NASCAR finally dropped the 2026 schedules for its top three touring series this week, and as usual, fans and media treated it like Christmas morning. Where are we going? Who’s hosting? Is North Wilkesboro still in? Will the Daytona 500 be run on Mars? All the questions, all the speculation, all the joy.
Drivers, on the other hand, responded with all the excitement of being handed a tax form.
Here’s the thing: when NASCAR fiddles with car design or race formats, the sanctioning body will often consult the drivers. But when it comes to where those drivers will be sent to flog their machines around asphalt and concrete? Forget it. The people in fire suits are the last to know.
“I get an email two minutes before the press release comes out,” Austin Cindric said. “Half the time I’ve already missed the email and just see it on Twitter.”
That’s right. The gladiators in this coliseum of horsepower learn where they’ll be racing the same way the rest of us do: by scrolling through social media.
Cindric admitted he doesn’t exactly pore over the fine print anyway. “You see that there’s two [off weeks] and you’re like, ‘Yes!’ The summer becomes a grind—not just the racing but the promoting, sponsor events, everything. It’s easy to get burned out, and I don’t even have a family or kids to balance like most of these guys.”
Still, he found things to like. “Having Chicagoland back is great. I think this car will suit that track. And I’m jealous the Trucks get St. Pete—that was always a favorite of mine.”
Chris Buescher couldn’t even muster that much energy. “I haven’t actually looked at it yet,” he admitted. “Somebody said San Diego and Sonoma were close together, so I checked that. Otherwise, it hasn’t made it to the front of the list.”
Ryan Preece, to his credit, had at least skimmed the syllabus. “I like that stretch of Iowa, Richmond, and New Hampshire before the playoffs. That’s neat. And moving Dover to the All-Star, being from the Northeast, I’m curious what the format will look like. Plus, that added weekend off—it’s not just for us, it’s huge for crew guys with families.”
Even Buescher, when pressed, eventually offered a thought beyond “meh.” “I’ve heard about Homestead maybe being the last race again, and now that’s official. There are a lot of neat changes, but honestly, it’s cut-off week right now. That’s where my head is.”
And then there’s William Byron, who—shockingly—looked at the calendar and thought about things beyond what flavor of potato chips to pack for the charter flight.
“It’s more about the rhythm of the season,” Byron said. “Like, where am I going to be in that portion of the year? Is it going to be hot that time of year? I think North Wilkesboro is going to be really hot next year if it’s a day race in July. I live in Charlotte—it’s usually like 98 degrees. That one would be tough on everybody, so you’ve got to prepare differently.”
Byron also pointed out a more serious wrinkle: Homestead as the championship race. “Unfortunately, our last true learning experience with Homestead has passed us. It’s going to be over a year and a half when we go back there for the championship, so you’re going to really have to learn a lot quickly. Maybe we’ll have a test or something so everyone can get some added experience.”
In other words, fans are drawing up road trip maps and debating which tracks deserve more love. Meanwhile, the men actually strapped into the cars are either too busy, too exhausted, or too indifferent to notice until someone texts them a screenshot.
And that, perhaps, is the truest NASCAR thing of all: the circus keeps moving whether or not the clowns check the schedule.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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