A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on August 03, 2025 in Newton, Iowa.
Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series will end on Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a champion crowned under rules that have not governed the sport since 2013 — and the stretch run to get there begins this Sunday. The Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, goes green at 3:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network, according to NASCAR’s 2026 TV guide, marking both the debut of that network’s 14-race Cup slate and the opening of the final four-race regular-season window that will set the 2026 Chase field.
Denny Hamlin, the 45-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner, enters Iowa as the provisional Chase top seed with 886 points, holding an 84-point advantage over Tyler Reddick, according to the current Cup Series standings. That gap matters more than it would have in any season from 2014 to 2025: under the revived Chase format, regular-season standings translate directly into Chase starting points, and the top seed enters Darlington on Sept. 6 with a 25-point head start over second place — strategic breathing room that carries real value over a 10-race championship, as detailed in Jayski’s Chase seeding breakdown.
NASCAR’s Season Has Already Seen History
The 2026 campaign has delivered some of the sport’s most arresting moments well before the Chase begins. Tyler Reddick opened the season by making NASCAR history: he won the first three races, the first driver in Cup Series history to accomplish that feat. He went on to claim five victories in the season’s first nine events, including the 2026 Daytona 500 for 23XI Racing — becoming the first driver to achieve five wins in the opening nine events since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 — before a mid-season slowdown allowed Hamlin, who won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and three other events, to build his current lead.
The season has also carried its share of grief. Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch died on May 21, 2026, from sepsis caused by pneumonia, days before the Coca-Cola 600 he was scheduled to run. His passing cast a long shadow over the summer and reshaped the broader narrative of a season that had already been the most structurally unusual in a decade.
The most recent race — the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26 — was won by 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim, who drives the No. 67 Toyota on a part-time basis and will not join the full-time Cup roster until 2027. Details of the Indianapolis weekend are covered in NASCAR’s Indianapolis event report. It was Heim’s second victory of the year in just his 15th career start, and it produced a heated side-story: Carson Hocevar, who started from the pole, extended his running rivalry with Heim mid-race by flipping the 23XI driver the bird from his car window after a blocking maneuver. Heim won the restart battle that decided the race and shrugged it off post-race. “He lost and I won,” Heim said.
Ryan Blaney, who had strung together 11 consecutive top-11 finishes heading into Indianapolis, was caught in a Turn 3 pileup that dropped him to 26th — ending both his streak and his run at the $1 million In-Season Challenge prize. Todd Gilliland, driving for Front Row Motorsports, beat Blaney in the Challenge finale at Indianapolis to claim the prize, as reported in NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge coverage. Ty Gibbs clinched his Chase berth at Indianapolis, becoming the fourth driver to lock in a postseason spot, joining Hamlin, Reddick, and Blaney.
How the 2026 Chase Works: No More Eliminations
The most consequential change to the sport’s competitive structure in 12 years is not a track addition or a car rule — it is the elimination of eliminations. NASCAR’s Chase 101 guide explains the full format.
From 2014 through 2025, NASCAR’s postseason used a knockout format that trimmed the championship field in three rounds before a four-driver finale in Phoenix. A bad race at the wrong moment could end a driver’s title hopes regardless of their performance all year. The format generated drama but frustrated fans who found it difficult to follow.
Beginning with this season, NASCAR returned to The Chase, the points-based postseason system it used from 2004 to 2013, with a significantly enlarged field. The top 16 drivers in points standings at the end of the regular-season finale at Daytona on Aug. 29 will qualify for the Chase. Once the Chase begins at Darlington on Sept. 6, all 16 run all 10 races, and the driver with the most cumulative points after Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8 is champion. There are no cut lines, no elimination events, and no “Championship 4” — just a 10-race accumulation.
A single structural tweak makes the regular season’s final stretch critically important: Chase starting points are tied directly to where each driver finishes the regular season. The top seed — Hamlin, if he holds — begins Darlington with 2,100 points. Second place gets 2,075. Third gets 2,065. After that, seeds 4 through 16 are separated by five points each, with the 16th seed starting at 2,000. Hamlin’s current 84-point lead over Reddick is large enough that, even under the five-point-per-position seeding structure, it represents a meaningful advantage entering the Chase that Reddick cannot close without Hamlin stumbling.
One more change: wins are worth 55 points under the new system, up from 40. A win does not guarantee Chase entry — only points standings determine the field — but the elevated win value means a driver chasing a bubble spot can move meaningfully with a victory at Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire, or Daytona.
Standings Entering Iowa: Who Is In, Who Is Sweating
Here is the full Cup Series points table after 22 of 36 races, with the Chase cutline between 16th and 17th place, per the updated standings after the Brickyard 400:
Pos.DriverPointsWins
1
Denny Hamlin
886
4
2
Tyler Reddick
802
5
3
Ryan Blaney
766
2
4
Ty Gibbs
751
1
5
Carson Hocevar
638
1
6
Chase Elliott
635
2
7
Chase Briscoe
623
1
8
Kyle Larson
617
0
9
Chris Buescher
613
0
10
Christopher Bell
609
0
11
Daniel Suarez
583
0
12
William Byron
568
0
13
Joey Logano
545
0
14
Bubba Wallace
540
0
15
Shane van Gisbergen
537
0
16
Austin Cindric
518
0
—CUTLINE—
17
Ryan Preece
480
0
18
Erik Jones
474
0
Austin Cindric is the last driver inside the Chase bubble, sitting 38 points ahead of Ryan Preece in 17th. Joey Logano, after being outside the cutline earlier in the summer, has surged to 13th — a 65-point cushion that he built over the past two races. Kyle Larson, the reigning champion, is eighth in points but has not won a race this season; a blown left rear tire ended his Brickyard 400 early.
Iowa has not been kind to Denny Hamlin. He has finished 24th in both of the track’s prior Cup events, a pattern that makes his trip to Newton this Sunday one of the few places where his lead could shrink meaningfully in a single afternoon. Ryan Blaney, by contrast, dominated the inaugural Cup race at Iowa in 2024, leading 201 laps, and he has finished fourth or better there since.
Remaining Regular-Season Races
Four races remain before the Chase field is locked:
DateRaceTrackNetwork
Aug. 9
Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol
Iowa Speedway
USA — 3:30 p.m. ET
Aug. 15
Cook Out 400
Richmond Raceway
USA
Aug. 23
Dollar Tree 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
USA
Aug. 29
Coke Zero Sugar 400 (regular-season finale)
Daytona International Speedway
NBC
The Daytona finale carries the highest variance of the four. Superspeedway drafting means a driver sitting 30 or 40 points outside the top 16 can leapfrog multiple rivals with a race win (worth 55 points) while drivers comfortably inside the cutline can get collected in a multi-car wreck and fall out of position in a single lap. Daytona International Speedway has ended more Chase dreams and opened more unexpected doors than any other track on the schedule.
Chase Schedule: Darlington to Homestead
When the regular-season finale is complete, the top 16 drivers in points will begin the Chase at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6, per the Chase seeding points structure on Jayski. All 10 Chase events count equally; every finish adds points; the driver with the most after Homestead wins the championship.
DateRaceTrack
Sept. 6
Cook Out Southern 500
Darlington Raceway
Sept. 13
Enjoy Illinois 300
World Wide Technology Raceway
Sept. 19
Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
Sept. 27
Hollywood Casino 400
Kansas Speedway
Oct. 4
South Point 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Oct. 11
Bank of America 400
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Oct. 25
TBD
Talladega Superspeedway
Nov. 1
TBD
Martinsville Speedway
Nov. 8
NASCAR Cup Championship
Homestead-Miami Speedway
The championship returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first time since 2019, ending a six-year run of Phoenix as the title venue.
Where to Watch Every Remaining Race
The 2026 season is in its second year of a seven-year deal covering four broadcast partners. That seven-year media rights agreement is valued at $7.7 billion. FOX and Amazon Prime Video covered the first half of the season; the second half belongs to USA Network and NBC.
USA Network carries the next 10 Cup events, beginning Sunday at Iowa. Coverage of the Iowa Corn 350 opens at 3:00 p.m. ET with a pre-race show; the race goes green at 3:30 p.m. ET. USA Network handles all three remaining regular-season races after Iowa and seven of the ten Chase events.
NBC takes the two biggest broadcasts: the Daytona regular-season finale on Aug. 29 and the final three Chase races, including the championship at Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8.
For cord-cutters: USA Network races can be streamed through Peacock, fuboTV, and DIRECTV Stream. NBC events are available on Peacock as well. The NASCAR Channel — a dedicated streaming feed — is available around the clock on Amazon Prime Video, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Tubi, and Xumo. Radio coverage continues on MRN, PRN affiliate stations, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90).
Practice sessions and qualifying at Iowa will run Saturday, Aug. 8, on truTV and HBO Max beginning at 2:05 p.m. ET.
Frequently Asked QuestionsHow is the 2026 NASCAR Chase different from the playoff format used in recent years?
The elimination format NASCAR used from 2014 to 2025 knocked drivers out of championship contention in three rounds, with a four-driver finale deciding the title. The 2026 Chase eliminates the knockout rounds entirely. All 16 Chase-qualified drivers run all 10 postseason races, and the driver with the most cumulative points after the championship race at Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8 is the champion. There are no cutline events and no “Championship 4.” A strong finish at Talladega or Martinsville matters as much as the final lap at Homestead, as explained in NASCAR’s Chase 101 format guide.
What does Denny Hamlin’s regular-season points lead actually mean for the Chase?
Under the 2026 format, finishing first in the regular season translates into a direct points advantage entering the Chase. The top seed starts Darlington with 2,100 points — 25 more than the second seed (2,075 points), and 100 more than the 16th seed (2,000 points). If Hamlin finishes the regular season as the top seed, his current 84-point lead over Tyler Reddick gives him strategic flexibility in the Chase’s early races: he can afford a bad day without falling out of title contention, while Reddick would be in a tighter position from the start, per Jayski’s Chase seeding breakdown.
Who is on the Chase bubble right now, and what happens at Daytona if they are still close?
Austin Cindric, driving for Team Penske, currently occupies the 16th and final Chase spot with 518 points, holding a 38-point edge over Ryan Preece in 17th. With four races remaining — Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire, and the Daytona finale — Preece, Erik Jones (44 points back in 18th), and others still have paths to the Chase if they finish well and Cindric struggles. The Daytona regular-season finale on Aug. 29 is the highest-variance event in the stretch: a race win is worth 55 points, and a superspeedway wreck can drop a bubble driver several positions in the standings in a single moment, as the current standings make clear.
Can I watch NASCAR for free if I don’t have cable?
USA Network races — including Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 — are available to stream on Peacock, fuboTV, and DIRECTV Stream, all of which offer free trials. NBC events, including the Aug. 29 Daytona finale and the Nov. 8 championship at Homestead, are also on Peacock. The NASCAR Channel, which streams race coverage around the clock, is available for free on Tubi, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, and Xumo, per NASCAR’s 2026 TV schedule.