NASCAR on Monday will announce its championship format for the 2026 season and beyond. According to a report from Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, industry executives are expecting a format which closely resembles the old “Chase” system used from 2004-2014.
The new format is expected to put a greater emphasis on points earned throughout the regular season, though it won’t be the traditional full-season points format the league had prior to 2004. “The expectation is that the new format will be closer to the old “Chase” system, and it’s possible NASCAR could go back to using that vernacular,” Stern wrote. Stern’s reporting falls in line with what Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said during a Saturday appearance on “FOX & Friends.”
“I assume there’s gonna be more points-incentive type racing,” Stenhouse said. “Obviously, you still want to win races and put yourself in the best possible position to be in the playoffs. … Come Monday I’ll probably have a little bit better idea of exactly what the format’s gonna be.”
The championship format reveal will happen on a NASCAR.com livestream. It will go live at 3:30 p.m. ET.
NASCAR will have a new championship format in 2026
NASCAR introduced the current elimination style format in 2014 after a decade of the Chase. The 10-race postseason is capped off by a one-race, winner-take-all finale where the highest finisher of the Championship 4 drivers is crowned champion.
NASCAR put together a playoff committee consisting of former drivers, media partners, team owners, manufacturers, track representatives and independent media to determine if the format should change in 2026. Some have argued for a return to the full-season points format, while others have been in favor of a revamped 10-race Chase.
NASCAR has taken in all of the feedback over the last couple of years and has settled on a format. Of course, it won’t be loved by everyone. That would be the case no matter what format the league decides on. Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano, a supporter of the 2014-25 playoff system, is fine with any potential changes.
“I liked where it was, but I’m gonna like where we go, too. I’m OK with whatever they do, just tell me the rules and then we gotta go figure out a way to win,” Logano told Donut Media in November. “It’s not my job to complain about what we have or what we’re gonna have. My job is to say ‘OK, this is the rules, let’s figure out the strategy to win this thing. Like, how do we do that.’ I don’t really care what it is, just tell me what it is so then we can focus on doing that.”