NASCAR ‘likely’ won’t take pre-season Clash international in 2026

As part of a teleconference announcing Homestead-Miami Speedway as the 2026 season finale, NASCAR has also given an update on ‘The Clash’ and its immediate future. 

After spending decades as an exhibition race for pole-sitters, taking place at Daytona International Speedway in the lead-up to the 500, the event has changed drastically in recent years. After moving it from the Daytona oval to the Daytona road course in 2021, the event took on a whole new identify with a temporary race track constructed inside the LA Memorial Coliseum. After three years of that with all chartered teams invited, everything changed again. In 2025. NASCAR left the lucrative LA market and returned to its roots at Bowman Gray Stadium.

However, many saw it as a one-off as talks continued behind the scenes with hopes of bringing the event to an international audience. The city of São Paulo, Brazil, expressed interest in hosting the event at Interlagos. But it seems like those plans are on hold … for the moment.

“I think as far as next year goes, more than likely it will stay domestic here in the United States,” revealed NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer, Ben Kennedy. “I wouldn’t ever rule out international in the future, though. We have thoughts about a lot of it being prior to the season, in the off-season, an exhibition race. It’s a great opportunity for us to bring NASCAR racing to other parts of the world.

“I think it’s going to be something that we’ll continue to consider, but at least for now we’ll more than likely keep it domestic.”

Bowman Gray has not yet been confirmed as the event’s host for 2026, so NASCAR could still be looking at other locations within the USA. However, this appears unlikely based on discussions from earlier in the year, indicating that Bowman Gray is the leading candidate. NASCAR also invested a lot in Bowman Gray, making several upgrades over the past year to ensure it was Cup-ready.