NASCAR News: 2026 Cup Series Horsepower Levels

On today’s episode of the Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell announced that for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, the horsepower level will increase to 750 hp at ovals measuring less than 1.5 miles and all road courses.

The list of tracks that will feature the increased level or horsepower: Bowman Gray Stadium, Circuit of the Americas, Phoenix Raceway, Darlington Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, San Diego Street Course, Sonoma Raceway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

Quote from John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, on the feedback taken for this update: “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. 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.”