Quick Highlights of the 2026 Schedule
- Stafford Speedway Returns To The Schedule
- Oxford Plains Speedway Surprise Addition
- Claremont Motorsports Park Returns To The Schedule
- Second Event Added At Seekonk Speedway; Wednesday Night Show
- Season Finale Returns To Thompson Speedway
- Monadnock Speedway Goes From Two Events To One
- Lancaster Motorplex Off The Schedule
- Richmond Raceway Off The Schedule
- North Wilkesboro Speedway Off The Schedule
On Thursday NASCAR released a 16-event schedule for the Whelen Modified Tour for 2026 with some significant changes on the way.
NASCAR added three new tracks that weren’t part of the 2025 schedule and dropped three facilities that the series visited in 2025.
New venues added include Stafford Speedway [See Also – Official: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Returning To Stafford Speedway In 2026], Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine and Claremont Motorsports Park in Claremont, N.H.
“I hope that most [team owners and competitors] … are pleased with the overall direction of the schedule,” Joey Dennetwitz, managing director of NASCAR Regional, told RaceDayCT exclusively. “We take what they say and what our promoters want and our fans most importantly and try to put that into a schedule that will [please] everyone.
“Our promoters continue to want us to add more places that we can go to, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It goes back to that balance where we can continue to kind of innovate on the schedule … and make it special for everybody involved.”
The series will return to Stafford for the first time since 2021. The series has run 135 events at Stafford since 1985.
The series returns to Oxford Plains for the first time since an event won by Jeff Fuller in 1991. The Whelen Modified Tour ran five events at Oxford Plains from 1985-1991.
The Whelen Modified Tour has run at Claremont three times in its history with the last series event at the track won by Jon McKennedy in 2022. The division also ran at Claremont in 1985 and 2007.
For decades the Whelen Modified Tour season finale was held at Thompson Speedway. The division’s season finale will return to Thompson in 2026 for the first time since 2020. The season finale has been held at Martinsville Speedway since 2022. The Whelen Modified Tour will now be part of the March NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Martinsville in 2026.
“Moving [the season finale] back to Thompson … just kind of balance of what to do next and what we can do to make sure that the Modified Tour continues to be healthy and strong,” Dennewitz said.
The division will also run events at Thompson on April 12 and Aug. 5.
Tracks that were on the 2025 schedule but have been dropped from the 2026 slate include Lancaster Motorplex in Lancaster, N.Y., North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, N.C. and Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
A second series event was added at Seekonk Speedway for 2026. Seekonk has never hosted more than one series event in a season. The division will visit Seekonk for a Saturday event on May 16 and then run a mid-week show at the facility on Wednesday July 1.
The season opening event will be at New Smyrna Speedway for the fifth consecutive year on Feb. 7.
“Regional racing has always been the bedrock of NASCAR, and the Whelen Modified Tour stands as its longest lasting and forever thriving cornerstone,” Dennewitz said. “The Whelen Modified Tour is where the engines pound, legends rise, and the spirit of competition burns brightest. We listened to the fans and the drivers, and built a schedule worthy of that fire — one that honors the past, fuels the present, and charges headlong into the future of raw, gritty Modified racing.”
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Looking forward to Oxford in May. Lodging is a lot less expensive in that area prior to memorial day. Coupling with BB supers, 350 supers, and NEMA would make a great open wheel event there.