2026 NASCAR Cup Series season: Top story lines to follow

With the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season around the corner, there are several key story lines to follow before another exciting year of stock car racing gets underway. From the first points-paying race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996 to 19-year-old phenom Connor Zilisch entering the premier level and an increase of horsepower on the way for various tracks, here's what you need to know before the 2026 Daytona 500 (Feb. 15, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, HBO Max).

RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule

2026 schedule features notable changes

The 2026 Cup Series schedule looks different compared to last season, with two new tracks added to the lineup and several tracks receiving new dates.

While the Chicago Street Race is not on the docket, the Cup Series will stay in the Windy City market by returning to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2019 on July 5. The annual street course race will shift from Chicago to San Diego on June 21, with a trip to Naval Base Coronado in Southern California.



North Wilkesboro will host its first points-paying Cup Series race since September 1996 in a 450-lapper under the lights on July 19. The track previously hosted the All-Star Race, but the $1 million exhibition event shifts to Dover Motor Speedway on May 17.

After hosting Championship Weekend for six years, Phoenix Raceway’s reign as the title decider comes to an end, but it will maintain a playoff race with an Oct. 18 date.



The season finale will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8. The 1.5-mile Florida track previously hosted Championship Weekend from 2002-2019.

Additionally, Watkins Glen International shifts from its typical August date to May 10, the earliest the Central New York facility has hosted the Cup Series.

MORE: Start times, networks for 2026 season

More horsepower

Oval tracks under 1.5 miles in length and road courses will see a target horsepower increase from 670 to 750.

The goal is to bring a greater emphasis to off-throttle time, creating more passing opportunities and adding to the importance of tire management. After Goodyear produced different tire compounds to generate a more compelling on-track product last season, more horsepower is the next step to continue forward progress.

With extra horsepower on the table, it could favor certain drivers. Given their experience with higher horsepower in sprint cars, the likes of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell could excel and increase their chances of winning at these tracks.

MORE: Increased horsepower coming at select tracks

Young phenom ready to take Cup Series by storm 

After a dominant, historic year in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last season, 19-year-old Connor Zilisch is stepping up to a full-time Cup Series ride, driving the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Zilisch is arguably one of the most talented young drivers to enter the premier level of NASCAR competition in recent history, and will face lofty expectations in 2026 and beyond.

His special 2025 season with JR Motorsports in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series consisted of 10 wins, 20 top fives, 23 top 10s and eight poles. He also had an impressive streak of 18 consecutive top-five finishes, breaking Sam Ard's series record. Despite those impressive numbers, he finished runner-up in the final standings as close friend Jesse Love took home the championship. Although the disappointment on Zilisch’s face was apparent in the Phoenix post-race scenes, this might be the type of character-building moment the young driver needed before moving to Sunday racing.

Based on what we have seen from rookie drivers in the Cup Series during the Next Gen era, Zilisch could face a learning curve to master racing at NASCAR’s top series and learn the car. However, with teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen helping him along, and veteran crew chief Randall Burnett atop the box calling the shots, Trackhouse team owner Justin Marks is putting the young phenom in the best position to succeed early in his Cup Series career.

A fresh start

Daniel Suárez is moving on from Trackhouse Racing after five seasons and will take over the No. 7 Chevrolet at Spire Motorsports. It will be a fresh start for the Monterrey, Mexico native, who endured a challenging 2025 season, finishing 29th in the final standings.

With Trackhouse and Suárez parting ways, the move to Spire will allow him to work alongside fellow Cup Series veteran Michael McDowell and rising star Carson Hocevar. On Dec. 12, Spire announced that Ryan Sparks will be Suárez’s crew chief as the new pairing will try to get the best out of the No. 7 team.

Entering a new season, many will be watching Suárez to see how quickly he can establish chemistry with his new team. If all goes well, Spire could turn into his new long-term home. 

Still searching for first career Cup Series win 

When Ty Gibbs won the 2022 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title and stepped up to the Cup Series full-time with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, many expected to see him immediately grow into one of the top drivers at the organization and win races. However, after three full years at NASCAR’s premier level, Gibbs still has not found Victory Lane through 123 career starts.

In 2025, JGR paired Gibbs up with crew chief Tyler Allen, hoping the duo would thrive together. Although they did not win a race, the No. 54 team earned five top fives, 10 top 10s and led 304 laps, also winning the inaugural In-Season Challenge. So, there is plenty for the duo to build on entering Year 2.

With his fourth full season in the Cup Series right around the corner, pressure will start to mount on the 23-year-old to visit Victory Lane, especially while JGR teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe combined for 13 wins in 2025. If Gibbs keeps digging and finds ways to fully execute races more consistently, it will only be a matter of time before he breaks through and earns his first career win in the Cup Series.

Spire Motorsports looking for breakout year

Given how much Spire Motorsports has invested in becoming a more competitive organization in the Cup Series, 2026 could be a breakout year for the Jeff Dickerson-led company. There will be continuity with the Nos. 71 and 77 teams, as Michael McDowell returns with crew chief Travis Peterson and Carson Hocevar is back with Luke Lambert atop the box for another season.

Meanwhile, newcomer Daniel Suárez will be getting up to speed with crew chief Ryan Sparks leading the No. 7 team. In 2025, Spire showed some bright spots that could lead to greater things this year. Hocevar won the pole at Texas and had two runner-up finishes at EchoPark Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway, but he also had several races get away from him, either due to mechanical failures or other circumstances.

Hocevar could have potentially won the Coca-Cola 600 if his No. 77 Chevrolet had not suffered an engine failure with less than 100 laps to go in the crown-jewel race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 22-year-old also had a chance to compete for the win in his home race at Michigan International Speedway, but had a tire issue late in the event.

On the other hand, McDowell won poles at Las Vegas and Talladega and had a notable Stage 1 victory on the streets of Chicago before a mechanical issue took him out of contention. Before the mechanical woes, McDowell seemed like one of the few drivers who had the raw speed to challenge road-course ace Shane van Gisbergen on the Windy City streets.

After finishes of 22nd, 23rd and 31st in the final standings last year amongst its three drivers, 2026 feels like a possible breakout year for Spire to make the playoffs and win races.

RFK Racing seeking return to Cup Series Playoffs

RFK Racing entirely missed out on the Cup Series Playoffs as an organization in 2025. The team expanded to three full-time entries, bringing Ryan Preece on board to pilot the No. 60 Ford as the newest teammate of co-owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher. 

Although RFK was not a part of last year’s 16-driver playoff grid, they were the “best of the rest,” with Buescher and Preece finishing 17th and 18th, respectively, in the final standings. Keselowski ended the year in 20th in points, recovering down the stretch after a slow start to the campaign.

Late in the 2025 season, RFK came close to victory twice. In the final laps of the Talladega Superspeedway fall race, Buescher was leading until he spun off the front bumper of William Byron and crashed hard into the inside wall down the backstretch. A few weeks later, Keselowski seemingly had the season finale race at Phoenix Raceway won until Ryan Blaney slipped by underneath in Turn 4 to take the checkered flag in overtime.

In the last 10 races of 2025, each RFK driver had just two finishes of 20th or worse. If the team can get back to the level that they were at in 2023, when both Buescher and Keselowski finished eighth or better in the final standings, RFK could win multiple races across the board and return to title-contention status in 2026.

Hungry for a Victory Lane return

Last year, Alex Bowman watched Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott win a combined eight Cup Series races for the Rick Hendrick-owned organization. Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet did not find Victory Lane in 2025, settling for six top fives and 16 top 10s. But when you drive for Hendrick, the expectations are higher.

Bowman last won a Cup Series race in July 2024 at the Chicago Street Course. Runner-up finishes at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Richmond Raceway were the closest the 32-year-old driver from Tucson, Arizona, came to winning in 2025. He still made the playoffs though and finished 13th in the final standings.

Year in and year out, many seem to question Bowman's future with the organization, especially after two of the team's drivers made the Championship 4 and Larson took home the Bill France Cup. Nevertheless, we have seen how strong Bowman can be in the past, banking a career-best four wins in 2021 and a sixth-place finish in the final 2020 standings.

The No. 48 team is due for a turnaround season to silence any remaining doubters and solidify Bowman's future with Hendrick Motorsports.

Can Shane van Gisbergen's oval improvement make him an all-around contender?

Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson once said if Shane van Gisbergen figured out oval racing, the field would be in trouble. Given how dominant the three-time Australian Supercars champion was on road courses throughout the 2025 Cup Series season, imagine the New Zealand native excelling like that on ovals.

Last year, van Gisbergen won five of six road-course races, earning a playoff berth and Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors after concluding his first season in the premier series 12th in the final standings. However, after smashing the Cup Series competition on left-and-right turns last year, maybe the arrival of rookie teammate and fellow star road-course racer Connor Zilisch will give van Gisbergen a run for his money at those tracks in 2026. Without a doubt, SVG’s rookie year with Trackhouse Racing got off to a rocky start on the ovals as it proved to be an expected learning curve. As the year went on, his oval performances began trending in the right direction, scoring his first career oval top 10 in the Kansas Speedway fall race.

With Trackhouse running van Gisbergen’s signature No. 97 in 2026, the 36-year-old Kiwi driver hopes to add more consistent oval performances while maintaining his dominance on road courses to prove that he is not a “one-trick pony.” If SVG shows even more progress toward becoming an all-around Cup driver, Larson might be right: van Gisbergen’s competitors are in trouble.

Will Kyle Busch snap winless drought?

It's hard to believe that it's been two full Cup Series seasons since Kyle Busch last won a race. The two-time series champion’s last win at the premier level came June 4, 2023, at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, which was his third in 15 races with Richard Childress Racing.

For the first time in his Cup Series career, Busch finished outside of the top 20 in the 2025 final standings. His three top fives, 10 top 10s and 88 laps led last year were the lowest numbers of his career. As a result, RCR made a major change atop the pit box, moving on from crew chief Randall Burnett.

RCR signed former O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship-winning crew chief Jim Pohlman to lead Busch’s No. 8 team in the Cup Series, starting in 2026. Pohlman previously worked at RCR before he moved to JR Motorsports, which ultimately resulted in a 2024 title with Justin Allgaier. Now, with Pohlman back in Welcome, North Carolina, his task will be getting Busch back to his winning ways.

With the decision to lure Pohlman back to the premier series in a prominent role, it shows RCR is willing to do whatever it takes to awaken “Rowdy.” If Pohlman and Busch hit it off and show improvement, then the 40-year-old Las Vegas driver will stand a good chance of getting back to the winner’s circle.

Is Tyler Reddick set to bounce back after winless 2025 campaign? 

Tyler Reddick won multiple races in each of his first two seasons with 23XI Racing. In Year 3, he went winless as the driver of the No. 45 Toyota declined in performance last season. Reddick had five fewer top fives, seven fewer top 10s and 428 fewer laps led.

Despite not putting up those numbers in 2025, Reddick still made the playoffs and finished ninth in the final standings, two spots higher than 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, who clinched his playoff berth after winning the crown jewel Brickyard 400. However, it was still a surprise to see a Championship 4 team from 2024 take a step back in this manner.

If the No. 45 team can revert to its previous form and fully focus on the task at hand, 2026 might be a big bounce-back year for Reddick and make last year’s winless campaign a distant memory. 

Will Joey Logano's 'even-year magic' result in fourth Cup title?

From a statistical perspective, Joey Logano’s 2025 season was nearly identical to his 2024 championship-winning campaign, with the same number of top fives (seven) and top 10s (13). The driver of the No. 22 Ford only scored one Cup Series win in 2025 at Texas Motor Speedway compared to four wins the previous year. He finished seventh in the final standings, coming close to another Championship 4 berth.

Entering 2026, the three-time Cup Series champion must feel excited about the calendar flipping to an even year because he seems to shine in those seasons. Logano previously won championships in 2018, 2022 and 2024 ... all even years. In 2014, 2016 and 2020, he made the Championship 4 ... again, all even years.

If Logano keeps the “even-year magic” rolling and ends 2026 with a fourth title, he'd tie Jeff Gordon. There are only three drivers with more than four championships – Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson. Logano is already a future Hall of Famer with his current resume, but another title would put him further up the list of NASCAR’s all-time greats.

Can Kyle Larson defend and become a three-time champion?

Although Kyle Larson won his only three races of the 2025 season before May 11, the Hendrick Motorsports driver used the model of consistency throughout the playoffs to pave his way to a second Cup Series title. When Larson earned his first championship in 2021, he won 10 races in a dominant effort.

While his 2025 title campaign was not as dominant compared to 2021, the No. 5 team still had a strong season, ending the year on a high note by finishing seventh or better in six of the seven final races. If Larson keeps that momentum rolling into 2026 and gets back to Victory Lane, becoming a three-time champion is more than realistic.

Winning three championships in the Cup Series would tie Larson with the likes of Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano. According to DraftKings, Larson enters the new year tied with Denny Hamlin for the best odds to win the 2026 championship at 5-1.