For only the first time since Easter weekend back in early April and for just the second time since the season got underway in mid-February with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series had off this past weekend, one week after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In fact, it marked the first full off weekend of the season for the NASCAR national series, as even during Easter weekend, both the Craftsman Truck Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series were in action at Rockingham Speedway that Friday and Saturday, respectively. Neither one was in action during the first weekend in August.
But from now until the end of the 2026 season, there are no more off weekends for NASCAR, and while the Truck Series and O'Reilly Series won't be in action during each of the next 14 weeks, the Cup Series is scheduled to wrap up the year with 14 consecutive races.
No more off weekends during the 2026 NASCAR season
It's nowhere near as long as the 28-race stretch, the first since 1971, featured on the 2025 calendar, but it's still a grueling stretch over the next three months after the Cup Series just ran for 16 straight weeks, beginning with Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway and ending with the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Homestead-Miami hasn't hosted the season finale since 2019.
Races at Iowa, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Daytona are scheduled to conclude the regular season, leading into the first 10-race "Chase" postseason since 2013.
Unlike from 2014 to 2025, the playoff races are no longer divided into three rounds of three races and a winner-take-all Championship 4.
There is simply one points reset between the Coke Zero Sugar 400 regular season finale at Daytona and the Cook Out Southern 500 playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, and it's based strictly on the top 16 in the regular season standings, with no more "win and in" to speak of.
Homestead-Miami is one of two tracks on the playoff schedule that was not on it a year ago. Charlotte Motor Speedway's oval is back for the first time since 2017, after the Roval hosted a playoff race each year from 2018 to 2025. New Hampshire is the only venue from the 2025 playoffs that is not on the 2026 playoff calendar.
As for the Truck Series and O'Reilly Series, there are no more standalone race weekends between now and the end of the season. However, the Truck Series will not race at Iowa or Daytona in the regular season, and it won't race at Darlington, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, or Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the playoffs.
The O'Reilly Series will not race at Richmond or New Hampshire in the regular season, and it won't race at Kansas Speedway in the playoffs.
The six venues set to host all three series in the postseason are Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte, Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway. There are no more tripleheader weekends remaining on the regular season schedule.
All action can be seen live with a subscription to FuboTV, which currently comes with a free trial. All 14 remaining Cup Series races are set to be shown live on either USA Network or NBC, all 11 remaining O'Reilly Series races are set to be shown live on the CW Network, and all nine remaining Truck Series races are set to be shown live on either Fox or Fox Sports 1. Buckle up.
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