Matt Johnson
What was the best NASCAR race this season? There’s plenty of excitement for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with The Chase brought back along with some other changes that have fans and drivers buzzing. Of course, in a 36-race season, not every one of them will be entertaining.
We’ll be ranking every NASCAR race in 2026 for the Cup Series, placing them from No. 1 all the way down to 36th. The focus here is on points races, so the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray and the All-Star Race are excluded. Let’s dive into our rankings for the best and worst NASCAR races in 2026. We’ll update this ranking throughout the season. We’ve also included the fan voting results from the Jeff Gluck Good Race poll.
Read More: NASCAR Cup Series All-Time Wins Leaderboard
1. Autotrader 400 – EchoPark Speedway – Tyler Reddick
EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta is really starting to prove itself as arguably the best track in NASCAR. In the 2026 spring race, there were 57 lead changes and 14 different leaders. In overtime, driving a car that lost its right-front fender in a collision with Denny Hamlin with 46 laps to go, Tyler Reddick took advantage of teammate Bubba Wallace going to the top lane to try and block Carson Hocevar and raced his way to a second consecutive victory to open the season. The Autotrader 400 had big wrecks, great battles for stage points, an exciting fight to the finish and a lot of passing. It checked every box fans could ask for.
- Good Race Poll: 92.6 percent (Yes)
Related: Winners, Losers from the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark
2. Straight Talk Wireless 500 – Phoenix Raceway – Ryan Blaney
Phoenix Raceway hasn’t exactly delivered a ton of exciting races in recent years, at least when you remove the stakes added to it with the Cup Series Championship race. That wasn’t the case in the Straight Talk Wireless 500 in March. Goodyear delivered tires that had plenty of wear, and those teams that took the aggressive approach by going against the recommended tire pressures paid the price for it with blown tires during the race (sometimes on multiple occasions). Among the standouts from this race, Ryan Blaney passed 49 cars after twice having to drop to the rear of the field because of issues when the tires were put on, and Shane van Gisbergen overcame two spins to race his way back to 11th place. The spring race in Phoenix also featured a great battle between Blaney, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell in the final stage, with a record-setting 12 cautions. Tire management played a huge factor in the race, and what drivers like Blaney, van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace showed in overcoming setbacks from the rear of the field proved that passing was possible. All in all, it was a very good race.
- Poll: 85.1 percent
Related: Winners, Losers of the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix
2. Goodyear 400 – Darlington Raceway – Tyler Reddick
The same driver winning for the fourth time in six weeks—in a race preceded by days of his peers hyping up the potential for chaos—probably didn’t help the perception of the Goodyear 400. With that said, the track action proved that the introduction of increased horsepower and downforce modifications actually allowed drivers to pass. Tyler Reddick overcame an alternator failure that required a mid-race battery replacement to blow by the field for the win. We also saw Ryan Blaney overcome a pit road blunder to finish third. This was a classic race with minimal cautions, where the winner was decided by who had the best car and the best tire management.
- Poll: 77.2 Percent (Yes)
Related: Winners, Losrs from the Goodyear 400
3. Daytona 500 – Daytona International Speedway – Tyler Reddick
Unfortunately, the Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing is not what it used to be. Drivers have said for a few years now that the Daytona 500 does not carry the gravitas that it did in the previous generation, with the Next Gen car playing a big part in that. It did not help this season that there was a long stretch where Toyota held up the field three-wide, resulting in fuel saving and half-throttle speeds. Fortunately, the end made up for it. Michael McDowell’s fuel-saving strategy briefly had him in the lead with 2 laps to go, then Carson Hocevar had a shot at a Crown Jewel being his first-ever win in the Cup Series. After he got into the wall, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones getting taken out with him, Chase Elliott took the lead halfway through the final lap. Thanks to a push from teammate Riley Herbst, Tyler Reddick maneuvered his way past Elliott and Zane Smith, taking the checkered flag as the rest of the field wrecked behind him. Months after 23XI Racing beat NASCAR in court, it won the most iconic race in motorsports.
- Poll: 73.9 percent (Yes)
Related: Winners, Losers from the Daytona 500
5. Pennzoil 400 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Denny Hamlin
There was only a single caution for incident during Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, which felt like a shame in some ways because of how entertaining the restart battles were in Stage 2 and on the final stage. The spring race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway had some great battles at the front between Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. We also got to witness Hamlin, with the fastest car on the day, maneuver his way back from being 31st at the start of Stage 2 after a penalty to take fifth on the stage and then win the race. Chase Elliott did make things a tiny bit interesting for Hamlin at the end, but this race was largely uneventful outside of a few fun moments of side-by-side racing and some fast cars battling back from penalties. It was an adequate race.
- Poll: 61.7 Percent (Yes)
Related: Pennzoil 400 Results
6. DuraMax Texas Grand Prix – COTA – Tyler Reddick
Tyler Reddick made NASCAR history as the first-ever driver to win the first Cup Series race of the season. So at least the DuraMax Texas Grand Prix delivered something truly worth remembering. Road-course racing does not tend to be particularly exciting, especially coming off two superspeedways that had some chaos. However, let us remember that there was plenty of passing at COTA. Reddick won after his car dropped early in Stage 1, Connor Zilisch made 56 passes to finish 14th after getting turned around twice, Shane van Gisbergen overcame a pedestrian qualifying (13th) to finish second, and we saw nine different leaders on the day. Plus, how can you not admire the fact that Brad Keselowski finished 20th while having to brake constantly on a surgically-repaired leg? Was COTA a good race? For a road course, absolutely.
- Poll: 62.8 percent (Yes)
Related: Winners, Losers from the DuraMax texas Grand Prix at COTA
