King of the Hammers is a candidate for USA Today‘s best motorsports race of 2026. The poll is one of many conducted by the newspaper as part of its annual 10BEST series.

20 options are available for the best race like the Grand Prix of Long Beach where the Stadium Super Trucks compete, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and two-time defending winner Sick Week. Also up for votes are the 24 Hours of Daytona, Bonneville Speed Week, Chili Bowl Nationals, Daytona 500, Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Las Vegas Grand Prix, Go Bowling at The Glen, Holley LS Fest West, Indianapolis 500, Knoxville Nationals, Little 500, NHRA U.S. Nationals, Petit Le Mans, SCCA National Championship Runoffs, United States Grand Prix, and the World 100.

As of this article’s publication, KOH is sixth in voting while Sick Week leads.

“King of the Hammers is touted as ‘the toughest week of one-day, off-road races in the world,’” reads the nominee page. “Spectators gather in Johnson Valley, California, to watch a series of races over several days. Ultra4 vehicles can reach over 100 miles per hour through the desert sections of the course but slow down considerably for the boulders and mountain foothills areas.”

KOH previously finished third in the 2024 vote behind Sick Week and the Knoxville Nationals. It was also fifth in 2021 (won by the Indy 500).

Off-road races are no stranger to the survey, and has seen success. The Baja 1000 was the inaugural 10BEST winner for the category in 2015 and also claimed the second vote in 2017. In 2020, the Baja 1000 was runner-up while the Mint 400 and Vegas to Reno respectively ranked sixth and seventh.

2021 was the last time desert races finished top ten. Besides KOH, the Baja 100 was third ahead of the V2R in seventh and the Mint in tenth.

Despite the early off-road successes, every winner since 2018 has been a pavement race. Pikes Peak finished fifth in 2025.

Voting can be accessed here.

Featured image credit: Bink Designs