NASCAR Kicks Off 2026 Short Track Development with Crucial Tire and Aerodynamic Testing

CHARLOTTE, NC – The path to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season officially began this week with a two-day tire testing session at a prominent short track. Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR’s premier series, is utilizing this crucial period to refine its tire compounds, aiming to establish a more consistent and engaging racing product for the high-speed, half-mile circuits. This initiative comes as NASCAR seeks to mitigate the extreme swings in racing dynamics observed in recent seasons, which have ranged from traditional pack racing to instances of accelerated tire wear.

The variability in tire performance has been largely attributed to ambient temperature fluctuations. Cooler weather conditions have historically made it more challenging for the rubber to adhere effectively to the track surface. This phenomenon was notably observed during the spring 2024 and fall 2025 races, where drivers could only manage approximately 30-50 laps on a set of tires before significant degradation occurred, even with judicious management. While these races generated considerable speed differentials and increased on-track contact, a general sentiment among competitors and observers suggests a desire for a more balanced approach—one that promotes strategic tire management without being overly dependent on environmental factors.

The primary objective of this two-day test is to identify a tire setup that encourages a natural fall-off in grip, thereby emphasizing tire management as a key strategic element. However, the aim is to achieve this without the excessively rapid wear witnessed in recent Cup Series short track events. A secondary, yet equally important, goal is to develop tires that exhibit greater temperature neutrality, ensuring consistent performance across a wider range of track and ambient temperatures.

Participating in this pivotal testing session are three prominent teams and drivers: the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota driven by Bubba Wallace, the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet piloted by Alex Bowman, and the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford with Ryan Preece behind the wheel.

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This test also marks a significant milestone as the short track package will be evaluated with the 750 horsepower tapered spacer. This represents an increase from the current 670 horsepower target and is one of the new regulations slated for the NextGen car in the upcoming 2026 season.

Following the Bristol test, NASCAR and Goodyear are scheduled to conduct further testing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. At this venue, NASCAR intends to explore additional technical modifications to the car, with the overarching goal of continuously enhancing the short track racing product. The NextGen car, since its debut in 2022, has been credited with improving racing on intermediate tracks. However, it has faced criticism for its performance on flatter short tracks and road courses, particularly in situations where a single racing groove is prevalent, due to the trailing car’s heightened sensitivity to aerodynamic wake.

NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell acknowledged last month the organization’s willingness to implement further adjustments beyond the horsepower increase. "I think what you’ll see us do is, we’ve got the drivers, with the counsel from Christopher Bell and others, Joey Logano, talking about, ‘Hey! Let’s try some of these things.’ Working with 3 of the OEM manufacturers and crew chiefs or Heads of Competition. Putting some ideas together, going and trying it at North Wilkesboro and see what happens," O’Donnell stated.

Christopher Bell, a vocal proponent of refining the Cup Series car’s handling characteristics, believes the Cup Series cars should exhibit more responsive behavior, akin to their Xfinity Series counterparts. "I think they need to get the Cup aero map to match the Xfinity Series cars," Bell told Motorsport.com at Phoenix Raceway. "That would be the best case scenario, to get the Cup cars to react like the Xfinity cars. I was a big advocate of going back to narrower tires, but after all the work Goodyear has put in this year, the cars are sliding around a lot now. We go to road courses and short tracks, and I can promise you, it is slippery. At Martinsville, and the Charlotte Road Course, we are sliding the car around a lot and are overpowered with the current horsepower."

Bell further elaborated on the aerodynamic discrepancies, suggesting that the current Cup car’s design, which generates downforce primarily from the rear diffuser, results in a "tail down and nose up" attitude. This contrasts with the Xfinity Series car’s "nose down and tail up" configuration. This aerodynamic imbalance, he contends, impacts how drivers can manage the car, particularly in traffic. "I don’t know if it’s aero or mechanical, but I think it’s aero because we drive the car in yaw like the Xfinity cars can and I think that’s a big part of the eye test — the way the Xfinity guys look like they are hustling the cars. Cup cars, even though we are close to out of control, it doesn’t look like it on TV. I would love to get us closer to the Xfinity car," Bell added.

Addressing the challenge of optimizing the Cup car’s aerodynamic profile, Bell conceded, "I don’t know," with a laugh. "We need to find a way to optimize with that too. Like, NASCAR can’t tell us ‘drop the nose and raise the tail’ because that’s not how this car is optimal. We’ll always evolve back to nose up and tail down attitude because that’s how the car was designed. It’s worse in traffic. This is why we can’t get the car in front of us loose. This hurts passing. We need to optimize the car with the nose down and the tail up, and whatever gets us there, that’s what we need to do."

Beyond tire and aerodynamic considerations, NASCAR will also be evaluating the new McLaren TAG-510 Electric Control Unit (ECU) and Data Logger, which are slated for implementation next season. Brad Keselowski, when asked about his expectations for the testing, emphasized the importance of the ECU. "You have to be more specific for me to have a strong opinion but I know the ECU is a big part of that test and getting that right," Keselowski commented. "There are a lot of things that those tests will be important for."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has previously advocated for a more minimalist approach to the NextGen car’s configuration for short track races, suggesting a complete stripping down of components.

The perspective from the crew chief level reveals a complex landscape of desired outcomes and the perceived challenges in achieving them. Adam Stevens, crew chief for Christopher Bell, expressed uncertainty regarding the specific technical solutions. "I think everyone has a handle on what they want to happen but I don’t think anybody has a handle on what it’s going to take, aerodynamically to make that happen," Stevens said. "I would certainly put myself in that category. We all want the trailing car to not be at such a disadvantage to the leading car. How to make that happen, I have not put any time or study into that. I can tell you the people that have taken the time to over the years, haven’t had much success anyway so I can’t tell you what widget we need to try either. If anyone knows what that widget is, it isn’t me."

Rudy Fugle, crew chief for William Byron, voiced concerns about the potential cost of significant aerodynamic revisions. "My opinion on the aero side of it is pretty complex," Fugle stated. "With the way the underbody and the way the splitter is and the way the air flows to the louvers, I think it would be pretty expensive to do some of this stuff. I haven’t heard of any of their plans to be honest with you… but there are definitely some things that I think could help but they are pretty large-scale things in my opinion. It would have to be a redesign of some things. There are some smarter aerodynamicists out there than me. I’m not one at all, so definitely smarter than me. Maybe they’re getting somewhere that I don’t know about."

Chris Gayle indicated a desire to move away from shock-dependent setups and explore the removal of sections from the sealed underbody.

Despite the challenges, there is palpable enthusiasm for incremental progress in the racing product, particularly with the upcoming horsepower increase. Paul Wolfe, crew chief for Joey Logano, anticipates that while the horsepower adjustment alone may not be a drastic change, its combination with advancements from Goodyear and potential aerodynamic tweaks could yield a cumulative positive effect. He noted, "The horsepower thing has been on the radar for a while. I’m excited for the direction. That’s good. I’m not aware of any of the aero stuff that’s been talked about. We’re already on two different packages when it comes to mile and a half versus short track. We’ve run both packages on short tracks. It’s hard to say anything has been a big more mover on the aero side but with all this being said, we need to keep in mind that not one change is going to be huge, it’s about stacking little changes here and there to make the racing better."

Wolfe elaborated on the impact of the horsepower increase on tire wear, a key objective. "I saw where some guys said ‘we’re not going to see anything out of the 750’ but is it going to be night and day, no, but when it comes to managing and using your tires, those things, adding horsepower isn’t going to make it worse. It’s going to make the wear worse, which is where we’re trying to go." He likened the strategy to how teams seek speed increases, emphasizing the aggregation of minor improvements. "I’m excited to see the 750 package and I don’t think it’s going to be worse, and it should directionally make things better," Wolfe concluded. "We’ve done some good things with tires this year. Goodyear has pushed the boundary there. We’ve seen good results there and I’m excited to continue down that path."

He added, "This is a tough one, and I don’t know that we as a sport are always going to knock it out of the park there, but it will continue to evolve and we’ve gone in the right directions and I’m excited to continue down that path as well."

NASCAR has not yet finalized the specifics of the North Wilkesboro test, including the exact parameters, scope, and the number of participating teams.

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