In the first season of NASCAR's new "Chase" postseason format, which replaced the much-maligned knockout format and is a slightly modified version of the format that was used from 2004 to 2013, there are 10 tracks on the single-round playoff calendar.
They include Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Next year, barring an unforeseen expansion to the 10-race postseason schedule, at least one of those tracks will not have a playoff date.
Watkins Glen returning to NASCAR Cup playoff schedule
Ahead of its tripleheader weekend featuring the Craftsman Truck Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and Cup Series this weekend, Watkins Glen International confirmed that the track's race weekend is set to move back to September, which is when it was contested in 2024, in 2027.
An exact race date has not been confirmed, but the track is set to return to the Cup Series playoff calendar. The 2024 race, for reference, was the second race on the playoff schedule.
This year's second race on the playoff schedule is set to take place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, which landed its playoff date in 2025 after Watkins Glen moved back into the regular season. Gateway hosted a regular season race each year from 2022 to 2024.
Whether or not the Watkins Glen race for the O'Reilly Series or Truck Series will be a playoff race remains to be seen. On the same weekend in 2024, the O'Reilly Series race at the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) Watkins Glen, New York road course was still a regular season race, and the Truck Series did not compete at the track at all.
Regardless, the return of the natural terrain road course to the playoffs is set to fill a void on the postseason schedule that was left when it was announced just before the 2026 season began that the Charlotte's race would be shifting back to the oval from the Roval, ending an eight-year run. As a result, the 2026 playoffs are set to be the first since 2017 with exclusively oval races.
Sunday's Go Bowling at the Glen is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Watkins Glen International starting at 3:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the 2026 season's second road course race!
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