After the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season featured the first stretch of 28 consecutive race weekends since 1971, with the only off weekend of the year coming in April due to the Easter holiday, two off weekends were baked into the 2026 schedule.
The first took place in April, again due to Easter, and the second is set to take place this weekend, following a run of 16 consecutive race weekends dating back to the mid-April race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
This weekend is set to be the final off weekend of the 2026 season, with next Sunday afternoon's race at Iowa Speedway scheduled to kick off a stretch of 14 consecutive race weekends to conclude the campaign.
Final NASCAR Cup Series off weekend of 2026 is upon us
Those 14 race weekends are set to include the final four races of the 26-race regular season, as well as the 10-race "Chase" postseason. There is set to be just one points reset for the 16 playoff drivers after the regular season, rather than four like there were when NASCAR utilized the old "win and in", knockout format from 2014 to 2025.
All 14 races that remain on this year's schedule are a part of NBC's portion of the broadcast schedule, with four set to be shown live on NBC and the other 10 set to be shown live on USA Network after TNT Sports wrapped up its five-race portion with this past Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway in late August and the final three races of the playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway in late October and at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway in early November are the four races set to be shown live on NBC.
Tune in to USA Network at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9 for the live broadcast of the Iowa Corn 350 from Iowa Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action from now through the end of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season!
