The NASCAR Cup Series calendar is notorious for its relentless pace, and 2025 proved no different. Teams faced an unbroken stretch of races except for a single reprieve on Easter weekend, April 20, when the schedule took its only breather. That lone pause stood out in an otherwise unforgiving season. Now, talk swirling around the upcoming 2026 calendar hints that NASCAR will once again leave Easter open and, for the first time in years, add a second midseason break, possibly in early August after the Brickyard 400. For drivers, crews, and fans, that would mark a rare concession to recovery time in a sport that thrives on constant motion.

The new scheduling has triggered a heated fan response, and this isn’t the first time. In 2015, NASCAR restored the Southern 500 to its traditional Labor

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