announced by NASCAR in October<\/a>, pairs with reduced downforce through smaller three-inch rear spoilers and fewer strakes on the rear diffuser. The changes aim to boost tire wear, enhance driver control, and deliver more exciting racing by putting more emphasis on skill behind the wheel.<\/p>\nThe one-day session at the revived 0.625-mile oval \u2014 which returns to the points-paying schedule in 2026 with its first regular-season race in 30 years on July 19 \u2014 offers teams an early look at how the package performs in real-world conditions.<\/p>\n
Several storylines add extra intrigue to the test:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Daniel Su\u00e1rez will make his on-track debut with his new team, Spire Motorsports, after switching rides following the 2025 season. North Wilkesboro marks his first laps in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
\u2013 Two organizations \u2014 Rick Ware Racing and Haas Factory Team \u2014 will run Chevrolet for the first time in the Gen-7 era after switching from Ford and securing technical alliances with Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, respectively.<\/p>\n
Here is the complete list of confirmed drivers participating:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Ross Chastain \u2013 No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
\u2013 Daniel Su\u00e1rez \u2013 No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
\u2013 Kyle Busch \u2013 No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
\u2013 Chase Elliott \u2013 No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
\u2013 AJ Allmendinger \u2013 No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
\u2013 Chris Buescher \u2013 No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
\u2013 Chase Briscoe \u2013 No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
\u2013 Josh Berry \u2013 No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
\u2013 Joey Logano \u2013 No. 22 Team Penske Ford
\u2013 Zane Smith \u2013 No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
\u2013 Cole Custer \u2013 No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet
\u2013 Erik Jones \u2013 No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
\u2013 Tyler Reddick \u2013 No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
\u2013 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. \u2013 No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
\u2013 Cody Ware \u2013 No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet<\/p>\n
This test serves as an important early checkpoint for teams preparing for the revamped rules package that will shape racing action across multiple venues in the upcoming season. Fans can expect more driver-focused competition and potentially closer battles as the changes take effect. The 2026 Cup Series kicks off soon \u2014 stay tuned for updates from North Wilkesboro!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season just over a month away, teams are already hitting the track…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-404731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404731","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=404731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}