NASCAR explains schedule changes, addresses concerns around Watkins Glen date change

The 2026 schedule for all three national divisions is out, and between the Dover All-Star Race, a return to Chicagoland, and a North Wilkesboro points race, there’s a lot to look at. 

In a Wednesday media availability, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovation officer, Ben Kennedy, as well as managing director, competition operations, Jusan Hamilton, addressed the many changes as they look ahead to the new year.

Dover All-Star Race

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

NASCAR confirmed that the Dover race will “more than likely” be a day race, as the track has no permanent lights. 

“We worked with Speedway Motorsports on the shift there,” explained Kennedy. “Part of it was taking into consideration whether moving them into May felt like it was a better time of year from at least a heat perspective, and we considered a handful of other tracks as well. We felt like that one was the best.

“A number of considerations, just as we think about each one of these moves, and Dover was the best option that we had for ’26.”

Dover is essentially swapping places with North Wilkesboro on the schedule, but this leaves Dover with no points race. To mitigate that, there will be points-paying races for Xfinity and Truck Series at Dover that same weekend.

Concerns about Watkins Glen weather

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Another question mark on the new schedule is the plan to race at Watkins Glen International on May 9-10. The race has never run that early in the year, and some think the volatile weather and early season slot may hurt attendance. However, NASCAR leadership disagrees.

“I’m from Ithaca, New York, so I spent a lot of time at Watkins Glen, and I think the first time I went to the Glen was probably 1995 or 1996,” said Hamilton. “It’ll definitely be a change to have that race take place in May.

“The cool thing about having the race take place that time of year, school is still in session, the population of central New York is much higher that time of year, so you have the opportunity to potentially reach a fan demographic up there that’s typically not around during the summer. As far as weather goes, you look — we look at a lot of data at all our venues, and weather is always certainly a consideration. You look at that time of the year, it says on average lower 70s during the day, chance of rain is relatively low even compared to August. The data that we’ve looked at.

“I can tell you from experience, I don’t want to — my personal experience to be what dictates our moves ever, but being up there recently in May, (you) still have folks that live in that area, it typically feels like summer in May. I don’t see a huge risk in having the race that time of year. I think the weather for camping should be great, and I think we’ll be able to put on a really good show that time of year. Again, the important thing is being able to reach a fan demographic up there and make sure that we’re doing what we need to do for the northeast fan, which that’s where I come from, so certainly have a passion for making sure we deliver there.”

Putting Trucks with IndyCar at St. Pete

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

For the first time in the history of the NASCAR Truck Series, they will race at a street course in 2026. In fact, they will do it twice with the addition of the San Diego race, but before that, they will join IndyCar’s season-opening weekend at St. Pete.

NASCAR explained that their partners at FOX Sports, who hold the broadcast rights to both races, were closely involved in this decision. 

“There’s a lot of collaboration that takes place anytime we link together on joint events like that,” said Hamilton. “It’s also another opportunity for us to learn and grow with street course racing, as I mentioned. It’s the first street course event in 30 years, in the 30-year history of the Truck Series.

“Having that event on their schedule and making sure that our development series have races on their schedule that are conducive to what we’re doing with our premier series in the NASCAR Cup Series is also very important. Those drivers in development, one day their goal is to get to NASCAR Cup Series, and to be able to get experience on a street course in one of our lower tier series is also very important. All of that I would say plays into that decision.”

NASCAR officials also expressed a desire to work more closely with IndyCar in the future, opening the door for more combined weekends.

No races in the Pacific Northwest

General view of Portland Oregon

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

With Portland falling from the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule, there will be no national-level races in that region of the country next year. However, series officials remain interested in expanding their presence there. 

“Yeah, we’d love to be in the Pacific Northwest at some point,” said Kennedy. “I think we’ve said this a couple times: We’re always looking at new markets we could go and explore in the future, and the Pacific Northwest has always been high on our list. Whether that’s the Seattle area, the Portland region, or I would even toss Colorado, even though it’s not on the West Coast, Colorado is another market that we would like to go and explore in the future.

“Even though we won’t have Portland back on the schedule next year, (we) still have a lot of good relationships, both with Green Savoree, who’s going to be the promoter of the St. Pete event in February, but then a handful of other track owners and operators in the Pacific Northwest region. We’ve had a few conversations with them. Nothing has come to fruition quite yet, but would love to have an opportunity to have a Cup Series event up there in the future.”

Getting Chicagoland race-ready

Kyle Busch wins, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Chicagoland Speedway returns to the Cup schedule in 2026, but it hasn’t hosted a NASCAR race since 2019. The intermediate oval needs a little maintenance to get it ready for a race on Fourth of July weekend in 2026.

NASCAR has already sent a facility development team out to the track to look it over. Kennedy noted that the SAFER Barrier foam needs to be replaced in some areas, as well as some other minor touchups.

“I think the good news is it’s relatively race-ready, so we’ll probably have to replace some of the SAFER foam, explained Kennedy. “We’ll probably have to put a fresh coat of paint on it, clean up some of the grandstands, (and) renovate some of the suite areas. There’s some parking areas that need to be repaved. We’re going to have a long list of improvements that we’ll need to make to the facility, and we’ll make that well in advance of the time that we come there in July.”