What Did NASCAR Cup Series Drivers Think of the 750 HP Package in the First Test?

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — A handful of NASCAR Cup Series drivers tested the new 750 horsepower package coming to the series in 2026. 

Fans showed up to Tuesday's test at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where drivers tested ahead of the series' day-to-night, 450-lap race in July.

Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott tested Tuesday and noted the track had tire falloff after around 40 laps – despite also having "a lot of grip." 

“I don’t see the power hurting the entertainment factor of the race. Hopefully, it allows us to have to pedal the cars at some point throughout a run," Elliott said. "I would have to imagine, we come back here in the summer months, certainly it will be warmer than it is today. You combine that with a lot more cars being on the track and I do think there will be wear. Obviously, more power will impact that as well. Hopefully, we keep inching up on making these long runs more of a challenge.”

RFK Racing's Chris Buescher had the most insight on how the track evolved throughout the run. 

“Wilkesboro, for one, is a very racey track. We have moved around from the start of the day, where we had one and a half lanes in one and two and were just buried on the bottom in three and four. Right at the lunch break, that all opened up," Buescher said.

Buescher echoed Elliott, saying the longer run put the higher horsepower on full display.

"You probably don’t notice the power from the get-go, but at the tail end of the runs, with some of the falloff and the struggles in the car, I think that’s where you realize, ‘ok, I had more underneath us at the beginning of this run and I may be paying the price at this point.’ There’s no downside to it. This is a track, even though there’s new asphalt, I think you’ll see a little bit more change from it," Buescher said.

Erik Jones, who came up through the ranks in late models racing at tracks with the conditions NASCAR is chasing for the Cup Series, had some cautious optimism. He also expressed support for more horsepower, in addition to softer tires. 

“As far as the power goes, I hope it makes it better. Hopefully gets us some more falloff and gives us some opportunity to save tires. We went to the soft tires at different places, but I don’t feel like it’s quite at the falloff that we need it to really race until we were super late in the run. We saw some falloff already today and it’s going to be forty degrees hotter probably when we get back here," Jones said.

Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. liked the horsepower increase for how it could bring his team closer to other more-powerhouse organizations.

“Short tracks were somewhere we needed to get better at, no matter what the package was. So, throwing in new horsepower and a different package may help us figure it out, or at least get us closer to everybody else," Stenhouse said.

The former NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion also signed off on the horsepower and softer tires.

"The more horsepower, the better, yes. If we can continue in that direction, I do think Goodyear is doing a good job of bringing us tires that wear out and continuing to evolve them. I think all of us drivers and teams are on board with that. Pairing that with NASCAR adding horsepower, I think everything is moving in the right direction to get us even better racing," he said.

Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain supported just getting to test, in general.

“This is big. This is valuable. Justin Marks and Trackhouse spend a lot of money and I think they would spend a lot more if we had more days like this. Selfishly, we’re competitors and we just want to do good. The best way to get better at racing is to go drive the car… Repeating something, as human beings, if we keep doing it with intention – not just cruising around in the wrong get – it’s super valuable," he said.

Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry, Team Penske's Joey Logano, Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith, Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch, also participated in the test.