NASCAR Confirms 750 Horsepower for Short Tracks, Road Courses in 2026

NASCAR officials announced on Wednesday that the target horsepower for Cup Series events at road courses and ovals less than 1.5 miles in length will increase to 750 for the 2026 season.

NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell revealed the news while appearing on the Dale Jr. Download. The Next Gen platform, which debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, has operated with a baseline of 670 horsepower in its first four seasons.

O'Donnell explained the move to 750 horsepower was a calculated one for the sanctioning body, which kept the costs associated with the sport's stakeholders with the move in mind.

“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.”

The increase in horsepower is intended to incentivize tire management and create passing opportunities in NASCAR's premier series.

“I would say, like any other change that we are considering to the cars, we listen to the fans a lot,” said John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “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 is all very important to us.”

Probst added that higher horsepower figures were considered, but that 750 horsepower offered an increase without forcing teams and engine builders to go back to the drawing board.

"Once you go above that, you start crossing into very short-mileage engines, because you’re actually pushing them harder and harder. A lot of inefficiencies come in real quick," explained Probst.

NASCAR will work alongside Goodyear, which has been taking bigger swings at providing softer tires in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, to dial in tire compounds for the new higher-horsepower levels in 2026.

O'Donnell explained that NASCAR will hold an offseason test at North Wilkesboro Speedway to help drivers, teams, Goodyear, and the sanctioning body wrap their collective heads around how the car performs with additional horsepower.

“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.”

O’Donnell continued, “Put some ideas together, go and try it at North Wilkesboro and see what happens.”

-Photo Credit: Casey Calhoun | Racing America On SI