A third Minions scheme is on the horizon, so that’s why the header photo is what it is.
Not that I support that. The first Despicable Me movie was great. But I genuinely forget that there were four of them and, now, there will be three Minions movies come next summer.
But that fit right into my thoughts for this week’s edition of the column, where I’m going to look at some of the most likely movies — or ideal movie sponsorships to me — that could back cars in 2026. Something of a wish list based on precedent, if you will.
I’m well aware that most, if not all, of these won’t happen in the slightest. But it’s worth putting them out in the universe to manifest something, right?
I’ll start with the blockbusters and movies that would typically pop up on cars, especially if this was the 2000s.
Minions is probably the easiest bet. Despicable Me 4 showed up on Brad Keselowski‘s car back in 2024, and Minions appeared on Carl Edwards‘ No. 19 at Kentucky Speedway back in 2015.
And, in terms of recency bias, I would hope Supergirl makes an appearance, similar to 2025’s Superman scheme for Tyler Reddick. Milly Alcock plays the titular role in the upcoming film, which promises to be extremely violent (can’t wait, but that might nix a potential scheme).
More superhero movies are slated for next year, too, including Spider-Man: Brand New Day. None of the Tom Holland entries have appeared in NASCAR yet, but never say die, considering all three of the Tobey Maguire films had at least one car represent them.
Other blockbusters with potential include The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, coming in 2026 with the same voice cast as the Super Mario Bros. animated film from a few years back. That was way more fun than it had any right to be — Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day among the voices — and I’m honestly surprised promotion didn’t make it to a NASCAR track.
Star Wars could re-enter the NASCAR lexicon with The Mandalorian & Grogu, a continuation of the Disney+ series. It would be the first film of the franchise to appear on a car since Episode III had four schemes back in 2005.
Masters of the Universe and Clayface are a couple more fun options. James Watkins is helming the Clayface movie, a body horror flick written by the genre GOAT Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass), and while unlikely it’d be a fun add.
I still can’t believe none of the Dune films have made it to a car so far. Maybe it’s not the movie’s audience, but they’re immense blockbusters and I’d love it if the third film, slated for next year, gets a scheme or two.
There’s also apparently a Toy Story 5 slated for 2026 (one, why, and two, whatever happened to original ideas), but it’d be cool to see some paint schemes like the cars from Atlanta Motor Speedway back in 1999.
Let’s not have a boring, hood-only scheme like Edwards’ from Sonoma in 2010.
My long shots include 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which definitely comes out way too early to even have a shot — and no NASCAR team (besides Stanton Barrett‘s 2015 liveries) wants to have a zombie theme.
But last year’s third installment in the franchise was a pretty big hit, looked gorgeous, had some fantastic scenes and was surprisingly emotional. So forgive me if I don’t hope for a blood-red paint scheme with biohazard signs backing the numbers and the numbers themselves made out of bones.
Give me more horror with schemes for Scream 7 and Evil Dead Burn while we’re at it.
Project Hail Mary would be a fun one. Ryan Gosling is the lead in the science-fiction space film adapted from the same author as The Martian, and it’s directed by the guys behind The Lego Movie and both Jump Street films.
My last ideal-world scenario would be if Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey had a whole team — or fleet would be more appropriate to the story — of cars. We get Matt Damon, Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron and even more people in an ensemble cast for one of the greatest stories ever written? Come on, let’s have that make its way to a car or two.
One movie blind spot I knocked off my list this year — at the insistence of my friends — was The Devil Wears Prada, which I absolutely loved. Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt are all reuniting for the sequel this coming year, and it’d be fun to see a car take on a “Hell on Wheels” theme (a play on the first film’s “Hell on Heels” tagline).
There’s also Short Track Saturday Night, the racing movie starring Master P, Larry McReynolds and singer Celeste Kellogg. The last time I talked with Celeste, she said things were still being worked on, so we’ll see if that finally comes out.
2026 will be a fun season! I just hope we get some cool movie schemes out of it.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.