NASCAR has announced a significant revision to its practice structure ahead of the 2026 championship playoffs, replacing the split-group format with a single, extended session for all competitors.
Effective at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the August 23 race weekend, the sanctioning body will eliminate divided practice groups. Instead, every team will receive 50 minutes of open track time. This format will serve as the standard for all non-superspeedway events through the remainder of the 2026 season. As part of the adjustment, teams will be allocated an additional set of tires.
Superspeedway events remain exceptions. The season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway will proceed without practice, moving directly to qualifying, even with the introduction of a new rules package. The fall event at Talladega Superspeedway will likewise feature no on-track practice sessions.
The season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will not be affected by the change, as its schedule already includes a planned extended practice session for the full field.
Under the previous structure, the field was divided into two groups of 25 minutes each. That arrangement drew criticism from teams and drivers who cited significant disparities in track conditions between the early and late sessions.
NASCAR confirmed there will be no alterations to the current qualifying format or the performance metric used to determine qualifying order and set the grid in the event of a rainout.
Weekend schedules have remained condensed since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a reduction in on-track activity in 2020, a measure originally implemented to control costs.
