NASCAR Increasing Horsepower for Cup Series at Several Tracks in 2026

Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Next season, several events on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar will see an increase in horsepower.

NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell confirmed on the Dale Jr. Download that NASCAR will increase horsepower for the Cup Series at road courses and all tracks under 1.5 miles in length in the 2026 season.

BREAKING NEWS: @NASCAR announces 750HP at select tracks for 2026. 🐎⬆️

Steve O'Donnell joins the @DaleJr Download - listen now! 🎙️
Apple: https://t.co/gDm5nUp3cg
Spotify: https://t.co/MlreMNZJgm
YouTube: https://t.co/VwYx4FLA6S pic.twitter.com/1HeKBQAcY9

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) October 8, 2025

O'Donnell explained the decision to increase the target horsepower to 750 during the episode, which was released on Wednesday.

“So, why 750? Why not 800? Why not 1,000? So, if you look at where we are today, where we can go without completely changing over the industry,” said O'Donnell. “And so whatever you do, you want to make sure that if you’re going to change the horsepower within the car, you’ve got to match it up with the aero of the car, you’ve got to match it up with braking. All of these different things come into play.”

O'Donnell cited feedback from race fans and stakeholders within the sport for inspiring the decision. Officials hope this will increase passing and create a better racing product on the short tracks and road courses in NASCAR's premier division.

“We hear the fans, we hear the industry. Yes, we want to try and see what will work here,” O’Donnell said.

Casey Calhoun/Racing America

While NASCAR considered an even larger increase in horsepower, the final decision of 750 horsepower took costs incurred by race teams and engine builders into consideration.

“If you went beyond 750, we looked at almost $40-50 million cost to the industry. And so if you look at our job, it’s, yeah, you want to make a call right away. But you’ve got to think about the out years,” O’Donnell stated. “We’re looking at Dodge coming into the sport, we’re looking at other OEMs coming into the sport, and then our current partners. Three-year runway, we didn’t want to say, ‘Alright, it’s 1,000 now,’ and then, just kidding, three years from now, we’re changing it again. That’s 100s of millions of dollars to the industry.”

An offseason test is planned for North Wilkesboro Speedway in conjunction with Goodyear, which provides tires for NASCAR competition. This will offer Goodyear the opportunity to prepare tire combinations for the 2026 seasons.

“And I know fans, you know, ‘Who cares about the money? Just do it,’ but in this case, we want to take a step, we want to marry that up with aero, so we’re going to do a test in the offseason at North Wilkesboro,” O’Donnell said. “I think some of the drivers are happy about that. Just looking at what we can do with the tires now. Goodyear’s stepping up now. Not perfect, right, but, yeah.”

Road courses on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule include the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Circuit of The Americas, the new San Diego Street Circuit, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

Ovals included in the planned increase to 750 horsepower on the 2026 schedule include Bowman Gray Stadium for the preseason Clash, Bristol Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Richmond Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway.