Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented on the change in the upcoming race schedule for the 2026 NASCAR season. The legendary driver hinted towards more surprising moves to drop in the coming days and weeks.Mexico City is not expected to be on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2026, having just hosted the first-ever international points-paying race since 1958. The primary reason the race is set to be off the 2026 schedule is a conflict with the FIFA World Cup (in Mexico, Canada, and the US), which will be held between June 11 - July 19.Another reason is said to be logistics and the difficulties of finding a suitable race date that all stakeholders, including NASCAR, the competing teams and local officials.NASCAR is firming up plans to return to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, for the 2026 season to make up for the loss left by Mexico City. Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval track and was previously part of the NASCAR Cup Series from 2001 to 2019. It is also owned by NASCAR.In regard to other details for the 2026 schedule, Bowman Gray Stadium will host the season-opening Clash exhibition before the Daytona 500 on February 15.As journalist Jeff Gluck shared the news of Mexico City not being part of the NASCAR calendar for 2026, Dale Earnhardt Jr. replied:"And this ain't the last big domino to fall I hear."Dale Jr. is a former NASCAR driver who now owns the successful Xfinity Series team, JR Motorsports. The team won the 2024 Xfinity Series title with Justin Allgaier, and is well placed to win again this year. JR Motorsports also won the Xfinity race in Mexico this year with Daniel Suarez.Dale Earnhardt Jr. feels Connor Zilisch has huge potential amid rapid start in Xfinity SeriesDale Earnhardt Jr. was full of praise of Connor Zilisch, who is a 19-year-old rising star in NASCAR. He also predicted that Zilisch could have a Hall of Fame-worthy career despite the steep learning curve involved in transitioning to the NASCAR Cup Series.Dale Jr. highlighted the significant challenge posed by the differences between the Xfinity Series cars, where Zilisch has primarily raced, and the Next Gen Cup cars, which have distinct handling characteristics. Earnhardt Jr. acknowledged (via Racer):"I sure would love to have him one more year, but I don’t know with how different the Xfinity car is versus the Cup car. ... But he’s got to get behind the wheel of that Next Gen car to really understand what it does differently because it drives differently, feels differently, independent rear suspension, how the air gets to the back of the diffuser.""It's probably too expensive to dilly dally and run him in 10 or 15 (Cup Series) races a year for a while to get his feet wet. You might as well jump right on in there. So, I understand the process… but I think we can all see the writing on the wall, and honestly, I think that kid has potential to do incredible, Hall of Fame-worthy things," Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.In 2025, Zilisch has already made three starts in the Cup Series, debuting at Circuit of The Americas, where he qualified 14th but finished 37th after a crash, and later running at the Coca-Cola 600, finishing 23rd. His best finish came at Atlanta (11th). He is also second in the Xfinity Series standings for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team.