What’s new on the 2026 NASCAR schedule? New All-Star venue, NY in May and new street circuits

After months of rumors, we finally know exactly when and where NASCAR's three national series will be heading in 2026.

The slates for the Cup Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity) and Craftsman Truck Series don't have a huge amount of additions that we didn't already know about. So what will be new for 2026?

What we already knew: San Diego and finale at Homestead-Miami

Already announced was the debut of a new street circuit at San Diego's Naval Base Coronado on June 19-21.

The course layout has not yet been announced, but we do know that all three major circuits will race there in what will be back-to-back weekends at California road courses for Cup and the O'Reilly series.

Also previously announced was the welcome change of the finale from Phoenix to Homestead-Miami. The popular oval hosted the championship race up until 2019 and played hosted to many iconic playoff moments.

All three series will be there November 6-8.

All-Star weekend ... in Delaware? And a points race for North Wilkesboro

After North Wilkesboro's reemergence to host the All-Star Race for the last three years, the short track will now get a points race for the Cup Series. NASCAR's top series will race for points at the venue for the first time since 1996 on Sunday, July 19. The Truck Series will join them.

But with that race off of All-Star Weekend, that means a new track needed to step in. In what seems to be an odd decision, that track will be Dover.

The one-mile oval in Delaware was once a pretty popular track, but racing has not been exciting there in recent years. The track also does not have lights, meaning the tradition of running the feature race at night doesn't appear that it will carry on.

Mexico and Chicago out, but Illinois still gets a race

As was previously known, the Chicago Street Race is off the schedule for 2026, although NASCAR has left the door open to come back in 2027. But racing will still happen for fans in that market, just an hour down the road at Chicagoland Speedway.

The 1.5-mile oval in Joliet hosted NASCAR from 2001-2019, but hasn't been back since. The race will directly replace the Chicago Street Race date on July 4-5. The O'Reilly Series will join Cup there that weekend.

And after a historic trip to Mexico City in 2025, NASCAR won't return next season. Reports say next year's World Cup in North America played a role in deciding to shift toward a 2027 return.

Upstate New York in May?

Perhaps the oddest date shift comes via Watkins Glen. The road course will move from a summer date to Mother's Day weekend in 2026. All three national series will visit May 8-10.

On that same weekend in 2025, Watkins Glen had high temps as low as the upper-40s to low-50s.

Two off weeks for Cup teams

38 events over the course of a season has to be absolutely back-breaking for teams.

So for 2026, the Cup series will get an additional week off. The series will be off for the weekends of April 5 and August 2.

Trucks team up with IndyCar and other changes for O'Reilly, Craftsman Truck Series

A huge new add that seemingly came out of nowhere for 2026 is that the Truck Series will take on the St. Petersburg street course in Florida. The Feb. 28 race will match up with when IndyCar opens their season the next day.

The 1.8-mile street circuit has played host to a long list of support races on IndyCar's opening weekend, but never NASCAR. For the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity), Portland International Raceway drops off the schedule in favor of a second Darlington date.

And for the Trucks, Pocono and Vegas fall off the schedule for the new races in San Diego and St. Petersburg, along with the series first visit to Dover since 2020.

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule

BOLD = New date/track
* = non-points race

2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity) Schedule

BOLD = New date/track
All races air on The CW

2026 Craftsman Truck Series Schedule

BOLD = New track or new/different date
All races air on FOX Sports