NASCAR has announced a significant change in its practice format just before the start of the Chase for the 2026 championship. Starting from next race weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, all teams will enjoy 50 minutes of open practice, thereby eliminating the practice groups that were previously held.
This new measure will apply to all races that are not superspeedway events for the rest of the season. As part of this change, teams will receive an additional set of tires, a decision aimed at enhancing competition and strategy during practice sessions.
It is noteworthy that in races like Daytona, there will be no prior practice and sessions will start directly with qualifying. Likewise, the event at Talladega will also not have practice time in the fall. However, the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will host the season finale, is already set to have an extended session for all teams.
Previously, drivers had been divided into two groups that accessed the track for 25 minutes, but there had been complaints about the differences in track conditions between the two groups. This change is intended to avoid those discrepancies.
Moreover, there will be no changes to the current qualifying format, nor to the metric that determines the qualifying order in case of rain.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
