UPDATE: NASCAR has pumped the brakes on increasing horsepower before the end of the 2025 season, despite many drivers calling for it. In June, the sanctioning body indicated that an increase from 670HP to 750HP was “on the table” and could be implemented before the end of the year, but that no longer appears to be the case.
NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer made a recent appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, saying, “It is something that is an ongoing discussion with our industry stakeholders (noting OEMs). I feel like we’re having positive conversations. There is still a lot that goes into that, obviously it’s a 2026 initiative to get that across the line, so we still continue to have very positive conversations around that.”
Sawyer went on to confirm that he does not see the change happening this year as NASCAR wants to “get all those boxes checked and making sure we do it right. We still have to make sure that that’s first and foremost, that it is the right thing, which we believe it is. We’ve got feedback from a lot of different stakeholders, some have a stronger opinion than others. So you have to weigh all that as well.”
— Motorsport —
ORIGINAL POST 5-28-2025 After hinting in a recent “Hauler Talk” episode that NASCAR was considering an increase to 750 horsepower for Cup engines as early as this season, [ NASCAR managing director of communications Mike] Forde said that the topic came up last week during separate meetings with team owners and drivers.
“It was something we proactively brought up to have a further discussion of improving the short-track package,” Forde said. “Obviously the drivers all embraced that topic and requested more and more horsepower. So we said, ‘You got it. We’ll look into it.’ We are working with engine builders on that, and we’ll see if this is something that’s put into place this season.”
— NASCAR.com —