NASCAR has officially confirmed a long-anticipated horsepower increase for short tracks and road courses beginning in 2026, raising the target output from 670 to 750 horsepower.
The change will apply to a wide range of venues on the 2026 Cup Series schedule, including COTA, Watkins Glen, Sonoma, the Charlotte Roval, Martinsville, Bristol, Phoenix, North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Dover, Nashville, Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire, Gateway, and even Bowman Gray Stadium.
The move answers a years-long call from drivers, teams, and fans since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022. Many within the sport had argued that boosting power on short tracks and road courses wouldn’t significantly raise costs, as it mirrors the setup used in the previous generation — 550 horsepower on intermediates and 750 on smaller circuits.
NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst explained that the 750-horsepower figure struck a practical balance between performance and durability. “It was a number that everyone felt comfortable that they could get to without having to go and redesign any of the internal parts of the engine,” Probst said. “Once you go above that, you start crossing into very short-mileage engines, because you’re actually pushing them harder and harder. A lot of inefficiencies come in real quick.”
Probst also noted that discussions about horsepower are closely tied to ongoing talks with current and potential new manufacturers. “The interest from the OEMs in NASCAR right now continues to be very high,” he said. “We have ongoing discussions with multiple OEMs… always trying to thread the needle of broadening our OEM base and maintaining the ones we’ve got.”
In an appearance on the Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell revealed that increasing power beyond 750 would raise competition costs by $40–50 million across the industry. “We’re looking at Dodge coming into the sport. We’re looking at other OEMs and our current partners,” O’Donnell said. “Those guys like the engine today. Don’t want to make a change unless we’re going to stick with it. We looked at this and said, we can go to 750… but we also potentially want to go to a new engine architecture. That’s a potentially three-year runway.”
O’Donnell confirmed that Dodge’s return to NASCAR is already in motion through the Truck Series with RAM, and other manufacturers — including Honda — have expressed interest in alternative engine concepts or fuel systems. He added that such large-scale changes require long-term planning to avoid “hundreds of millions of dollars” in unexpected costs to the industry.
This winter, NASCAR will hold an offseason test at North Wilkesboro to evaluate both Goodyear tire updates and potential aerodynamic tweaks for the short-track package.
Probst emphasized that the decision was driven largely by fan and driver input. “We listen to the fans a lot,” he said. “Our fans are very passionate, they provide very candid feedback, so that all is very important to us.”
While NASCAR hasn’t ruled out increasing horsepower for intermediate tracks in the future, the 2026 change will allow the series to evaluate performance on smaller circuits first. “That gives us an opportunity to sample some of the short tracks, road courses early in the season,” Probst said. “If that all looks good, I would not rule out looking at increasing that horsepower at the mile and a halfs and above… but we’ll proceed with caution.”
He added that NASCAR doesn’t want to disrupt the competitive balance that currently produces strong racing on intermediates. “It’s a package. It’s the downforce, it’s the drag, it’s the power, it’s the tire wear — all together that’s creating those good shows. So don’t want to just change one for the sake of changing it.”