NASCAR took a gamble when it turned back the clock on its championship format.
Four races in, there is at least one encouraging sign.
NASCAR says Cup Series Chase races are averaging 1.7 million viewers this season, up from 1.6 million through the same four-race stretch last year. That works out to a 6% year-over-year increase.
NASCAR says its numbers show the average viewership for the Chase is up 6 percent over last year through four races.
Chase races are averaging 1.7 million viewers this year vs. 1.6 last year.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 30, 2026
For a sport that made the dramatic decision to scrap its elimination-style postseason and revive the Chase for the first time since 2013, those numbers are notable.
They also arrive at an important point in NASCAR’s season.
The championship battle is beginning to take shape, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have separated themselves at the top of the standings, and six races remain to determine whether the early audience bump can hold.
So, is the Chase already working?
It’s far too early to say that.
But NASCAR certainly won’t mind the first set of numbers.
NASCAR’s Chase is drawing a bigger audience so far
The 6% increase covers the opening four races of NASCAR’s 10-race Chase.
NASCAR brought back the format this season after more than a decade of elimination rounds and winner-take-all championship races. Instead of resetting the field every three races, the 2026 title is being decided by cumulative points across the entire 10-race stretch.
The change was intended to reward consistency while still placing a premium on winning.
Now comes the other test: whether fans buy into it.
So far, the average television audience has moved in the right direction.
That doesn’t mean every race has produced an increase. Sunday’s Kansas race averaged 1.464 million viewers, down 9% from last year’s 1.6 million, despite its television rating increasing from 0.75 to 0.82.
Zoom out across the first four Chase races, however, and NASCAR says the overall audience is ahead of last season.
That follows other encouraging numbers from 2026. NASCAR reported regular-season attendance increased 9% year over year, with 11 Cup Series sellouts, while social impressions climbed 31% to 1.94 billion.
Is the new Chase format actually responsible?
This is where some restraint is necessary.
A 6% increase after four races doesn’t establish that fans are tuning in specifically because NASCAR brought back the Chase.
There are too many variables in television ratings to make that leap, from individual race windows and competition on other networks to the tracks involved and the quality of the championship battle itself.
There is also a measurement wrinkle. NASCAR returned to using Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel figures in September after previously publicizing figures based on the older panel-only methodology, complicating a clean apples-to-apples comparison.
Still, the number matters.
NASCAR made one of its biggest competitive changes in years when it abandoned the elimination format. The Chase wasn’t brought back for nostalgia alone. NASCAR needed a championship structure capable of keeping the season compelling through the fall.
Four races won’t tell us whether that gamble worked.
But with the Chase averaging 1.7 million viewers and running 6% ahead of last year’s postseason through the same point, NASCAR couldn’t have asked for a much better early indicator.
Now it has six races to turn an encouraging start into a trend.