NASCAR 2026: San Diego and Chicagoland on the schedule; Dover All-Star

NASCAR Reveals the Cup Series Schedule for 2026: New Circuits and Expected Returns

The 2026 NASCAR season promises to be exciting, with a series of significant changes to the schedule. The most important motorsport competition in the United States will introduce a new street circuit in San Diego, California, and will mark the return of Chicagoland Speedway. In addition, the All-Star Race will move to Dover, Delaware, and the season will conclude at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Florida. The schedule, announced this Wednesday, includes two free weekends and will run from February to November. The action will kick off with the Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, for the second consecutive year, on February 1, followed by the Daytona 500 on February 15. The season will culminate on November 8 in Homestead, Florida, the site of the final event for 18 consecutive years before NASCAR moved it to Phoenix Raceway in 2020. The race in Phoenix has received a different date in the playoffs and NASCAR is expected to rotate the season finale to various locations in the following years. Chicagoland Speedway will reopen its doors after a six-year hiatus, returning to the circuit located in the suburbs of Joliet after three seasons on a temporary street circuit in downtown Chicago. The San Diego event will take place on a military base in Coronado. To accommodate Chicagoland and San Diego, NASCAR has dropped the Chicago street race and will not return to Mexico City, where the first international Cup points race since the 1950s was held. A return to Mexico City in 2026 was made difficult to schedule due to the FIFA World Cup. NASCAR also moved Watkins Glen 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 North Wilkesboro would be a Cup race with points, and New Hampshire lost its playoff race to become the penultimate race of the regular season. There will be two free weekends, unlike the single one this season, which ends with 28 consecutive races.