NASCAR Bristol 2026: Full Schedule, Lineup, Purse & Weather Update

NASCAR is all set to make its comeback after a week off. The race will take place at one of the most historic tracks: The Bristol Motor Speedway. ‘The Thunder Valley’ over the years has provided its spectators with entertaining and memorable races. 

The races will take place across the weekend with the Truck, O’Reilly, and Cup Series all in action.

Below is the schedule with the broadcast information of the races.

Fri (Truck Series)

3:30 ET-FS2- Practice and Qualifying

7:30-Green Flag-7:50 pm ET-FS1-Truck 65-65-120, 3 sets

Sat (O’Reilly)

2 ET-CW App-Practice and Qualifying 

4:30 ET-Prime-Cup Practice and Qualifying 

6:30 ET-CW-Pre-race

7:30-Green Flag- 7:48 pm ET-CW-85-85-130, 4 sets

Sun (Cup Series)

2 ET-FS1-NASCAR RaceDay

3 ET – Green flag-3:11pm ET-FS1-Cup 125-125-250, 11 sets

Driver entries: Who are the part-time drivers in each series?

The truck race will feature 38 drivers with six confirmed Cup series drivers, namely Ricky Stenhouse (Niece Motorsports), Kyle Busch (Spire Motorsports), Ross Chastain (Niece Motorsports), Christopher Bell (Haimar Friesen Racing), and Daniel Suarez (Spire Motorsports), who will be making their part-time appearances. However, TRICON Garage is yet to announce the driver for their #4 Vehicle. 

As for the O’Reilly race, the defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will be driving the #88 car for JR Motorsports.  While Logan Bearden will be piloting the #42 car for Young’s Motorsports, as he is contracted to for 3 races this season. 

The Cup Series has 37 entries, with the #66 car of Chad Finchum being marked as the open car. Justin Allgaier will continue to substitute for Alex Bowman in the #48 car for HMS.

The Bristol purse.

 NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass revealed the purses for Bristol via his X account. For Friday’s Truck race, the purse amounts to $839,700. For Saturday’s O’Reilly race, the purse sum comes up to $1,753,590.  While for the Cup Series race, which will be held on Sunday, the purse amounts to $11,233,037.

As for the weather, there seems to be a 5% chance of rain on Friday, which could eventually go to 10% on Saturday.  On Sunday, there is a 5% chance of rain. This shift in the weather could see an effect on the track temperature, which may in turn affect the tire degradation. However, Bristol is known for that, and to tackle this, Goodyear has launched a new tire setup that will make its debut on Sunday.