By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 20, 2026 | In NASCAR
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 20, 2026 | In NASCAR
The NASCAR Cup Series 2026 looks to be one of the most well-rounded and strategically relevant seasons in recent years, confirming the central role of the American championship within the global motorsport ecosystem. With 36 events spread over ten months, the calendar combines tradition, innovation and a geographic coverage that continues to strengthen the commercial value of the series.
From the legendary Daytona 500 to the final race that will award the title, the 2026 season offers a balanced mix of superspeedway, short track, road course and intermediate ovals, keeping the appeal high for fans, media and sponsors. The Cup Series has represented the beating heart of U.S. motorsports for more than 70 years. It is not just a motorsports championship, but a true cultural phenomenon, capable of combining sports, entertainment and business like no other series in the world.
The NASCAR 2026 calendar confirms this: a journey through legendary tracks, new formats, unseen street circuits and iconic dates that continue to define the identity of the most-watched motorsports championship in the United States.
The NASCAR Cup Series remains one of the most structured sports championships in the world in terms of return to investors. The high frequency of events, strong audience loyalty, and national and international television coverage make the series an extremely effective platform for brand awareness, lead generation, and B2C and B2B activations strategies.
The 2026 calendar confirms this approach, with distribution designed to maximize audience, hospitality and business partner engagement opportunities.
| Date | Race | Circuit | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1 | Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium | Bowman Gray Stadium | Winston Salem, NC |
| Feb 12 | America 250 Florida Duel 1 | Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Feb 12 | America 250 Florida Duel 2 | Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Feb 15 | Daytona 500 | Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Feb 22 | Autotrader 400 | EchoPark Speedway | Hampton, GA |
| Mar 1 | DuraMax Grand Prix | Circuit of The Americas | Austin, TX |
| Mar 8 | Straight Talk Wireless 500 | Phoenix Raceway | Avondale, AZ |
| Mar 15 | Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Las Vegas, NV |
| Mar 22 | Goodyear 400 | Darlington Raceway | Darlington, SC |
| Mar 29 | Cook Out 400 | Martinsville Speedway | Ridgeway, VA |
| Apr 12 | Food City 500 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, TN |
| Apr 19 | AdventHealth 400 | Kansas Speedway | Kansas City, KS |
| Apr 26 | Jack Link’s 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | Talladega, AL |
| May 3 | Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY | Texas Motor Speedway | Fort Worth, TX |
| May 10 | Go Bowling at The Glen | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, NY |
| May 17 | NASCAR All-Star Race. | Dover Motor Speedway | Dover, DE |
| May 24 | Coca-Cola 600 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Concord, NC |
| May 31 | Cracker Barrel 400 | Nashville Superspeedway | Lebanon, TN |
| Jun 7 | FireKeepers Casino 400 | Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, MI |
| Jun 14 | NASCAR Cup Series Race at Pocono | Pocono Raceway | Long Pond, PA |
| Jun 21 | Anduril 250 | Naval Base Coronado | San Diego, CA |
| Jun 28 | Toyota / Save Mart 350 | Sonoma Raceway | Sonoma, CA |
| Jul 5 | NASCAR Cup Series Race at Chicagoland | Chicagoland Speedway | Joliet, IL |
| Jul 12 | Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart | EchoPark Speedway | Hampton, GA |
| Jul 19 | Window World 450 | North Wilkesboro Speedway | North Wilkesboro, NC |
| Jul 26 | Brickyard 400 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Speedway, IN |
| Aug 9 | Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol | Iowa Speedway | Newton, IA |
| Aug 15 | Cook Out 400 | Richmond Raceway | Richmond, VA |
| Aug 23 | NASCAR Cup Series Race at New Hampshire | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Loudon, NH |
| Aug 29 | Coke Zero Sugar 400 | Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Sept 6 | Cook Out Southern 500 | Darlington Raceway | Darlington, SC |
| Sept 13 | Enjoy Illinois 300 | World Wide Technology Raceway | Madison, IL |
| Sept 19 | Bass Pro Shops Night Race | Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, TN |
| Sept 27 | Hollywood Casino 400 | Kansas Speedway | Kansas City, KS |
| Oct 4 | South Point 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Las Vegas, NV |
| Oct 11 | Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval | Concord, NC |
| Oct 18 | Freeway Insurance 500 | Phoenix Raceway | Avondale, AZ |
| Oct 25 | Yellawood 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | Talladega, AL |
| Nov 1 | Xfinity 500 | Martinsville Speedway | Ridgeway, VA |
| Nov 8 | NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. | Homestead-Miami Speedway | Homestead, FL |
The 2026 calendar confirms the balance between heritage and modernity, enhancing historic tracks such as Daytona, Talladega and Martinsville, without sacrificing events on road courses and iconic locations such as COTA, Sonoma and Watkins Glen.
From a business perspective, the season represents a comprehensive ecosystem for companies wishing to integrate sports, marketing, and communications into a coherent, measurable, and high-visibility platform.
Alongside the oval tradition, NASCAR continues to invest in diversifying the sport’s product. The 2026 calendar includes stages such as:
This evolution broadens the audience, strengthens the international appeal of the series, and creates new narrative and commercial platforms for partners and sponsors.
With more than 70 million fans in the United States alone, NASCAR is America’s most popular motorsports championship. Its strength lies not only in the races, but in its ability to build deep emotional relationships between drivers, teams, tracks and the public.
From a sports marketing perspective, NASCAR represents one of the most structured and measurable ecosystems in the world: hospitality, local activations, fan engagement, digital content, data analytics and storytelling make each partnership an integrated project.
The 2026 calendar demonstrates how NASCAR has managed to protect its heritage while continuing to innovate in format, venue and language. A rare balance, which explains why this championship continues to be a global reference in motorsport and sports business.
From superspeedways to short tracks, from road courses to street races, NASCAR remains true to a simple and most powerful promise: to provide authentic competition, nonstop spectacle and a unique connection with its fans.
And it is this combination that makes it, to this day, the most representative motorsports championship in American sports culture.
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A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Motorsport is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Motorsport is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of motorsport sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in motorsport sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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