{"id":198349,"date":"2025-10-08T20:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/198349\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:21:07","slug":"nascar-to-increase-horsepower-to-750-for-cup-races-at-road-courses-and-tracks-under-1-5-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/198349\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR to Increase Horsepower to 750 For Cup Races at Road Courses and Tracks Under 1.5 Miles"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR President Steve O\u2019Donnell stopped by the Dale Jr. Download\u00a0in an episode that dropped on Wednesday afternoon<\/a>. While O\u2019Donnell spoke to Dale Earnhardt Jr. about several topics, the biggest moment was a bit of breaking news that was delivered in the interview.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell confirmed what had been widely speculated for months. NASCAR will increase the horsepower for the NASCAR Cup Series cars at road courses and all tracks under 1.5 miles in length for the 2026 season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the decision to increase horsepower at a plethora of tracks, which have suffered from a lackluster product since the adoption of the Next Gen car in 2022, many had hoped for an even larger increase in horsepower. O\u2019Donnell explained that increasing past 750 for the 2026 season simply would have bitten off more cost than they were willing to force the stakeholders of the sport to take.<\/p>\n

BREAKING NEWS: @NASCAR<\/a> announces 750HP at select tracks for 2026. ???<\/p>\n

Steve O’Donnell joins the @DaleJr<\/a> Download \u2013 listen now! ??
Apple: https:\/\/t.co\/gDm5nUp3cg<\/a>
Spotify: https:\/\/t.co\/MlreMNZJgm<\/a>
YouTube: https:\/\/t.co\/VwYx4FLA6S<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1HeKBQAcY9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) October 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, why 750? Why not 800? Why not 1,000?\u201d So, if you look at where we are today, where we can go without completely changing over the industry,\u201d O\u2019Donnell explained. \u201cAnd so whatever you do, you want to make sure that if you\u2019re going to change the horsepower within the car, you\u2019ve got to match it up with the aero of the car, you\u2019ve got to match it up with braking. All of these different things come into play.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell explained that NASCAR\u2019s choice to move the horsepower numbers higher in 2026 came from the sanctioning body listening to the thoughts of the race fans and stakeholders within the sport, who share NASCAR\u2019s desire to see more compelling races at short tracks and road courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear the fans, we hear the industry. Yes, we want to try and see what will work here,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell said that if the dial was cranked much further past the 750 horsepower mark, it would have pushed costs within the industry associated with the move to nearly $50 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you went beyond 750, we looked at almost $40-50 million cost to the industry. And so if you look at our job, it\u2019s, yeah, you want to make a call right away. But you\u2019ve got to think about the out years,\u201d O\u2019Donnell stated. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at Dodge coming into the sport, we\u2019re looking at other OEMs coming into the sport, and then our current partners. Three-year runway, we didn\u2019t want to say, \u2018Alright, it\u2019s 1,000 now,\u2019 and then, just kidding, three years from now, we\u2019re changing it again. That\u2019s 100s of millions of dollars to the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell says NASCAR will conduct a test with teams and Goodyear at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the offseason to help the tire manufacturer come up with tire combinations that pair well with the new horsepower levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know fans, you know, \u2018Who cares about the money? Just do it,\u2019 but in this case, we want to take a step, we want to marry that up with aero, so we\u2019re going to do a test in the offseason at North Wilkesboro,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cI think some of the drivers are happy about that. Just looking at what we can do with the tires now. Goodyear\u2019s stepping up now. Not perfect, right, but, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell continued, \u201cPut some ideas together, go and try it at North Wilkesboro and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

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