NASCAR set a new horsepower threshold for the 2026 season. Instead of the 670 HP baseline, it was decided that the Cup cars this year would run at 750 horsepower on all road courses and tracks less than 1.5 miles in length. But what if this new horsepower were put to use at NASCAR’s intermediate tracks?
NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano thinks that’s the stupidest question ever. Of course, he wants more power, and that’s irrespective of how long the racetrack is. Explaining his stance in an interview, the Penske icon said (via Motorsport),
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“I want more falloff. I mean, more fall off puts on better racing, right? We all have the same cars, like for the most part. We have the same chassis, same suspension components and it’s how you put them together but we all start with the same box of parts.”
Logano further explained the importance of being even a tenth to two-tenths faster in a car to be able to make passes in the NextGen era. He further suggested more fall-off is always better,
“It’s just the bodies and engines that can be a little better or a little better or worse but outside of that, if you look at qualifying we are all running the same speed,” Logano added. “We have got to throw in variables somewhere or we are just going to follow each other.”
A few others like Brad Keselowski think that the current intermediate package is arguably the most optimal the Cup Series has ever had. So, changing it, according to the RFK Racing driver/owner, makes no sense.
“We do have a really good package right now, and there are a handful of tracks that you could argue would benefit from it, but a handful of tracks where I could argue it would make the racing worse,” the 2012 Cup champion explained. “So, I guess it’s really situational to me.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will be back in action next Sunday, March 29, at Martinsville Speedway for the Cook Out 400. The 400-mile event will be televised on FS1 with live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Brad Keselowski’s NASCAR horsepower reveal
The news that NASCAR was going to have a bump in horsepower was first hinted at by Brad Keselowski in an episode of Stacking Pennies with Corey LaJoie from last year. At the time, Keselowski said that the Cup Series would field 740-750 horsepower cars for the 2026 season and beyond.
While some thought that this change would dump all unwanted aero deficiencies of the NextGen era, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a slightly different opinion on it.
“Does it does it really change what the race looks like? I don’t think you’re going to notice a major difference,” Earnhardt Jr. said on his Dale Jr. Download podcast (42:49). “If you took them to Martinsville, right, and you ran back-to-back races, double header with both packages, maybe you see some subtle differences, maybe not.“
“The drivers though are going to get out and say better things, right? That’s as important as anything else because the drivers have to support stuff for things to work….And I think if you’re going to give the horsepower back and hear some favourable comments from drivers, that’s a win,” he added.
The NASCAR Cup Series is six races into the 2026 season, and as confirmed by driver feedback, four of those six races used the 750 HP package. It will return next week at Martinsville as well, given that the Virginia-based racetrack is less than 1.5 miles in length. It’s actually the shortest track on NASCAR’s current Cup Series schedule.
Edited by Tushhita Barua
