From the debut of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in 2004 through 2017, New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosted a playoff race in addition to its regular season race.
That changed in 2018, when the Loudon, New Hampshire venue lost its playoff race weekend and instead began hosting only a single race weekend during the regular season.
In 2025, the four-turn, 1.058-mile (1.703-kilometer) oval was moved back into the playoffs and gave up its regular season date, but that change was short-lived.
New Hampshire removed from NASCAR playoff schedule for 2026
In 2026, New Hampshire is set to once again host a regular season race, but not a playoff race. It is set to host the penultimate race of the regular season, marking the track's latest regular season race date of the playoff era (provided the playoffs do indeed still exist by the time the 2026 season rolls around).
The removal of New Hampshire from the postseason schedule was necessary to reinstate Homestead-Miami Speedway as the host of the season finale.
Homestead-Miami hosted the season finale each year from 2002 to 2019, but Phoenix Raceway took its place in 2020 and has now hosted the past six Championship 4 title deciders in a row.
Phoenix is set to move back to the round of 8, where it was prior to 2020, joining Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway and displacing Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Las Vegas, which was actually added to the playoff schedule in place of New Hampshire in 2018, is set to take New Hampshire's place in the round of 12, albeit in the middle of the round, not at the start.
Kansas has been moved up, slotting in as the round of 12 opener rather than the round's middle race. The Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is still set to conclude the quarterfinal round, and the opening round of 16 is still set to feature, in order, Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
Again, note that all references to playoff rounds assume that the current four-round, 10-race format remains in place for 2026 in some way, shape, or form. That could change whenever NASCAR makes things official regarding the 2026 format.
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway with the Daytona 500. The 68th running of the "Great American Race" is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15.