NASCAR announces increase in horsepower for less than 1.5 miles tracks in 2026

NASCAR has made a major announcement pertaining to the tracks that are less than 1.5 miles and road courses. On October 8, NASCAR officials announced that the target horsepower for Cup Series events at road courses and oval tracks less than 1.5 miles in length will increase from 670 to 750 starting with the 2026 Cup Series season. The details of the move were explained by the NASCAR President, Steve O'Donnell, in an episode of Dale Jr. Download.

The mentioned adjustment will affect 21 of the 38 total races in the season, including venues such as Bowman Gray Stadium, Circuit of the Americas, Phoenix Raceway, Darlington Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Sonoma Raceway, and more.

O'Donnell revealed that the main reason behind increasing the horsepower to 750 instead of 800 or 1000 is essentially about striking a balance between boosting the car's performance and keeping expenses under control, as well as ensuring the stability of the industry. He mentioned that if the increase in power exceeded 750 hp, it would raise the costs of teams, manufacturers, and suppliers by $40 to $50 million, which in turn would upset the financial structure of the sport. Steve O'Donnell talked about these specifics on an episode of Dale Jr. Download with Dale Earnhardt Jr, where he further added (via Dirty Mo Media on X):

"If you look at our job is, yeah, you want to make a call right away, but you got to think about the out years. And so 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, 'All right, it's 1000 now.' And then just "Kidding three years from now, we're changing it again.' That's hundreds of millions of dollars to the industry. So that's why, and I know fans, who cares about the money, just do it. But in this case, we want to take a step."

According to Steve O'Donnell, a test using the tire compounds and additional horsepower will take place at North Wilkesboro in early December. The governing body’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, John Probst, said via NASCAR.com:

“Like any other change that we are considering to the cars, we listen to the fans a lot, we listen to the drivers. We have stakeholders in the broadcast, OEM (manufacturers) and team competition and team business folks, so there’s always no shortage of feedback that we get. Our fans are very passionate, they provide very candid feedback, so that all is very important to us. We do listen to it."

He further added:

“We are working on a lot of things in the background, we don’t often always talk about them until we’re ready to come out and announce an implementation plan for them. Their feedback is very important.”

This technical adjustment is designed to enhance competition and excitement by giving drivers more power to utilize on tight and technical tracks, influencing race strategies and car setups across 21 of the 38 scheduled races.

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Judge Bell makes key move in NASCAR's legal battle with 23XI and Front Row

The ongoing legal battle between NASCAR and Cup Series teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports (FRM) appears to be moving toward a potential settlement. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell has ordered all parties involved to participate in a settlement conference with mediator Jeffrey Mishkin on October 21, 2025.

The scheduled hearing on motions for summary judgment and witness exclusions has also been postponed to October 23 to accommodate this mediation attempt.

"Judge Bell has ordered NASCAR, 23XI, and Front Row participate in a settlement conference with the current mediator Jeffrey Mishkin on Oct 21. The hearing on motions for summary judgment and exclude witnesses has been moved to Oct 23," Bob Pockrass reported.

The order reflects the court’s interest in steering the parties toward resolving the dispute ahead of the jury trial on December 1.

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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar