The calendar is about to turn to 2026, so the focus is starting to shift to next season and another long road leading up to the championship race. Here are five pressing questions we are focusing on while booking our hotel for the Daytona 500.

Note: The playoff format remains the biggest question of the offseason, bar none. However, we will have an answer about this in the coming weeks. This list focuses more on teams and drivers who have some things to prove. 

1. Will Legacy Motor Club get its first win after steady progress?

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Legacy Motor Club took on a monumental challenge after the 2023 season. The team switched from Chevrolet to Toyota but chose to do so without any help. The team did not sign a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing as 23XI Racing did when it entered the Cup Series.

Instead, Legacy MC just forged its own path while bringing in such names as Competition Director Jacob Canter, General Manager Bobby Kennedy, and Technical Director Brian Campe. This was not an easy path as the team struggled in 2024, but it has since made progress while building the program.

Both Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek doubled their number of top-10 finishes and top-fives while running far more consistently. So what is next for the team? Will one of these two drivers score a win and continue this upward trajectory?

This is an outcome that Jones believes is possible, but he also continues to practice restraint after seeing the way the organization has changed since he first took over the No. 43 in 2021.

“I mean, it’s so much changed from when I signed on with RPM to what it is today,” Jones said in June at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I think there’s four of us in the company that were there the day I walked in the door the first time that are still here.

“So it is hard to sometimes remember that, I guess, especially last year in the performance we were having, because we had seen success in ’22 and a little bit even in ’23, we started running good again. And so ’24 was really tough just to feel like, man, I just took a step back and the performance wasn’t there. And it wasn’t getting better at the time.”

2. Will Kyle Busch get a win after a crew chief change?

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Busch is the winningest active driver in the Cup Series, and he holds the record for the most consecutive seasons with a win (19). Yet, he has been in a perceived slump the past two seasons. He has not won a race since June 2023, his first season with Richard Childress Racing.

Busch’s first season with RCR featured him winning three times and posting 17 top-10 finishes in 36 races. The last two seasons, he has only posted 10 top-10 finishes while his average finish has dropped from 15.0 to 18.3 and 17.9.

RCR made a significant change to the No. 8 team ahead of the 2026 season. Randall Burnett moved to Trackhouse Racing to work with Connor Zilisch while RCR brought in Jim Pohlman to lead the No. 8 team.

So what happens to the team now that Pohlman is in charge? That remains a pressing question due to so many factors in play, including the overall competitive level of the organization. However, Pohlman will be under the spotlight heading into the season.

The veteran crew chief has helped Justin Allgaier dominate in the Xfinity Series while finishing second, first, and third in the championship standings over their three-year run. Yet, his experience in Cup is relatively limited.

Pohlman guided Juan Pablo Montoya for 17 races in 2011, Ross Chastain for one in 2020, Austin Dillon for one in 2022, and Austin Hill for one in 2022. How will he be able to lead this team over a full season? How will he gel with Busch, one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR history?

3. Will Ryan Preece get his first career win?

Ryan Preece delivered a career season in 2025, his first run with RFK Racing. He posted an average finish of 15.7, surpassing his previous mark by 5.1 positions. He also scored a career-high three top-five finishes and 14 top-10s. Yet, he fell short of his goal of winning a race.

Now that Preece returns to the RFK Racing lineup for another season, some questions will focus on the No. 60 team’s ceiling. Will the Connecticut native deliver another career season and finally win a Cup Series race? Will he make the playoffs after contending for a spot last season?

Preece has proven that he has talent while winning multiple races in both the Craftsman Truck Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He has contended for numerous wins at NASCAR’s top level. Now, the next step is putting together that complete performance and breaking through for the first time.

4. Which surprise driver will upset the playoff field?

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Every season, the playoff field features the expected names from Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing. The rest of the 16-driver bracket alternates based on the teams that are performing the best that particular season. This includes Trackhouse Racing, 23XI Racing, and RFK Racing.

Of course, each season tends to feature a “surprise” driver who won their way into the playoffs. This includes Josh Berry last season, Harrison Burton in 2024, Michael McDowell in 2023, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2023, and Daniel Suarez in 2022. These drivers all have talent, but no one picked them to win their way into the playoffs.

Who pulls off this feat in 2026? Will Noah Gragson, Zane Smith, or Todd Gilliland put Front Row Motorsports in the playoffs? Will Cole Custer break through for Haas Factory Team? Can AJ Allmendinger or Ty Dillon deliver for Kaulig Racing?

What about Carson Hocevar, McDowell, or Suarez at Spire Motorsports? Though Suarez and McDowell would be less of a surprise considering they have each won multiple Cup Series races.

5. Will OEM changes benefit underdog teams?

The Cup Series will feature three OEM partners — Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota — in 2026. Yet, the makeup of the field will change as two teams switch from Ford Racing to Team Chevy.

Haas Factory Team and Rick Ware Racing both announced that they will switch to Chevrolet for 2026. Haas will have an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports while RWR will have an alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

Both teams made this this move to be more competitive. This is understandable considering that Custer ended the 2025 season 32nd in the standings while Cody Ware finished 36th.

These two teams are much smaller than the titans of the series, so they will still face an uphill battle as they try to consistently contend for top-10s, top-fives, and wins. Will they be able to gain ground while benefiting from the alliances with HMS and RCR, respectively?