2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series at Darlington Raceway (fall race)

The 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly fall race at Darlington is an upcoming NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race that will be held on Saturday, Septemeber 5, 2026, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 147 laps on the 1.366-mile-long egg-shaped asphalt oval, it will be the 25th race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, as well as the first race in the NASCAR Chase.

2026 TBA

Race details
Race 25 of 33 in the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
Date	September 5, 2026 (2026-09-05)
Location	Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	1.366 miles (2.198 km)
Scheduled distance	147 laps, 200 mi (323.159 km)
Television in the United States
Network	The CW
Announcers	Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Parker Kligerman
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN

Report

Background

Darlington Raceway, the track where the race was held.

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Surface issues

Darlington Raceway was last repaved following the May 2007 meeting (from 2005 to 2019, there was only one meeting; the second meeting was reinstated in 2020), and from 2008 to 2019, there was one night race. In 2020, a day race returned to the schedule, and instead of two races (one Xfinity and one Cup) during the entire year, the track hosted six races (three Cup, two Xfinity, and one Truck). The circuit kept repairing the circuit with patches during each summer before the annual Cup race in September. The circuit's narrow Turn 2 rapidly deteriorated with cracks in the tarmac allowing water to seep in the circuit. In July 2021, the circuit repaved a six hundred foot section at the entrance of Turn 2 and ending at the exit of the turn to repair the tarmac and resolve the issue for safety and to reduce the threat of weepers and surface issues in that section of the circuit.