{"id":403178,"date":"2026-01-11T19:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403178\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T19:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:50:20","slug":"nascar-announces-full-list-of-drivers-for-preseason-horsepower-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403178\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR announces full list of drivers for preseason horsepower test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img width=\"1056\" height=\"595\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/25NWS1mt2154-e1768154581605.jpg\" class=\"skip-lazy figure-img img-thumbnail img-fluid wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"false\" rel=\"preload\" importance=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>            Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography        <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/fanbuzz.com\/racing\/nascar\/steve-phelps-to-resign-from-nascar-ahead-of-2026-season-cup-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cup Series season<\/a> is just over one month away, but teams will be back in the race cars this week for a test of increased horsepower at North Wilkesboro Speedway.<\/p>\n<p>One driver from each chartered organization will head to the short track north of Charlotte and spend a full day completing laps. They will have 750 horsepower in their Cup Series cars \u2014 as opposed to 670 last season \u2014 but they will have the aerodynamic package with less downforce due to three-inch rear spoilers and fewer strakes on the rear diffuser.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fanbuzz.com\/racing\/nascar\/nascar-increases-horsepower-for-2026-cup-series-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NASCAR announced on Oct. 8, 2025<\/a>, that all tracks under 1.5 miles and road courses will have increased horsepower during the 2026 season. This will potentially contribute to increased tire wear and put more control in the hands of the drivers.<\/p>\n<p>The test will feature some notable changes, chief among them is <a href=\"https:\/\/altdriver.com\/racing\/justin-marks-it-was-time-to-wrap-up-daniel-suarez-relationship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Daniel Suarez<\/a> making his debut with a new team. He moved to Spire Motorsports after the 2025 season, and he will complete his first laps with the team at North Wilkesboro Speedway.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, two teams will show up to the test with a new OEM partner. Rick Ware Racing and <a href=\"https:\/\/fanbuzz.com\/racing\/nascar\/the-reason-for-haas-factory-teams-2026-oem-switch-ford-chevrolet-hendrick\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Haas Factory Team<\/a> both switched from Ford to Chevrolet while signing technical alliances with Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, respectively. This test will mark their first time in the Gen 7 era completing laps under the Bowtie banner.<\/p>\n<p>North Wilkesboro Speedway test drivers<\/p>\n<p>Ross Chastain &#8211; No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet<br \/>\nDaniel Suarez &#8211; No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet<br \/>\nKyle Busch &#8211; No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet<br \/>\nChase Elliott &#8211; No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet<br \/>\nAJ Allmendinger &#8211; No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet<br \/>\nChris Buescher &#8211; No. 17 RFK Racing Ford<br \/>\nChase Briscoe &#8211; No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota<br \/>\nJosh Berry &#8211; No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford<br \/>\nJoey Logano &#8211; No. 22 Team Penske Ford<br \/>\nZane Smith &#8211; No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford<br \/>\nCole Custer &#8211; No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet<br \/>\nErik Jones &#8211; No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota<br \/>\nTyler Reddick &#8211; No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota<br \/>\nRicky Stenhouse Jr. &#8211; No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet<br \/>\nCody Ware &#8211; No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography The Cup Series season is just over one month away, but teams will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,8354,82],"class_list":["post-403178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403178","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=403178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}