{"id":288110,"date":"2025-11-17T04:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T04:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/288110\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T04:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T04:08:13","slug":"nascar-issues-key-technical-updates-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/288110\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Issues Key Technical Updates for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5b\">On Friday, NASCAR issued multiple technical updates for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, including specifics for the Cup Series\u2019 rules configuration for 750-horsepower racetracks, as well as a mandate for A-post flaps at every racetrack.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5e\">NASCAR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/racing-america\/news\/nascar-increasing-horsepower-for-cup-series-at-several-tracks-in-2026-01k72mzzyc43\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">originally confirmed that it would be increasing the target horsepower<\/a> from 670 to 750 horsepower in the NASCAR Cup Series for tracks measuring 1.5-miles in length or less for 2026. Those tracks will all be utilizing the short track\/road course rules package introduced in 2024, which has a three-inch rear spoiler and fewer rear diffuser strakes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5h\">The result of these changes is five racetracks swapping from the intermediate aerodynamic package to the short track aerodynamic package for 2026: Bristol Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, and World Wide Technology Raceway.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5k\">In addition to the changes that are associated with the horsepower increase, NASCAR has also mandated that all NASCAR Cup Series entries have an A-post flap for all racetracks in 2026. The A-Post flap was introduced at the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway in August, in order to keep cars from getting off the ground when spinning sideways. The experiment was successful at both Daytona and Talladega.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">NASCAR has also implemented a cosmetic change to the A-Post flap, which states that the material underneath the flap must be bright orange, instead of merely a high-visibility or contrasting color.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">One unrelated addition to the NASCAR Rule Book ahead of the stretch of the off-season is parameters outlining testing procedures for new manufacturers entering any of NASCAR\u2019s National Series \u2013 the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series, or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">In each series, the testing guidelines for prospective new manufacturers include a maximum of three tests for new OEMs, with each test limited to a maximum of three affiliated organizations with two vehicles each. The tests must be a maximum of two consecutive days and completed by March 1. Those tests cannot be held at racetracks that have been repaved, are new to the schedule, or that will host a race within 60 days of the test session.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">RAM is the only manufacturer new to NASCAR\u2019s National Series in 2026, as the series will join the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/racing-america\/news\/ram-trucks-to-officially-join-nascar-craftsman-truck-series-field-in-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">with a five-truck program from Kaulig Racing<\/a>. It is unclear what the manufacturer\u2019s testing plan is at this time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">Competition officials expect to release sporting rules and procedure updates in January, as is typical.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Articles:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday, NASCAR issued multiple technical updates for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, including specifics for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-288110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}