2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Date | June 28 – July 26, 2026 |
| Venue(s) | |
| Teams | 32 (full-time) |
| Purse | US$1 Million |
The 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge will be a multi-stage motorsport tournament that will be played during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. It will be the second edition of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. 32 full-time drivers in the series will participate in the tournament and races will also count toward the regular season and playoff standings as normal.
Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing is the defending winner of the tournament.
Format
The tournament will consist of five regular season races that would run during June and July. The bottom four full-time drivers in the standings after the phase failed to qualify for the bracket. 32 drivers will then be seeded into the bracket based on their performance based on the regular season standings. The five races will conduct in a single elimination bracket, with the first four rounds known as "Challenge Rounds". In each round, the driver in each matchup with the better finish advanced, while the other was eliminated. This process will continue until only two drivers remain in the "Champions Round"; the driver with the better finish in that race would become the tournament champion.
Changes
2026 will mark the first year of major rule changes that marked drivers being ranked off of regular season points rather than three seeding races used in 2025.[1]
Schedule
O Oval track
R Road course
| No | Race name | Track | Location | Date | Time (ET)[2] | Radio | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota/Save Mart 350 | R Sonoma Raceway | Sonoma, California | June 28 | 3:30 pm | MRN | Report |
| 2 | TBA | O Chicagoland Speedway | Joliet, Illinois | July 5 | 6 pm | Report | |
| 3 | Quaker State 400 | O EchoPark Speedway | Hampton, Georgia | July 12 | 7 pm | PRN | Report |
| 4 | Window World 450 | O North Wilkesboro Speedway | North Wilkesboro, North Carolina | July 19 | Report | ||
| 5 | Brickyard 400 | O Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Speedway, Indiana | July 26 | 2 pm | IMS | Report |
Bracket
| Sonoma | Chicagoland | Atlanta | North Wilkesboro | Indianapolis | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Broadcasting
All tournament races will be shown on TNT and streamed on Max.[3][4]
References
- ^ "In-Season Challenge returns to Cup Series schedule in 2026". NASCAR. February 5, 2026.
- ^ "NASCAR announces start times and networks for 2025". NASCAR. November 13, 2024. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
- ^ "NASCAR announces historic media rights agreements with FOX, NBC, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery". NASCAR.com. November 29, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ "TNT Sports to kick off NASCAR return with Atlanta's Night Race in June 2025". Atlanta Motor Speedway. May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 18, 2024.