2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season (Peanut's World)

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season began on February 15, 2026 with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, and ended on November 15th, 2026 with the Season Finale at talledaga. William Byron is the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, and Kyle Larson is the defending NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion.
== Drivers and Teams ==
=== Chevrolet Teams and Drivers ===
Hendrick Motorsports: 5-Kyle Larson, 9-Chase Elliott, 24-William Byron,
Richard Childress Racing: 3-Austin Dillon, 8-Sheldon Creed, 31-Tyler Reddick
Trackhouse Racing: 1-Ross Chastain,99-Daniel Suarez
JR Motorsports: 88-Noah Gragson
Kaulig Racing: 16-Justin Haley, 61-AJ Allmendinger
Spire Motorsports: 7-Corey LaJoie
JTG Daugherty Racing: 47-Sam Mayer
legacy motor club : 43-Zane Smith, 98-Austin Hill,
Rick Ware Racing: 15-JJ Yeley, 51-Cody Ware, 52-Garrett Smithley, 53-James Davison
GMS Racing: 94-Hailie Deegan, 48-Joey Logano
=== Ford Drivers and Teams ===
Stewart-Haas Racing: 10-Riley Herbst, 41-Cole Custer
Team Penske: 2-Austin Cindric, 12-Ryan Blaney, 4-Ty Dillon
Wood Brothers Racing: 21-Harrison Burton, 22-Alex Bowman
Kyle joe motorsports: 14-Chase Briscoe, 18-Kyle bush, 11- denny hamlin , 54- ty gibbs , 20-Christopher Bell 
Live Fast Motorsports: 78-BJ McLeod, 6- Brad Keselowski
Front Row Motorsports: 34-Michael McDowell, 36-Ryan Preece, 66 Ben Rhodes (R)
=== Toyota Drivers and Teams ===
23XI Racing: 23-Bubba Wallace, 45- Chandler Smith, 86-Christian Eckes, 
Roush Fenway Racing: 17-Chris Buescher
MBM Motorsports: 13-Timmy Hill, 14-Chase Briscoe 
indy car drivers that will race with nascar drivers at the same time ( will drive indy cars with nascar)
Helio Castroneves 	06	Meyer Shank Racing
Álex Palou 	10	Chip Ganassi Racing
Marcus Armstrong 	11	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Will Power 	12	Team Penske
Santino Ferrucci 	14	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Graham Rahal 	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
David Malukas 	18	Dale Coyne Racing
Josef Newgarden 	2 	Team Penske
Conor Daly 	20	Ed Carpenter Racing
Rinus VeeKay 	21	Ed Carpenter Racing
Colton Herta 	26	Andretti Autosport
Kyle Kirkwood 	27	Andretti Autosport
Romain Grosjean 	28	Andretti Autosport
Devlin DeFrancesco 	29	Andretti Autosport
Scott McLaughlin 	3 	Team Penske
Jack Harvey 	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Christian Lundgaard	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Pato O'Ward 	5 	McLaren
Sting Ray Robb 	51	Dale Coyne Racing
Benjamin Pedersen 	55	aj foit racing
Felix Rosenqvist 	6 	mclaren
Simon Pagenaud 	60	
Alexander Rossi 	7 	McLaren
Callum Ilott 	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing
Agustin Canapino 	78	
Marcus Ericsson 	8 	Chip Ganassi Racing
Scott Dixon 	9 	Chip Ganassi Racing
== 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule ==
-Sunday, February 8: Duels at Daytona, Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Florida), 1pm and 3pm, Paramount Network.
-Race #1: Sunday February 15, Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Florida), 1pm, CBS.
-Race #2: Sunday February 22, PNC Bank 400, Rockingham Speedway Complex (Rockingham, North Carolina), 1pm, CBS.
-Race #3: Sunday March 1, Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum (points race), LA Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles, California), 8pm, CBS. 
-Race #4: Sunday March 8, Pennzoil 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Las Vegas, Nevada), 3pm, Paramount Network.
-Race #5: Sunday March 15, Instacart 500, Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Arizona), 3pm, Paramount Network.
-Race #6: Sunday March 22, Auto Club 500, Auto Club Speedway 3/4-Mile Short Track Configuration (Fontana, California), 3pm, CBS/Nickelodeon.
-Race #7: Sunday March 29, Toyota Save Mart 350, Sonoma Raceway (Sonoma, California), 3pm, CBS.
-Race #8: Sunday April 5, Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway New Configuration (Hampton, Georgia), 12:30pm, CBS.
-Race #9: Saturday April 11, Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500, Martinsville Speedway (Ridgeway, Virginia), 6pm, CBS.
-Race #10: Sunday April 19, Toyota Owners 400, Richmond Raceway (Henrico County, Virginia), 1pm, CBS.
off week 
Race #11: Sunday May 3, GEICO 500, Talladega Superspeedway (Lincoln, Alabama), 12pm, CBS.
-Race #12: Saturday May 9, spongebob 400, Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kansas), 7pm, Paramount Network.
-Race #13: Sunday May 17, Goodyear 400 (Throwback Weekend), Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina), 1pm, CBS.
-Race #14: Sunday May 24, Bank of America Roval 400, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Charlotte, North Carolina),1pm, CBS.
-Race #15: Sunday May 31, EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix, Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas), 1pm, CBS.
-Race #16: Saturday June 6, Food City Dirt Race, Bristol Motor Speedway (Dirt) (Bristol, Tennessee), 7pm, CBS.
-Race #17: Sunday June 14, Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway (Charlotte, North Carolina), 6pm, CBS.
-Race #18: Saturday June 20, NASCAR All-Star Open/NASCAR All-Star Race (non-points), Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway (Nashville, Tennessee), 5pm (Open) and 7pm (All-Star Race), CBS.
-Race #19: Sunday June 21, Ally 400, Nashville Superspeedway (Lebanon, Tennessee), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #20: Sunday June 28, Explore the Pocono Mountains 350, Pocono Raceway (Long Pond, Pennsylvania), 1pm, USA.
-Race #21: Saturday July 4, Knoxville NASCAR Nationals, Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa), 6pm, NBC.
-Race #22: Sunday July 12, Guaranteed Rate Chicago Grand Prix, Chicago Street Course (Chicago, Illinois), 12:30pm, NBC.
-Race #23: Saturday July 18, Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart, Atlanta Motor Speedway New Configuration (Hampton, Georgia), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #24: Sunday July 26, Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, New Hampshire), 1pm, USA.
-Race #25: Sunday August 2, Go Bowling at the Glen, Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, New York), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #26: Sunday August 9, Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (Speedway, Indiana), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #27: Sunday August 16, FireKeepers Casino 400, Michigan International Speedway (Brooklyn, Michigan), 1pm, USA.
-Race #28: Saturday August 22, Federated Auto Parts 400, Richmond Raceway (Henrico County, Virginia), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #29: Sunday August 30, Cook Out Southern 500, Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #30: Saturday September 5, Coke Zero Sugar 400, Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Florida), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #31: Saturday September 12 (Playoffs Round of 20), Universal Studios Hollywood 500, Auto Club Speedway 3/4-Mile Short Track Configuration (Fontana, California), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #32: Saturday September 19 (Playoffs Round of 20), Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #33: Sunday September 27 (Playoffs Round of 20), Bank of America Roval 400, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Charlotte, North Carolina), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #34: Sunday October 4 (Playoffs Round of 12), Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kansas), 1pm, USA.
-Race #35: Sunday October 11 (Playoffs Round of 12), Country Music Hall of Fame 500, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway (Nashville, Tennessee), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #36: Sunday October 18 (Playoffs Round of 12), Indianapolis Motor Speedway 1pm, NBC.
-Race #37: Sunday October 25 (Playoffs Round of 8), AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500, Texas Motor Speedway (Fort Worth, Texas), 1pm, USA.
-Race #38: Sunday November 1 (Playoffs Round of 8), State Farm 500, Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Arizona), 1pm, NBC.
-Race #39: Saturday November 7 (Playoffs Round of 8), XFINITY 500, Martinsville Speedway (Ridgeway, Virginia), 7pm, NBC.
-Race #40: Sunday November 15 (Playoffs Championship 4), Season Finale YellaWood 500, Talladega Superspeedway (Lincoln, Alabama), 1pm, NBC.
== News and Notes ==
indy and nascar partner up and every indy car driver and car move to nascar/ cup and will race at the same time as cup 
-Prior to the 2024 season, TV contracts were up and there was a bidding war. FOX bowed out of the running ending a 23-year consecutive run of NASCAR broadcasts. This left CBS and ESPN in a fierce bidding war for NASCAR, with CBS winning. CBS hires Allen Bestwick as their play-by-play commentator with recently retired driver Kevin Harvick as a color analyst and Steve Letarte as their technical analyst. Lindsay Czarniak becomes the pre-race host of NASCAR Today, with Larry McReynolds, Jeff Burton, and Brad Daugherty as analysts, and Matt Yocum, Jamie Little, and Regan Smith as pit reporters. Michael Waltrip's Grid Walk on FOX. Paramount Network broadcasts a few races on cable as part of the CBS package, and Nickelodeon does an annual kid-friendly broadcast in the same vein as their NFL Playoff Wild Card Weekend broadcasts as part of the CBS package as well. NBC kept Rick Allen as their play-by-play commentator and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as their drivers' analyst, but they added another retired driver in Aric Almirola and Hendrick Motorsports executive Chad Knaus as analysts. USA does races on cable as part of the NBC package.
-There have been new tracks added since 2021, with a street course in Chicago getting added in 2022 becoming the 22nd race of the season. Auto Club Speedway becomes a 3/4-mile short track in 2023 combining the banking of Bristol, the paperclip design of Martinsville, and the D-shape of Richmond, becoming part of the five-race West Coast Swing as the sixth race of the season, with a second race added in 2024 as the playoff opener. Rockingham Speedway gets added back to the schedule for the first time since 2005 as a renovated track and becomes the second race of the season in 2024. Knoxville Raceway also gets added in 2024 due to the popularity and great racing of the Truck Series events, becoming the 21st race of the season. Atlanta Motor Speedway finally gets reconfigured and repaved in 2022 to a layout that is designed to make it a 1.5 mile version of Daytona and Talladega with two dates as the eighth and twenty-third races of the season respectively. Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway also gets added in 2025 both as a playoff event as the second race of the Round of 12 and the thirty-fifth race of the season and the All-Star Race between the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum starts in 2022 as a preseason exhibition in a purpose-built asphalt short track inside the LA Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California two weeks before the Daytona 500, but then in 2024 becomes a points race and starts off the West Coast Swing as the third race of the season.
-As a result of the new schedule and NextGen car, NASCAR expands the Cup playoff field from 16 drivers to 20 in 2025, thus adding even more parity in the field and more competition for the NASCAR Cup Series championship every year. Due to Auto Club Speedway now hosting the playoff opener, Playoff Media Day is held in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium in nearby Inglewood. Now, Playoff Media Day in NASCAR is just as hyped of an event as the Super Bowl Week Media Kickoff the Monday of Super Bowl week in the NFL. Mainstream sports media attention is more attuned to NASCAR due to the increasing diversity of the drivers, crews, and fan base, as well as the new schedule and new car.
-In 2026, NASCAR debuts the new NextGen car's hybrid engine to be in the car. The engine is a 510hp gasoline-electric hybrid V8 with a switch to turn on the electric power during caution periods as a way to save gas, but also contains a switch to turn on a temporary boost to the engine's horsepower and speed with electric power not unlike the IndyCar Series' Push to Pass function. This boost allows for drivers to steal wins away from other drivers, increasing parity and competition. It also allows for crazy finishes at all types of tracks, and the new engine becomes a huge hit with fans and teams alike.
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Category:Peanut's World
Category:Sports
Category:NASCAR
Category:2026
Category:2020s