Rubens Barrichello enters the season as the defending Brasil Series champion.
The 2026 NASCAR Brasil Series is the fourth season of the NASCAR Brasil Series after the rebrand of "Sprint Race" Series. It consists of nine rounds plus an pre-season round starting on 15 March in Pirelli Brazilian testing facility Circuito Panamericano, Elias Fausto and will finish on 29 November in Autódromo Internacional de Brasília, Brasília. It is the first season of the series new car called "RISE 26" which features an new chassis, an upgrade of 60hp (45kW) on its V6 engine and 40kg (88lb) lighter than the previous generation.[1][2]
For the 2026 season, several changes are being implanted in the series; a Playoff system is coming to replace the old "Special Edition" rounds, as well a pre-season round inspired by NASCAR "Cook Out Clash" called "O duelo" (The Duel) with an special racing format unseen in the series before.[3][4]
Rubens Barrichello will enter as both 2025 "Overall" and "Brazilian" championships Champion, while Gabriel Casagrande will enter as the "Special Edition" Champion.
Technical changes and Playoffs System
Technical changes:
The 2026 season will debut an new car for the series, named "RISE 26" (Racecraft”, “Innovation”, “Safety”and “Experience”),[1][5] it consists in several upgrades and modifications from the previous generation, including the replacement of the butterfly doors for an hatch to driver's entry as well an relocation of drivers position from the middle of the car to the left due facilitate rescue teams operation. As well the car received an new eletronic and suspension package, update in chassis for safety reasons, specially in the front and rear bumpers, increase on power-to-weight ratio and fuel tank capacity (fueled by ethanol), car body changing from fiberglass to carbon fiber and an unique Pirelli tire developed specially for the series.[2]
Technical information:
Architecture: 3-piece modular chassis (front/rear clips + central cell)
Cell: Polished 304 stainless steel
Body: Carbon fiber; Hexagon dimensional control
Engine: NB-26 V6, 360 hp
Fuel: 100% Ethanol
Transmission: 6-speed, power shift and paddle shifters
Torque (max.): 55 kgf•m
Weight: 960 kg
Power-to-weight ratio: 2.66 kg/hp
Suspension: Double wishbone
Wheels: RAW
Tires: Pirelli TH4, size 265/645R18 PZERO (special NASCAR Brazil compound)
Steering wheel: TMC, carbon fiber, multifunction
Fuel tank: Kevlar, 90 L
Playoff format:
The 2026 season will see a change in the championship structure with the addition of "Playoffs" inspired by the Cup Series. On March 20th Nascar Brasil CEO Thiago Marques announced its rules.[6][7] The "Playoffs" will replace the old "Special Edition" rounds and will encompass the last two rounds of the championship, with this, the old titles of "Brazil Champion" and "Special Edition Champion" will cease to exist, with only the overall championship remaining, the Playoffs will functioning as follows:
Regular Season:
The regular season will take place during the first 7 rounds of the championship, with two races in each round, totaling 14 races. During these rounds, qualifying will consist in drivers setting times following a sprint race between the top 5 fastest drivers, awarding 10 points to the winner and 2 points to the 5th place finisher. After the 20 races and 7 qualifying sprints, the 12 highest-placed drivers will receive 20 extra points in their score for the next phase of the playoffs.
Playoffs:
The Playoff races will have a different scoring system than the rest of the championship and will consist of three races in each round, additionally, sprint races during qualifying will no longer take place. After the Chapecó round, the six best-placed drivers will receive 10 extra points in their championship standings totaling a combination of 30 bonus points for the top 6 and 20 bonus points for the top 12 before the final round in Autódromode Brasília. The champion will be decided by the driver who scores the most points throughout the entire championship.[6][7]
Race lenght:
For 2025 season both races during the regular season was 25m+1lap, from 2026 season the first race of the weekend will have an lenght of 23m+1lap while the second race will have its duration increased to 30m+1lap.
Teams and Drivers
Following 2025 season when for the first time the cars were run by private teams, the 2026 season will include two new teams on the grid making an total of 5, after R.Mattheis Motorsport left the series being replaced by Pole Motorsport.[8]
Cavaleiro Sports announced their move to Nascar Brasil in December 2025, the team was invited to join the grid for the 2025 season but the management decided to wait for the series new car to be the right moment to join, they will field three cars in the grid. [28]
Initially was expected to both Cavaleiro Sports and Pole motorsports operations to run separated, but in some point before the first round in Santa Cruz to Sul both teams announced an technical partnership creating the "Cavaleiro Sports by Pole Motorsorts".[30]
In 2025 A.Mattheis Motorsport had an partnership with Vogel Motorsport creating the MX Vogel team, but in 2026 they took control of the whole operation becoming A.Mattheis Vogel.[26]
The pre-calendar of the 2026 season of Nascar Brasil series was released on November 17 including 21 races on 9 rounds across Brazil and was set to start on March 15 in a yet to be determined track, with the season closure scheduled to Autódromo Internacional de Brasília in November 29.[3]
On January 24 the calendar received its first update with the addition of an pre-season race to serve as first contact for teams and drivers with the new car.[31] As well the yet to be determined first round was scheduled to Autódromo Internacional de Santa Cruz do Sul in April 12 and the round in Autódromo Internacional de Chapecó had its dates swichted with Autódromo Internacional de Cascavel on May 3 due to track building works delay.[32][31]
For the first time, the calendar will not have more than one round per track, as well ten dates for the first time. The calendar will have an mix of six road courses, two oval tracks and two external layouts.[33]
Notes- Pole position awarded by fastest qualifying time. †– Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed more than 75% of the race distance. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 - Superpole position.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
