{"id":193498,"date":"2025-10-01T00:29:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T00:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/193498\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T00:29:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T00:29:03","slug":"nascar-playoff-driver-confirms-plans-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/193498\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR playoff driver confirms plans for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                                                                                                Change your timezone:&#13;<br \/>\n                                                                                                &#13;<br \/>\n                                                &#13;\n                                            <\/p>\n<p>A <a title=\"NASCAR \" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/tags\/nascar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR <\/a>driver has revealed his plans for the 2026 season, confirming that he is set to remain with his current team heading into next year.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nNick Sanchez joined <a title=\"Xfinity Series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/tags\/nascar-xfinity-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Xfinity Series<\/a> outfit Big Machine Racing full-time ahead of the 2025 campaign, having previously raced for them at the back end of the 2022 campaign.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nBetween 2022 and 2025, Sanchez racked up two full-time Truck Series campaigns in which he finished sixth and fifth, respectively, enough to make Big Machine place him in their No. 48 Chevrolet for the season.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nSo far, that decision has paid off, with the 24-year-old having won a race this year at Atlanta and qualified for the Xfinity Series playoffs.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nNASCAR HEADLINES: <a title=\"Bubba Wallace rages as Denny Hamlin hits back at critics\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/f1-news\/1063389\/nascar-today-bubba-wallace-rages-as-denny-hamlin-hits-back-at-critics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bubba Wallace rages as Denny Hamlin hits back at critics<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Nick Sanchez confirms 2026 plans <\/p>\n<p>\nBut what does the future hold for Sanchez? Well, he&#8217;s not planning on going anywhere, unless he&#8217;s told otherwise.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cOh yeah,\u201d Sanchez confirmed to <a title=\"Fronstretch \" href=\"https:\/\/frontstretch.com\/2025\/09\/27\/nick-sanchez-confirms-big-machine-racing-return-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Fronstretch <\/a>when asked if he planned to return next season.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cUnless they [Big Machine Racing] tell me otherwise. That\u2019s our approach. &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;It hasn\u2019t even been a question. Just go race this year and go race next year.&#8221;&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cHow we end this year is how we\u2019re going to start next year, truthfully,\u201d Sanchez added.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI think we\u2019re in a good place. I feel like I\u2019m driving the best I have in my career, and I still have a lot of room to get better and grow.\u201d&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nREAD MORE: <a title=\"NASCAR champion Kyle Busch tipped for INCREDIBLE team switch\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/f1-news\/1063330\/nascar-cup-series-kyle-busch-team-switch-23xi-racing-danielle-trotta-analysis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR champion Kyle Busch tipped for INCREDIBLE team switch<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez facing elimination<\/p>\n<p>\nWhilst putting next season&#8217;s plans in place is important, Sanchez still has plenty to race for this campaign.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nWith the Xfinity Series playoffs well underway and heading to Charlotte this weekend for the round of eight elimination race, the 24-year-old needs a strong result.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nSanchez currently sits ninth in the Xfinity Series playoffs standings and must ensure he is above it come the black and white checkered flag, or he is out.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nFortunately, the situation is salvageable, with Sanchez just five points below the cutoff line and Austin Hill in eighth spot.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nNASCAR STANDINGS: <a title=\"23XI Racing facing brutal double playoff elimination\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/f1-news\/1063266\/nascar-cup-series-playoff-standings-2025-after-kansas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">23XI Racing facing brutal double playoff elimination<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Related<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/tags\/nascar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/us\/tags\/nascar-xfinity-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Change your timezone:&#13; &#13; &#13; A NASCAR driver has revealed his plans for the 2026 season, confirming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[1707,1080,1706,425,3514,3,9993,99],"class_list":["post-193498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-gpfans","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-news","tag-simmey-hannifin-donaldson","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}