CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In 2026, the NASCAR Cup Series will race on a new street course on a military base in San Diego, mark the return of Chicagoland Speedway to the schedule, move the All-Star Race to Delaware’s Dover Motor Speedway, and conclude its 38-race season at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first time since 2019.
The complete schedule, released Wednesday, includes two off weekends (there was just one this season, which ends with 28 consecutive races) on a calendar that stretches from February to November. It begins with the preseason Clash exhibition on Feb. 1 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the second consecutive year, with the season-opening Daytona 500 to follow on Feb. 15 at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway.
The season ends Nov. 8 in Florida at Homestead-Miami, which hosted the finale for 18 consecutive years before NASCAR shifted it to Phoenix Raceway in 2020. Phoenix will still have one of the 10 playoff races, just on a different date, and NASCAR is expected to rotate the season finale — when the last four contenders remaining in the Cup Series postseason field battle for the title — to various venues in ensuing years.
Chicagoland is reopening after a six-year hiatus and a switch back to the track located in suburban Joliet, Illinois, after three seasons on a temporary street circuit in downtown Chicago. The San Diego race will be held at Naval Base Coronado, with NASCAR announcing that event last month.
To add Chicagoland and San Diego, NASCAR dropped the Chicago street race and will not return to Mexico City, where earlier this summer it held the first international Cup Series points race since the 1950s. A return to Mexico City in 2026 became difficult to schedule because of soccer’s World Cup, which Canada, Mexico and the United States will co-host next summer.
NASCAR also moved the race on the permanent road course at Watkins Glen International in New York from its traditional August date to Mother’s Day weekend and the All-Star Race from North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to Dover so that the former’s event will be a points race in 2026, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway lost its playoff race to become the penultimate race of the regular season.
2026 NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE
Race names listed when available, with tracks and cities listed otherwise; * — no season points awarded.
* Feb. 1: Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium; Winston-Salem, N.C.
Feb. 15: Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway; Daytona, Beach, Fla.
Feb. 22: EchoPark Speedway; Hampton, Ga.
March 1: Circuit of the Americas; Austin, Texas
March 8: Phoenix Raceway; Avondale, Ariz.
March 15: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
March 22: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.
March 29: Martinsville Speedway; Ridgeway, Va.
April 12: Bristol Motor Speedway; Bristol, Tenn.
April 19: Kansas Speedway; Kansas City, Kan.
April 26: Talladega Superspeedway; Lincoln, Ala.
May 3: Texas Motor Speedway; Fort Worth
May 10: Watkins Glen International; Watkins Glen, N.Y.
* May 17: All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway; Dover, Del.
May 24: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Concord, N.C.
May 31: Nashville Superspeedway; Lebanon, Tenn.
June 7: Michigan International Speedway; Brooklyn, Mich.
June 14: Pocono Raceway; Long Pond, Pa.
June 21: Naval Base Coronado; San Diego
June 28: Sonoma Raceway; Sonoma, Calif.
July 5: Chicagoland Speedway; Joliet, Ill.
July 12: EchoPark Speedway; Hampton, Ga.
July 19: North Wilkesboro Speedway; North Wilkesboro, N.C.
July 26: Brickyard 400; Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Aug. 9: Iowa Speedway; Newton, Iowa
Aug. 15: Richmond Raceway; Richmond, Va.
Aug. 23: New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Loudon, N.H.
Aug. 29: Daytona International Speedway; Daytona, Beach, Fla.
Sept. 6: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.
Sept. 13: World Wide Technology Raceway; Madison, Ill.
Sept. 19: Bristol Motor Speedway; Bristol, Tenn.
Sept. 27: Kansas Speedway; Kansas City, Kan.
Oct. 4: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Oct. 11: Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Concord, N.C.
Oct. 18: Phoenix Raceway; Avondale, Ariz.
Oct. 25: Talladega Superspeedway; Lincoln, Ala.
Nov. 1: Martinsville Speedway; Ridgeway, Va.
Nov. 8: Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, Fla.