at the end of the day if the rules are the same for everybody, you've just got to figure out how to do it better than everybody else."
OEMs have addressed the possibility of increasing horsepower, saying it would not be unrealistic to make changes. Doug Yates, CEO of Roush-Yates Engines, said that increasing the number from 670 to 750 would not be much of a change for the engine manufacturers.
However, Yates said that going to 900 horsepower would be "quite the project" and that it would decrease the life of the engines. This could potentially increase the costs for teams over the long run.
"Like any other change that we are considering to the cars, we listen to the fans a lot," said John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. "We listen to the drivers. We have stakeholders in the broadcast, OEM (manufacturers) and team competition and team business folks, so there's always no shortage of feedback that we get.
"Our fans are very passionate, they provide very candid feedback, so that all is very important to us. We do listen to it. We are working on a lot of things in the background, we don't often always talk about them until we're ready to come out and announce an implementation plan for them. Their feedback is very important."
