There is going to be a NASCAR Cup Series test day at North Wilkesboro next week, and the public is able to attend. On top of being able to watch the test, fans can even go ahead and buy tickets to next year’s Cup race, a points-paying race.

NASCAR is trying to get the short track package locked in for 2026. More testing is needed to do that, obviously. This isn’t going to be a small test, either. This is going to be a rather large one.

Many times we only see six cars total on the track for these tests. Next Tuesday, we are going to see one car from each Cup Series organization.

According to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Zane Smith, Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Cody Ware are all set to participate.

North Wilkesboro put on perhaps the best short track race in the Cup Series last year. It was surprising to almost everyone when it became a two-groove track. The racing also resembled old-school short track races in many ways with small bump and runs and contact being the way to pass for the most part.

I like that NASCAR is putting all of the teams on the track. This has been done as two per manufacturer in the past before with every team usually getting at least one chance to participate in these tests. However, with so few cars on the track, it is hard to recreate race conditions that may exist with 40 cars on the track.

By putting all of these teams out there, it’s going to help simulate a real race situation better. Hopefully, there can be more strides made in making the short track product an exciting one for NASCAR fans again. It is the bread and butter of stock car racing and should be some of the most action-packed racing we see on the schedule each season.