NASCAR not expected to release 2026 Cup schedule until end of summer
According to RACER.com's Kelly Crandall, the 2026 NASCAR schedule is not expected until the end of the summer or early fall. In 2024, NASCAR announced the 2025 schedule in late August, which could be a possible date this year. If it comes out in the early fall, this would undoubtedly occur during the heart of the NASCAR playoffs.
The potential 2026 NASCAR schedule is full of intrigue. It could feature a revamped playoff format and the return of Chicagoland Speedway, but that is currently up in the air. For now, NASCAR is working to finalize the 2026 schedule, and there is high optimism that it will be a very successful endeavor.
More: NASCAR issues new rule for NextGen car at superspeedways in 2025
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
6 hours ago
- Politico
Donald Trump's wide world of sports
WHAT'S IN A NAME — Donald Trump's weekend fusillade of social media posts may have fallen short in its aim of diverting attention from the firestorm surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files. But it succeeded in advancing what's increasingly looking like the central project of his second term: planting himself at the center of American public life. With his call for the Cleveland Guardians to change back to the team's longtime name, the Cleveland Indians, and his threat to withhold a D.C. stadium deal until the Washington Commanders reverts back to its original Washington Redskins name, Trump signaled that dominion over Washington isn't enough. Every other institution — Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies, Big Law, higher ed, the media — must also bend the knee. That list includes professional sports. As a master of the attention economy and a product of popular culture, Trump knows the traditional understanding of the modern bully pulpit is outmoded. To truly command attention — and to speak to those who aren't engaged in the political process — a president must be everything, everywhere, all at once. To Trump, that means railing about quotidian details of life — the kind of sugar used by Coca Cola; the water pressure in toilets and showerheads; T-Mobile's service — but also establishing himself as a constant presence in the sports world. As president-elect, he made much-publicized trips to an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at Madison Square Garden and the Army-Navy football game. Since returning to the White House, Trump has attended another UFC fight in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl in New Orleans (where he was the first sitting president to attend), the Daytona 500 in Florida and the NCAA college wrestling championship (marking his second appearance there in three years). A week ago, Trump unexpectedly showed up on stage to present the trophy at the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he stood center stage amid confused foreign players for English soccer giant Chelsea. While sports has always been politicized by the left and right — and a White House visit has long been a reward for championship teams in all sports — Trump has taken it to another level, He has functioned as a sports fan — recently joining the fray with his thoughts on Shadeur Sanders, among other topics — but also as a would-be commissioner eager to wield the power and prestige of the Oval Office in the realm of pro sports. After Trump said in February he'd pardon disgraced baseball great Pete Rose and criticized Major League Baseball, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred traveled to the White House two months later. Not long after, he reinstated Rose from baseball's ineligible list, making him eligible for the Hall of Fame. Manfred later acknowledged Trump played a role in his decision. Trump has even brought the mighty NFL — one of the world's most lucrative sports leagues and owner of 93 of America's top 100 most watched programs in 2023 — to heel. In May, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at his side in the Oval Office, the president announced that the 2027 NFL draft would be held in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall. It's a redefinition of the presidency for the modern age, one that reflects Trump's populist bent. And it's a stark contrast with Joe Biden, who twice declined the traditional pre-Super Bowl televised interview, giving up the chance to speak to the nation's largest assembled live audience. He was absent from pop culture, except as the butt of jokes, and he paid for it. Carving out a beachhead in pro sports enables Trump to asymmetrically engage in the culture wars — weighing in on the policing of team names, for example — but without the partisan sheen. He understands instinctually that to project leadership across a fragmented media landscape, familiar political set-pieces, bland social media exhortations and the sit-down broadcast network interview aren't nearly enough anymore. Nor is the occasional lions-den podcast appearance. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at cmahtesian@ or on X (formerly know as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie. What'd I Miss? — Trump installs new GSA acting administrator, sidelines DOGE leaders: President Donald Trump has appointed Mike Rigas as acting administrator of the General Services Administration, effectively layering DOGE-aligned Stephen Ehikian and Josh Gruenbaum atop the agency. Rigas, a Trump administration veteran who has served as deputy secretary of State for Management and Resources and as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, announced the move in a message to GSA staff this morning. GSA staffers and people close to the Department of Government Efficiency view this appointment as a strategic move by the White House to rein in Ehikian, the former acting administrator, and Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service within GSA. — Trump lashes out at federal judge presiding over Harvard case: President Donald Trump attacked the federal judge presiding over Harvard University's lawsuit against his administration in a social media post this afternoon. Harvard is seeking to restore more than $2 billion in funding from the federal government after the Trump administration launched a review of roughly $9 billion in grants and contracts with the university over accusations that Harvard violated the rights of Jewish students, including during demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama in 2014, heard arguments this morning in the case, the latest in a series of standoffs between the university and the White House. — ICE will 'flood the zone' in NYC: The Department of Homeland Security will 'flood the zone' with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City after the City Council blocked federal law enforcement agencies from opening an office in the city jails, President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan said this morning. Homan joined DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials to deliver that message at One World Trade Center after an off-duty federal customs officer was shot by an undocumented immigrant in an attempted robbery Saturday night, Noem said. — U.S. senators visit Canada to build bridges as trade deadline looms: With the clock ticking to an Aug. 1 deadline to strike a new Canada-U.S. trade and security deal, four U.S. senators met Prime Minister Mark Carney in search of common ground on some of the thorniest cross-border trade irritants: lumber, digital services taxes and metals tariffs. 'We are bridge builders, not people who throw wrenches,' Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) told reporters today following a 45-minute meeting on Parliament Hill. Top of mind for the visiting Americans was the successful renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that President Donald Trump once called the 'largest, most significant, modern, and balanced trade agreement in history.' — Judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid, rebuffs DOJ call for no prison time: A federal judge sentenced a former Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison today for using excessive force during the 2020 deadly Breonna Taylor raid, declining a U.S. Department of Justice recommendation that he be given no prison time. Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the raid but didn't hit anyone, was the only officer on the scene charged in the Black woman's death. He is the first person sentenced to prison in the case that rocked the city of Louisville and spawned weeks of street protests over police brutality five years ago. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings sentenced Hankison at a hearing this afternoon in which she said no prison time 'is not appropriate' for Hankison. She also said she was 'startled' that there weren't more people injured in the raid. — White House removes Wall Street Journal from Scotland press pool over Epstein bombshell: The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president's weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO. The move follows the Journal's report alleging that President Donald Trump sent a sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in has denied the existence of the letter and POLITICO has not verified it. Tarini Parti, a White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, had been scheduled to serve as the print pooler for the final two days of Trump's four-day trip to his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen, Scotland. But the White House removed her from the trip manifest, Leavitt said. AROUND THE WORLD FARAGE MIMICS TRUMP — Nigel Farage announced today that any future Reform UK government would try to send prisoners overseas to complete their sentences — including to El Salvador. The Reform UK leader said the plan, which echoes one of President Donald Trump's own hardline policies, would see up to 10,000 'serious' prisoners serve their time abroad in countries like Kosovo or Estonia. The governing Labour Party dismissed it as mere 'headline-chasing.' Farage's right-wing party — which is leading the government in the polls — promised 'dynamic' prison places abroad, with the British government renting cells in third countries. Reform argues that pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights would remove a key barrier to this plan. SEARCHING FOR SPIES — Ukraine's SBU state security service launched a series of raids on the country's National Anti-Corruption Bureau today as part of a sweeping investigation into suspected collusion with Russian spies. The SBU alleges that one of the top detectives at the anti-corruption agency, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, and another elite officer at the bureau were working as Russian moles. Both were detained. In total, more than 70 searches were conducted. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP THE BIGGER PICTURE — Between 1907 and 1935, most color photographs were taken using the autochrome process, which used colored potato starch, silver emulsion and glass plates to capture still images. Now, a century later, many of those photos are punctured with tiny holes or stained with purple and orange blotches as they deteriorate from light and heat exposure and their silver bases oxidize. While the original versions are gone, archivists are not mourning the damage done. Instead, they're celebrating the opportunity to study the pictures and learn about the science behind their decay. Katy Kelleher reports for National Geographic. Parting Image Jacqueline Munis contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
MLB goes full NASCAR with Braves, Reds uniforms for Speedway Classic at Bristol
In an effort to host more baseball games in more unique locations, the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves are set to play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway, the legendary auto racing track in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 2nd. This will be the first-ever MLB game played at a NASCAR track, and the teams involved are going all-out for their part in league history. On Monday, July 21, the Cincinnati Reds unveiled the uniforms they plan to wear for the contest: white jerseys equipped with classic checkered flag patterns and numbers in the same style seen on drivers' cars. The Braves also revealed their jerseys, which will feature similar NASCAR-inspired numbers, as well as a new ballcap designed by New Era with hod rod flames across the brim. The Aug. 2 game will count as a Reds home game and will be proceeded by games against the Braves at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park on July 31 and Aug. 1. The game will be held a little more than a month before the speedway, know as "The Last Great Colosseum," hosts NASCAR's annual Bristol Night Race on Saturday, Sept. 13. The baseball field will be set in the middle of the track's infield. GUARDIANS: Why did Cleveland change baseball team name? Origins of decades-long controversy Are there any other specialty pieces of gear for this game? Rawlings has designed new batting helmets directly modeled after racing helmets for this game. Furthermore, Reds' catcher Tyler Stephenson has already revealed a custom chest plate for the game, modeled after the movie 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.' The straps on the back of the protector include the famous line from the movie: "If you ain't first, you're last." Has Bristol hosted other major sporting events? Bristol Motor Speedway anually hosts two NASCAR weekends a year – one in the spring and one in late summer or early fall. The speedway hosted a college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies in 2016, which had almost 157,000 fans in attendance. Partnership with MLB: The Show The Bristol Motor Speedway ballpark as well as the Reds' and Braves' specialty uniforms are expected to be available to play with in the popular baseball video game MLB: The Show 25. What other fanfare will be at the Speedway Classic? There will be a pregame concert headlined by Tim McGraw, Pitbull, and Jake Owen. Owen will host a full day of musical sets in a dedicated fan zone at the venue, per Bristol Motor Speedway. The Commissioner's Trophy is also expected to make an appearance, giving fans a once in a lifetime opportunity to take photographs with baseball's most coveted trophy.
Newsweek
8 hours ago
- Newsweek
Luke Combs Teases Music Video With NASCAR's Dale Jr. and Richard Petty
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. American country singer Luke Combs has teased a new music video, featuring NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty. Titled 'Back in the Saddle,' the track will be released on Friday, July 25. Combs shared images of the song on X. One image of a checkered flag has photos embedded inside the black and white blocks. Two photos of Dale Jr. can be spotted from his racing days, including his number 8 car. An image of Petty's belt bearing his racing number 43 has also been featured. One detail that can't be missed from the photo is NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s quote. It reads: "You win some, lose some, and wreck some." Further details of the song will likely be available after its release on Friday. Music video will be out with the song this Friday. Can't wait for y'all to see it — Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) July 21, 2025 Dale Jr. has been making full use of media to ensure his father's stories go out to NASCAR fans. As well as his popular Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media, the former driver has launched a podcast series titled 'Becoming Earnhardt 1980,' which is based on stories about Dale Sr., obtained from scrapbooks that Dale Jr.'s aunt preserved. Singer Luke Combs poses for a photo in the pace car prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 30, 2024 in Lebanon, Tennessee. Singer Luke Combs poses for a photo in the pace car prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 30, 2024 in Lebanon, series focuses on NASCAR's 1980 Cup Series season, showcasing lesser-known details of the events that unfolded, eventually leading to Dale Sr.'s championship victory. Speaking about the new series, Dale Jr. said: "It's just a show that I started. I got these two scrapbooks from my aunt when my grandmother passed away. We went to her house, we were kind of looking through some of the things - photos and all kinds of stuff - and there were these two scrapbooks that my aunt made. "They are literally, one is from the '79 year and one's from the '80 Cup season. She cut out every article and everything. So right there in front of me, man, is basically this kind of book of, like, 'here's what happened to Dad.' "I just never really dove into that real deeply to get details about that particular couple of years when he drove for Rod Osterlund and landed his first full-time ride in NASCAR. "So we decided to make a series, Becoming Earnhardt, to detail what's in those scrapbooks and the things that we learned. It's pretty interesting." Addressing a controversy that will be highlighted in the podcast series, Dale Jr. said: "1980 is what this particular season of Becoming Earnhardt will be focusing on, and there is a high-profile split with crew chief Jake Elder. How Jake handles that in the media is wild—Jake goes off the rails, Jake comes back on the rails—it's just wild. "And Dad and Cale get nippy in the media late in the year. Cale actually is real critical of Dad on the racetrack. Just watching that whole thing—kind of reliving it, putting yourself in the moment of going back through that particular year—I think it's really fun for me. "I'm a nostalgia freak. I love the history of the sport. So it is a great time for me, a good excuse for me to dive more into learning about that particular part of Dad's life. I lived a lot of the late '80s and the '90s. I wasn't even in Dad's life in 1980. I was not living with him yet."
