NASCAR EVP and Chief Racing Development Officer John Proust recently appeared in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and addressed one of the hottest topics within the industry right now. Per reports, the NASCAR Cup Series will boost its horsepower at select racetracks in the 2026 season.The news was revealed by NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell in Wednesday’s episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast. This will mark a stark increase from the baseline 670, which the current rules configuration allows. However, the upgrade will be made possible only on road courses and ovals less than 1.5 miles in length. While speaking about the change, Probst revealed that the fans were responsible for it in the first place.“Certainly something that started with the fans and obviously a lot of our stakeholders within the industry from the engine builders...you know...you've had some of them on your show talking about it,” Probst explained (00:38). “Obviously, we meet with the drivers regularly as well, so it's been something that we've been considering for quite a while, and now we feel like we've done enough of the research to go ahead and pull the trigger, if you will, to implement this into the 2026 season.This change is expected to give the drivers greater throttle control while managing tires more efficiently and helping with more passing opportunities. According to O’Donnell, there is going to be a test session in early December at North Wilkesboro Speedway with the increased horsepower.The tracks that will witness the Cup cars run with the additional horsepower are Bowman Gray, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Phoenix, Darlington, Martinsville, Bristol, Watkins Glen, Dover, Nashville, San Diego Street Course, Sonoma, North Wilkesboro, Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire, Charlotte, and World Wide Technology Raceway. That’s actually 21 out of the 38 total races next season (including two exhibition races).NASCAR issues warning to teams ahead of Las Vegas weekendAfter watching how last week’s elimination race at the Charlotte ROVAL played out through the closing laps, NASCAR has decided to get more involved if there is a case of race manipulation. The same was revealed by NASCAR Managing Director of Communications Mike Forde in the latest episode of the Hauler Talk podcast.Besides all the on-track contacts, Cup drivers Cole Custer and Alex Bowman, who were running behind Joey Logano and Ross Chastain, respectively, had strategy calls asking them to “save tires”, which some thought was a subtle hint for not challenging a manufacturer ally playoff driver in a points battle.“At a certain point during this week, we will just remind teams, ‘Let’s not put yourselves or ourselves in jeopardy here,'” Mike Forde explained. “Fans should be coming to the race track expecting a straight-up race where each position is fought for as hard as possible. If we do see something or hear something we don’t like, we are going to step in.”For now, all eyes are on Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will host this coming Sunday’s race, the South Point 400. Fans can watch the race on USA (October 12, 5:30 pm ET) or listen to live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.