The 2026 Clash will remain in the United States

The 2025 NASCAR season opened with The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. NASCAR has explored international options for the race.

However, for 2026, the race will remain in the United States.

“I think as far as next year goes, more than likely it will stay domestic here in the United States,” Ben Kennedy told NBC Sports.

“I wouldn’t ever rule out international in the future, though. We have thoughts about a lot of it being prior to the season, in the off-season, an exhibition race. It’s a great opportunity for us to bring NASCAR racing to other parts of the world.”

The 2026 NASCAR schedule is likely to be released soon.

On June 15th, the NASCAR Cup Series will race in Mexico for the first time. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City will host the event.

Kyle Busch will be allowed to race in Mexico City

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Christopher Bell has been married to his wife, Morgan Bell, since 2020, and now they are starring together in Netflix’s Full Speed.

The NASCAR driver has been one of the biggest names in the sport, and throughout his career, he’s had Morgan by his side. He first met her in 2010, when they were teenagers, because she grew up around motorsports too, but they didn’t begin dating until 2014.

Four years later, Christopher proposed, and they married in 2020. Christopher and Morgan now live in Mooresville, N.C., with their dogs, Sadie and Bailey, and frequently travel together during the racing season. Morgan also co-owns Bell Kemenah Racing with her father, Brian.

She has described Christopher as her “best friend” and the person she “couldn’t live without,” while he has called Morgan the “best life partner” and his “forever Valentine.”

So, who is Christopher Bell’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Morgan Bell and her relationship with the NASCAR driver.

Morgan grew up around motorsports

Morgan was born on April 27, to Brian and Stacey Kemenah and grew up in Burgoon, Ohio. She attended Old Fort High School, where she was involved in track and field sports.

Morgan comes from a family involved in motorsports, as she told Haley Dillon on her Believe in the Good podcast in April 2025. She said that she “did grow up in a racing family,” and was used to seeing sprint cars parked outside the family home when she was younger.

Morgan’s grandfather, Harold, became involved in racing in the 1960s, sponsoring and owning cars for drivers, while her uncle, Chad, has competed in the All-Star Circuit of Champions and the World of Outlaws. Brian, Morgan’s dad, is also involved and co-owns Bell Kemenah Racing with his daughter.

Morgan began dating Christopher in 2014

Morgan and Christopher started dating in June 2014. She told Dillon that they first met at dirt tracks in 2010, before he reached out to her on Facebook and gave her his phone number a few years later. They went on their first official date at Olive Garden.

In October 2014, Christopher posted a photo of Morgan on Instagram with the caption, “Love this beautiful thing!” and in June 2019, Morgan marked five years of their relationship with a series of photos and the caption, “Today marks 5 years spent with this amazing, thoughtful, kind and loving guy! I am so lucky to be yours and get to live this crazy wonderful life with you.”

In December 2018, Christopher shared that Morgan had accepted his marriage proposal. He posted a photo of them together on Instagram, in which Morgan showed off her ring, and wrote, “4.5 years later she said yes! I love you.”

Morgan married Christopher in 2020

In February 2020, Christopher posted a selfie of the couple in their wedding outfits with the caption, “#Hitched,” while Morgan posted a series of wedding photos and wrote, “Yesterday was the most perfect day in every single way. I’m so happy to be your wife Christopher. I’ll love you forever and always.”

They spent their honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. While there, Morgan posted a selfie of them together and wrote, “It’s day number 2 being married to you and I’m loving every minute.”

To mark their first anniversary, Christopher posted a photo from their wedding day on Instagram and captioned it, “One year down, forever to go! There’s no one else I would rather go through life with!”

Morgan and Christopher have two dogs and want children in the future

Morgan shares two dogs, Sadie and Bailey, with Christopher, describing herself as “Sadie and Bailey’s momma” in her Instagram bio.

Sadie was born in 2018, and Morgan often celebrates her birthday and National Pet and Dog Days by posting photos of her on Instagram. She posted on Instagram in 2020, alongside a photo of herself with Sadie, “Happy National Dog Day to my favorite little fur ballShe is the cuddliest and most needy little girl and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.”

Speaking on the Believe in the Good podcast in April 2025, Morgan also shared that she and Christopher want children someday. She said, “We definitely do want kids, it’s just a matter of when, I guess. And we haven’t quite figured out that timing yet.”

Morgan is interested in baking

In April 2025, Morgan shared on the Believe in the Good podcast that she enjoys baking. “Christopher laughs to me, he says I have a lot of old lady habits and I’m like I can’t, can’t help that,” she said.

When Dillon asked if she was still making her sourdough bread, Morgan said, “I don’t know the last time that we’ve really bought bread,” adding, “Literally every weekend too, like I get on the plane and I bring a loaf of bread with us every weekend to the races.”

Morgan supports Christopher’s career

Morgan is frequently there when Christopher is competing.

She was by his side to support the racer at the DC Solar 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in Las Vegas in October 2016, and celebrated alongside him when he won the NASCAR XFINITY Series Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway in October the following year.

In March 2025, after Christopher won the 2025 Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., Morgan posted a photo of herself with his team and wrote, “This. Team. I freaking love this team! The 3peat was accomplished.”

NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: AdventHealth 400

The Place: Kansas Speedway

Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval

The Date: Sunday, May 11

The Time: 3 p.m. ET

The Purse: $11,055,250

TV: FS1 & FOX Deportes, 1:30 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 400.5 miles (267 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 165), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: BetMGM 300

The Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway

Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval

The Date: Saturday, May 24

The Time: 4:30 p.m. ET

The Purse: $1,651,939

TV: CW, 4 p.m. ET

Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series

Next Race: Heart of Health Care 200

The Place: Kansas Speedway

Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval

The Date: Saturday, May 10

The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

The Purse: $782,900

TV: FS1, 7:30 p.m. ET

Radio: NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)

When it comes to racing on the intermediate, 1.5-mile ovals on NASCAR’s Cup Series circuit, Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team have been among the fastest this year. They won at Las Vegas, started second, led two laps and finished 17th at Homestead and started seventh and led 41 laps before spinning from the lead last week at Texas.

Now it’s on to another intermediate track, Kansas Speedway. While all those tracks are look-alikes for the most part, each has its own characteristics, and that means teams like the Wood Brothers have to adjust their cars to adapt to each track’s unique features.

Berry said that at Kansas, the key is to be good in every groove of the racing surface.

“I think it just really boils down to the Next Gen era of racing, and it’s so hard to follow each other,” he said. “If your car is really good on the top, that’s great, but if you can’t move down to get some clean air, you’re not going to be able to pass.  So, it’s just important to be good in multiple lanes because that way you can navigate racing through the field. But even if you’re the leader, you need to be able to navigate and pass lap traffic and make good lap time.  I think that’s why [Kansas Speedway] seems to promote such good racing, because it has multiple lanes and allows us options to have side-by-side battles.”

Practice for the AdventHealth 400 is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Central Time (4:30 Eastern) to be followed by qualifying at 4:40 (5:40 Eastern). Amazon Prime will carry the TV coverage. Sunday’s 267-lap, 400.5-mile race is scheduled to get under way just after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage on FS1. Stage breaks are planned for Laps 80 and 165.

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The NASCAR Cup Series goes to a new venue for a fifth consecutive season. The championship race changes tracks next year. How the series crowns its champion also could be different in 2026.

In a sport whose competitors can travel nearly 200 mph, what is happening off track can be dizzying to some — or seemingly slow to others.

Either way, it’s not stagnant.

“I think it’s always changing and always evolving,” former Cup champion Chase Elliott said of the sport. “I don’t think that’s ever going to stop. There has been a lot of it … over the last three or four years. I don’t think that will ever change, but I do think that they’re in search of a better balance right now between all their different track configurations and rightfully so, because I think it can be better.

“No reason why we can’t take all the knowledge that we’ve learned for the 75-plus years that it’s been around and have it the best today than it has ever been.”

Ross Chastain won last fall’s playoff race at Kansas Speedway and has scored five top 10s in the last seven races this season.

Not all concepts prove fruitful, though.

NASCAR floated the idea to teams about relaxing some rules for this month’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway to give them more creativity with car setups. Teams declined for various reasons.

Series officials continue to examine at what can be done with the racing at short tracks with this car, which debuted in 2022. Goodyear continues to change tire compounds. Competitors and fans also want to see changes with superspeedway racing. For some, change can’t come soon enough.

“The thing is about everyone’s opinion is that you have to understand the full picture of one, how you got there, and two, why things aren’t so simple to change,” three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said.

“There’s a lot of positives that go on that we don’t talk about. There’s a lot of negatives that we talk about because people like that. With that same attitude, complacency is also one of the worst things you can ever have in your life.

“So you got to look at it and say, “OK, what can we make better?’ Because you can always improve something.”

Homestead and Phoenix will be among the tracks to rotate hosting the Cup season finale and there could be a few other tracks to do so.

Next month’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City continues NASCAR’s international push. The race will mark the first time since 1958 that the Cup Series has had a points race outside the United States.

“With Mexico, that will be a new experience,” Noah Gragson said. “It will be something that’s really cool and something that’s different for NASCAR.”

Since 2021, new tracks on the Cup schedule include Circuit of the Americas (2021 debut), Nashville (2021), World Wide Technology Raceway (2022), Chicago Street Race (2023), Iowa (2024) and the Mexico City event.

“I think schedule variation works, and it’s proven that it works,” NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps said last November at Phoenix. “It works from an attendance standpoint. It works from a ratings standpoint. Not insignificantly it works from kind of a brand standpoint, what it means to be bold and innovative and do things differently and change things up. That drives success.

“I think that’s what we’ve tried to do as a sport is do those things. And not just schedule innovation, but other things as well.”

NASCAR will begin rotating sites for the championship race in 2026.

NASCAR has a group looking at what changes, if any, to make with how the champion is crowned. Such changes could be instituted after this season.

“You’re talking to a guy that thinks we have a great system,” said Logano, who is among the drivers on the group. “I would make minimal changes, if any.

“There’s different opinions, right? All of us will have different ones, probably depending on where you’re sitting. I try to look the at it and ask what do I think is most entertaining?”

Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue & racing innovation officer, said this week that the group is not expected to announce any decision for a few months.

NASCAR revealed this week that the championship race for Cup, Xfinity and the Craftsman Truck Series will move from Phoenix to Homestead-Miami Speedway for 2026. That will begin a rotation of tracks for the title event. Kennedy did not say what other tracks would be a part of the rotation other than Phoenix and Homestead.

Josh Berry, who is set to make the Cup playoffs for the first time with his Las Vegas win, has a track in mind for the championship rotation.

“I think the first one that comes to mind is Las Vegas, not only because of us winning there, but it just seems to put on good racing and I think it’s a good market for the championship race as well,” he said. “I think that checks those two boxes there. It’s a really good racetrack, but a really good area that could bring some excitement for the championship race.”

Series officials are still looking at the concept of moving the season-opening exhibition race somewhere outside the U.S. in the future.

Kennedy said that Daytona won’t be among those tracks because officials “unanimously agreed that (the finale) needs to look and feel like what we would expect traditional NASCAR racing to look and feel like. Short tracks, intermediate tracks, mile tracks are all on the board. Superspeedways, I think we all feel like right now we wouldn’t consider that as a championship venue, not that Daytona isn’t a championship caliber venue.”

But Daytona will remain the season opener. The Clash, though, will likely move to different venues and Kennedy has said an international venue could be in the event’s future but not next year.

“I wouldn’t ever rule out international in the future, though,” Kennedy said. “We have thoughts about a lot of it being prior to the season, in the off-season, an exhibition race. It’s a great opportunity for us to bring NASCAR racing to other parts of the world.”

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — The IU Motorsports Medicine Fellowship gives trainees a chance to specialize in everything a doctor might see while working with a motorsports team.

The program teaches the fellow about high velocity crash injuries, but they also manage primary care and injury prevention for these teams.

A fellow is a fully qualified doctor that has completed their required residency training. Working as a fellow is extra subspecialized training that allows better opportunities for a doctor in the future.

Dr. Julia Vaizer is the director for Motorsports Medicine Fellowship.

“I believe we’re the only ones in the world,” Vaizer said. “I don’t know of any training out there that does training in motorsports medicine, and we only offer one spot. It’s a true privilege to spend an entire year learning from the best motorsports specialists in the world.”

Dr. Elizabeth Sullivan is the sole motorsports medicine fellow. She said accepting this position was exciting after growing up watching IndyCar since the age of three.

The team of doctors tackle the obvious, high velocity, and ultra high velocity crash injuries, but they also handle injury prevention and sit on safety panels to reduce serious injuries.

“Every incident that occurs on track they have an incident investigation to see if there’s trends and patterns to see how we can improve the cars or the safety features,” Sullivan said.

IU is increasing the amount of highly specialized motorsports doctors with this program.

“Our goal right now is to improve access to motorsports trained physicians for various series, various tracks out there across this country because right now, our series, our track, we’re fully staff, we have the best of the best,” Vaizer said. “But, then there are series that are smaller: They do not have traveling physicians, they do not have traveling safety teams. It’s important to have someone taking care of those drivers who understands the intricacies of coordinating care within motorsports medicine.”

These doctors work a lot with IndyCar, but get a chance to learn about other motorsports disciplines.

Sullivan plans to take that experience and stay with motorsports after she graduates in July.

“I will be staying around in Indiana, but I will be staying here to work in the infield care center,” Sullivan said.

The program coordinates with multiple motorsports series, which gives the fellow a chance to travel with the teams and get as much real-world experience as possible.

“I also am involved in rally racing,” Sullivan said. “So, I am in charge of medical for two different teams: One in Tennessee and one in Newfoundland, Canada.”

The one-year program starts at the beginning of August, which means it wraps up with the greatest spectacle in racing as one of the final learning opportunities for the fellow.