Nascar 2026 Schedule Reveals: Questions and Answers



Earlier this week Nascar unveiled its national touring series schedules for next year.  You have questions, I have answers!


OK, what are the biggest changes to the Cup Series?  Chicagoland (the oval, not a Chi-town themed theme park) is in for the Chicago Street Race, and a race at the Coronado military base near San Diego replaces the Mexico City race.


Why did Mexico City and Chicago (proper) lose their races?  Mexico City would’ve had little to no shot of hosting in 2026 due to preparations for the upcoming World Cup.  Chicago, well, nobody really cared about it beyond a few oddballs who wanted to whine about street crime.


Alright, but what’s this I heard about North Wilkesboro being back as a points race?  You heard correctly!  North Wilkesboro is back on the schedule as a points-paying race and the All Star race is moving to Dover.


DOVER got the All Star Race?!?  Hey, I live an hour away and I’m just as surprised as you are.


What other schedule changes are there in Cup?  Watkins Glen moves from August to May (Mother’s Day Weekend), New Hampshire moves back into the regular season, and Dover & North Wilkesboro have effectively swapped dates (Dover to May, North Wilkesboro to July).


Who gets the Saturday Night races (unless it rains)?  Richmond, summer Daytona, and fall Bristol.  And yes, Dover will mostly likely host the All Star Race on late Sunday afternoon due to a lack of lights.


Okay, okay—how about the Xfinity Series?  Honestly, the biggest change there is the series name—O’Reilly Auto Parts (OW!) takes over for Xfinity.


Gee, Xfinity must be really mad at Nascar for all the chan—No, they’re staying in the sport as a premier partner in the Cup Series as well as sponsoring the “fastest lap” bonus point.  So yeah, take your whining elsewhere.


How about the Truck Series?  The biggest changes are a return to Dover and a first-ever appearance on the streets of St. Petersburg Florida.  And yet they’ll STILL have that three-week break in March without a race.



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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: DAYTONA


EDITOR’S NOTE: Uncle Max is out with a bad cold this week.  He texted me his picks last night.


TRUCK SERIES (5 wins) off


XFINITY SERIES (2 win) Wawa 250 (Friday 7:30pm ET on The CW) JESSE LOVE—could RCR actually get on a roll?


CUP SERIES Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Saturday 7:30pm ET on NBC) Points Leader picks WILLIAM BYRON.  Favorite (2 wins): ALEX BOWMAN—easiest way to guarantee his place in the playoffs.  Next Favorite (5 wins): DENNY HAMLIN—11 vs. an exciting finish to the regular season.  Dark Horse (2 wins): TY DILLON—standard chaos theory.



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Spade Racing Opens a 2025 Donruss Hobby Box: Pack 1 of 16



It’s back to new cards, with a “hobby box” of 2025 Donruss racing cards.  There’s sixteen packs, so join me as I go through each of them!


Pack 1 of 16: Larson, Almost Done, and a Lawless One


First Look: Here we have a look at the basic design for the cards.  I like it, although the reflective foil isn’t that good for pictures.  Then again, I’m not a trained photographer—I took pottery in high school.


To the Back: William Byron really has done virtually everything he can in the sport—all he needs is a Cup championship to seal the deal.  Without one, he’s just an incredibly successful racer who’s independently wealthy enough to pursue any and all of his dreams.


Say What: “Yes, it’s my real name, and yes, I’m aware that if I married Xena her name would be Lawless Lawless.”


Final Rating: 3 green flags out of 10




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Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Dave Marcis (part 2)



Prelude to a legend—Marcis in the Rod Osterlund 2 car (1978)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).

Marcis in Osterlund's car (racing Lennie Pond)


Why? After a part-time 1977 season with several different teams, Dave Marcis moved to the nearly-new Osterlund Racing team of Californian Rod Osterlund for 1978 (NOTE—Marcis ran a single race for Osterlund in 1977).


How successful were they? Despite running their first full season, Osterlund provided equipment good enough for Marcis to finish fifth in points.  The only real blotch on the season was the lack of a race win.


What was the aftermath? While Marcis returned to running his own equipment to progressively worse results, Osterlund would hire a young hot-shoe named Dale Earnhardt, winning the 1980 Cup championship in the process.


Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 4 Goodyear hats out of 10—in retrospect the hiring of a seasoned veteran like Marcis was a genius move on Osterlund’s part.



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The All Star Race? In MY Dover? Its More Likely Than You Think



A bizarre rumor sprung up this past week that had Dover Motor Speedway reportedly swapping races with North Wilkesboro Speedway.  That would have North Wilkesboro return to the schedule as a points-paying race, and would have Dover—yes, DOVER—as the All Star Race.  Seriously.

But as strange as it sounds, don’t knock it yet.  Just think about what an All Star Race in Delaware would look like…


—At last, a chance to finally use the harness racing track in the infield as part of an auto race!  I suggest that, much like all harness races, the infield race be limited in speed and completely rigged.


—No lights?  No problem!  Nothing says “all star race” like an event held in the middle of the afternoon.  Bonus points if they shoot off fireworks again that nobody can see against a bright blue sky.


—I say we bring back the randomized inversion of the field, but instead of that Plinko board that never worked, we use one of the giant slot machines at the on-site casino.  Free $20 in slot play to all drivers who participate for the first time!


—A chance to honor such famous Delawareans in Nascar as…uh…well…


—Instead of a $1,000,000 prize to the winner, they get a $1,000,000 gift card to the Christiana Mall—no sales tax means your dollar goes further!  Alternately they can take the money and buy the entire Dover Mall (and probably get some change). 



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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: RICHMOND


Gotta keep this short, as I’m dealing with a burst pipe in my townhouse.  Yeah, I don’t own it, so yeah, I don’t pay to fix it, but I still gotta deal with it.  Needless to say, I’m glad the pipe was in the basement/garage and that I store all my valuables in the spare room on the third floor.


TRUCK SERIES (4 wins) Eero 250 (Friday 7:30pm ET on FS1) COREY HEIM—I blame myself for not picking Corey last week.


XFINITY SERIES (2 win) off


CUP SERIES Cook Out 400 (Saturday 7:30pm ET on USA) Points Leader picks WILLIAM BYRON.  Favorite (2 wins): CHRIS BUESCHER—it’s an all-dark horse picks weekend!  Next Favorite (5 wins): DANIEL SUAREZ—anyone can lock themselves into the playoffs in this race.  Dark Horse (1 win): AUSTIN DILLON—yes, even him.



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Spade Racing Opens a 2025 Donruss Hobby Box: Preview



It’s back to new cards, with a “hobby box” of 2025 Donruss racing cards.  There’s sixteen packs, so join me as I go through each of them!






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Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Dave Marcis (part 1)



Dave Marcis races off-and-on for Penske (1972-77)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).

Roger Penske & Dave Marcis, courtesy NBC Sports


Why? Before he became best known as “The Last of the Independents”, Dave Marcis ran races for multiple different car owners.  Amongst them, he ran the infamous Penske AMC Matador part-time from 1972 through 1974.  Then, after a two year run with the K&K Insurance team, Marcis returned to Penske part-time in 1977 running Chevys and Mercurys.


How successful were they? Much like Bobby Allison, Marcis couldn’t get much speed out of the “Flying Brick” that was the AMC Matador, struggling for top-tens.  However, upon returning to the team Marcis was a threat to win, posting multiple top-fives.


What was the aftermath? Roger Penske would wind down his NASCAR operations in a few years before returning to the series in 1991.  Marcis, meanwhile, would move to relatively-new Osterlund Racing for 1978.


Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 8 pairs of wingtip shoes out of 10—a stubborn old independent like Dave Marcis seems like the polar-opposite of a “Penske driver”.



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The Hero Card Project 2025 Part 7


Click here for Part 6


Hero Cards!  They’re collectable, they’re colorful, and they’re free!  I have SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes) going out to every Cup, Xfinity and Truck team, as well as a few major ARCA operations as well.  If you’re new to hero card collecting, check out my guide at herocardguide.com for step-by-step instructions on how to request hero cards, how to receive them, and how to store them.


Here’s my latest shipment of Hero Cards—these arrived on Thursday August 7th:

A rare circular (and autographed, in duplicate) hero card from
Viking Motorsports!




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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: WATKINS GLEN


It’s time for Nascar’s annual trip to Watkins Glen, which always reminds me of my childhood annual trip to the mountains.  Well, kinda.

You see, my folks never took me to a resort or a camping site.  Instead, we went to a motor lodge (never call it a “motel” when my dad was within earshot) and would spend the week driving around, enjoying the pool, and going to some oddball local restaurants.

While I don’t have any kids of my own, I think it would be nice if I did to take them back up there.  Of course for all I know that motor lodge is a vacant former Rite Aid now.  Still, its nice to have memories of desperately trying to adjust rabbit ears to get in a baseball game on tv.


TRUCK SERIES (4 wins) Mission 176 at the Glen (Friday 5pm ET on FS1) CONNOR ZILICH—a last minute sub, but he’s great on road courses.


XFINITY SERIES (2 win) Mission 200 at the Glen (Saturday 3pm ET on CW) SHELDON CREED—two straight wins for LMC—er, I mean, Haas Factory Team.


CUP SERIES Go Bowling at the Glen (Sunday 2pm ET on USA) Points Leader picks WILLIAM BYRON.  Favorite (2 wins): CHASE ELLIOTT—he needs to STRIKE while the iron is hot.  Next Favorite (5 wins): TYLER REDDICK—a win will SPARE him some stress for the playoffs.  Dark Horse (1 win): AJ ALLMENDINGER—even though on ovals he’s usually in the GUTTER.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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