{"id":405978,"date":"2026-01-13T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405978\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T06:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:06:07","slug":"the-chase-explained-nascars-new-championship-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405978\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chase Explained: NASCAR’s New Championship Format"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR has unveiled a significant revamp to its championship format for the 2026<\/a> season, bringing back the iconic \u2018The Chase\u2019\u00a0as a 10-race postseason for the Cup Series while emphasizing season-long consistency and the value of race wins. The announcement, made during a press conference on January 12, 2026, marks the end of the elimination-style playoffs that had been in place since 2014, responding to widespread feedback from drivers, fans, and the industry.<\/p>\n

NASCAR President Steve O\u2019Donnell described the new system as a balanced compromise that rewards both performance throughout the full 36-race schedule and the intensity of a postseason battle. The first 26 races will determine the top 16 drivers who advance to The Chase based on points, with no automatic berths for regular-season wins. Race victories will now award 55 points (up from 40), providing a stronger incentive to go for the win every weekend without allowing drivers to \u201ccoast\u201d after securing a spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Chase Press Conference \u2013 NASCAR President Steve O\u2019Donnell<\/p>\n

Points reset for the Chase, with the regular-season leader starting at 2,100 points, a 25-point cushion over second place, and a 35-point lead over third. Positions beyond that drop by 5 points each, creating a structured yet competitive field. The champion will be the driver with the most points after the 10-race Chase, culminating at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 8, 2026. Similar structures apply to the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series (12 drivers, 9-race Chase) and Craftsman Truck Series (10 drivers, 7-race Chase), with no eliminations in any series.<\/p>\n

The changes stem from over a year of discussions led by a committee involving drivers, owners, OEMs, TV partners, sponsors, and fan input. O\u2019Donnell highlighted the importance of listening to the garage and core fans, noting the format aims to \u201cget back to who we are\u201d as a sport\u2014hard-core racing where every event matters.<\/p>\n

Dale Earnhardt Jr., a Hall of Famer and owner, praised the simplicity: \u201cThis is as close as you can get [to full-season points] without going all the way\u2026 Every single race, every single lap will have more importance. It\u2019s simpler for our fans to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Martin, the Hall of Famer who advocated strongly for full-season points, called it \u201cthe most perfect compromise you could ever ask for,\u201d requiring the champion to be \u201clightning fast and incredibly consistent.\u201d He urged classic fans to return and encouraged the media to focus on building heroes rather than cutoff drama.<\/p>\n

Active drivers echoed the enthusiasm. Chase Elliott appreciated NASCAR\u2019s willingness to listen and evolve, calling it a \u201creally nice compromise\u201d reminiscent of epic Chase battles from the past. Ryan Blaney highlighted how it promotes \u201cthe purity\u201d of racing and reduces overly aggressive scenarios. Chase Briscoe noted the format\u2019s balance: \u201cWinning matters, consistency matters, DNFs are going to matter\u2026 It adds so many new elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Daytona 500 just over a month away, the announcement injects fresh energy into the sport as NASCAR aims to re-engage its core audience while delivering thrilling, story-driven racing in 2026. The full details and reactions signal a return to roots with modern tweaks\u2014setting the stage for what promises to be a highly anticipated season.<\/p>\n

Press Conference Transcript<\/p>\n

NASCAR Media Press Conference<\/p>\n

Monday, January 12, 2026<\/p>\n

An Interview with:\u00a0Steve O\u2019Donnell,\u00a0Dale Earnhardt Jr.,\u00a0Mark Martin,\u00a0Chase Elliott,\u00a0Ryan Blaney,\u00a0Chase Briscoe<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0Welcome. I\u2019m Adam Alexander. I watch that video, I think about the fact that the Daytona 500 is just over a month away. When you think about today\u2019s announcement and all the energy and excitement that\u2019s going to bring, this is no doubt a historic day for NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Before I introduce our panel in today\u2019s announcement, I want to say a special welcome to all of those watching on YouTube, the NASCAR Channel, and listening on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to the announcement. Steve O\u2019Donnell, take it away and tell us all about the championship format in 2026.<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0Thank you, Adam. I appreciate everyone being here as well.<\/p>\n

I do want to take a minute, this is the first time we\u2019ve been in front of the media and talking to folks, to let everyone know we\u2019re still thinking about Greg Biffle and his family and all of those involved in that tragic plane crash.<\/p>\n

Also, Denny Hamlin with the loss of his dad. We\u2019re all praying for his mom with a speedy recovery. Denny was a big part of today\u2019s announcement, put a lot of work into it. He\u2019s been a big part of the formats, and we\u2019re thinking about him and really appreciate him as well.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got a great group here, some of which who were involved in coming up with this format. Just kind of a quick history of how we got to where we were. Tim Clark headed up a group that included a number of folks from the industry. That was drivers, owners, OEMs, television partners, and a lot of sponsors to talk about what we could do going forward with our championship format.<\/p>\n

There were a couple things that were vitally important, I think, to everyone in the group. One was that winning still had to matter. We had to make sure that was a big component of what we were doing. We certainly wanted consistency to matter. Not lost on us that throughout what we\u2019ve seen with the current format, there were times when a driver could win and maybe take a couple races because he had that win in the bank. That\u2019s not something we wanted. We wanted every race to matter. So both of those needed to be front and center.<\/p>\n

Then we also wanted our fans to know that we\u2019re listening and our industry to know that we\u2019re listening. With that, where we\u2019ve landed is candidly the Chase is back. We are going back to a format where the Cup side, the first 26 races will be based on points system, and the final 10 races will make up the Chase.<\/p>\n

If you go into the Chase format, first and foremost, you want to look at how the points will be set. So the points leader will go into the Chase at 2,100 points. It was important for us to have a bonus for that leader. So they\u2019ll have a 25-point lead over second place and a 35-point lead over third place. Then the positions beyond that will go down by 5 points.<\/p>\n

What also is really important for the group that got together is winning. I talked about that. We\u2019re going to take winning from 40 points up to 55 points. I believe that will be a great incentive for the drivers each and every race to have to go out there and perform but also go for wins.<\/p>\n

While I have a minute too, I want to take a moment to thank Mark for coming from his vacation. I know it\u2019s a long, long trip from out west. Mark Martin was the first guy in the room to stand up and say I want to go back to full season points. There were a lot of folks who wanted to throw Mark out of the room initially, but what Mark did was got us to a position where what\u2019s the right balance? And the balance between those who like the playoff and those who like the full season points.<\/p>\n

We believe we\u2019ve struck that balance. We\u2019ve got the best of both worlds where every race matters. We\u2019ve talked to a lot of folks in the industry. We\u2019ve run a lot of different models and believe this is the best place to land really to get back to who we are. That\u2019s the core of NASCAR and want to launch this, and we\u2019re really excited about the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0Steve O\u2019Donnell giving us the details of what\u2019s going to happen with our championship format in 2026. He referenced Hall of Famer Mark Martin, and we\u2019re glad that Mark is here and a part of our panel.<\/p>\n

The rest of our panel, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hall of Famer, owner JR Motorsports. On the back row, active drivers: Chase Briscoe is here from Joe Gibbs Racing, driving that 19 Toyota. Ryan Blaney is here from Team Penske, driver of the No. 12. And Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 from Hendrick Motorsports. It seems appropriate to have two guys on the panel named Chase, I believe.<\/p>\n

I want to go around and get the reaction from all of you on today\u2019s announcement and the format that will unfold in 2026.<\/p>\n

Dale, we\u2019ll start with you.<\/p>\n

DALE EARNHARDT JR:\u00a0I think there\u2019s a lot to say. I was really excited to hear the news that we were getting a little closer to a full 36-race format. This is as close in my opinion that you can get without going all the way.<\/p>\n

What I believe it does is it makes it simpler for our fans to follow. I\u2019m a fan of the sport, and now I\u2019m compelled to plug in every single week because I know there\u2019s a long form objective for my driver to accomplish to be able to give himself the opportunity to win the championship.<\/p>\n

So even though my driver may have success early on in the season, it does not assure him success in the postseason. So with the way that they\u2019re going to stack the bonus points and everything else, it\u2019s critical that these drivers have success every single week. Every single race, every single lap will have more importance. I think it\u2019s fun for the drivers to have a more clear objective for how to get to the championship and easier for our fans to follow.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0Mark, your thoughts?<\/p>\n

MARK MARTIN:\u00a0The fans were yelling at me we want full season points. So I yelled even louder and almost got thrown out, as Steve said.<\/p>\n

I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for. It\u2019s going to require our 2026 champion to be lightning fast and incredibly consistent, and that\u2019s what we can all get behind.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m really excited. I think it\u2019s fantastic. I would just appeal to the race fans, all the race fans, but especially the classic fans who say to me, I don\u2019t watch anymore. I say we need you. Come on back. We\u2019re headed in the right direction. Come back and join with us, and we\u2019ll keep making progress.<\/p>\n

One more thing. For the broadcasters, for the media, the journalists and everyone, this is a time for a change, a change in how we cover the sport, and that means, instead of every week talking about the cutoff line, the playoff, who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out, all these things, we need to focus even more on our heroes.<\/p>\n

These guys behind me that are winning these races are our Pearsons and our Yarboroughs and our Buddy Bakers of today, and we need our fans to connect with these guys. We need them to connect with the crew chiefs. We need to connect with the engineers as well. Give the fans something that they can connect to and help us bill these superstars like they deserve to be.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0Chase Elliott, lead us off from the back row.<\/p>\n

CHASE ELLIOTT:\u00a0It gets harder as you go along to add to this. I think, look, this is \u2014 a couple things come to my mind, first and foremost, to Steve\u2019s point, willing to listen, right? Not only to Mark and Dale and even guys like myself and Ryan, who I think have kind of screamed at some of these things over the course of time of just wanting it to be better. I think we all want it to be better because, to Dale\u2019s point, we are fans of this sport.<\/p>\n

I grew up a fan. I watched that video. A lot of those years of Jimmie dominating and the championship of Tony and Carl all during the Chase were incredible runs. I think we oftentimes forget how good we had it through all those years of Chase format. I think it is a really nice compromise. I think getting a full season was going to be a pretty big challenge, and I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s really a better place to land than a true 10-race Chase, really similar to what we had through those years of the epic battles that we saw.<\/p>\n

I personally appreciate Steve and the folks at NASCAR for being able to come together with our TV partners and making everyone happy. That\u2019s a really hard thing to do, and I think sometimes we all forget about that and just how many pieces make this puzzle.<\/p>\n

Really proud to be here. I can say that with complete honesty. This is something that I\u2019m proud of as a competitor, something I\u2019m looking forward to competing in and against these guys with, and I think, just from my perspective, challenge the race fans this year, let\u2019s enjoy what we got. We\u2019re so quick to complain about everything, everything that we have and everything that we do. Let\u2019s enjoy what we have because we\u2019re making history whether you like it or not.<\/p>\n

Celebrate the champion. Celebrate the guys who went out there and did a good job. I think this format promotes that. Let\u2019s enjoy what we have. We\u2019ve got a pretty cool thing at the end of the day. Let\u2019s not forget about it, and enjoy what we got today.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0Ryan?<\/p>\n

RYAN BLANEY:\u00a0Yeah, just to echo what all these guys said in front of me and before me, I am very excited for it. I grew up \u2014 I think probably all three of us sitting up here are at the age where we all grew up, the Chase was in place, and this is what we watched as kids. I loved seeing it, and I loved seeing close battles.<\/p>\n

I feel like it also is going to \u2014 I sit back, and I look at this new format, and sometimes we all get grief about over aggressiveness and things like that, and sometimes you get put in these situations where it\u2019s a win and move on type scenario. I think it\u2019s going to clean up a lot of the racing side of it and get back to the purity side of it to where it is a little bit more of not brash, a little bit more of the beautiful art form that I grew up loving.<\/p>\n

I am a huge fan of it, like Chase said and all these guys said. I appreciate NASCAR for listening. I appreciate all these guys, Mark and Dale, for being big voices for us. It\u2019s just fun to be a part of it. I look forward to next year, and consistency is going to be a massive part of it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not going to be \u2014 I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to get guys who get out and say good points day. It\u2019s still going to be winning is a huge product of it because of the increase in the winner\u2019s points. Yeah, I\u2019m excited. I hope everyone is as excited as we all are to be a part of it and for them to watch it on TV.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0If the art form of this Chase format models your mustache, we\u2019re in for a real treat.<\/p>\n

Chase Briscoe, your thoughts?<\/p>\n

CHASE BRISCOE:\u00a0I like the name. It\u2019s a great name. I\u2019m excited. Like these guys said, I don\u2019t know what else I can add. It just has every characteristic you want in a championship format where winning matters, consistency matters, DNFs are going to matter.<\/p>\n

Just the points swing now with winning, you\u2019re not going to have that win and in, but with the 15 extra bonus points, winning can take a guy from fourth in the championship all the way to having the lead and vice versa.<\/p>\n

I think it just adds so many new elements, and it\u2019s honestly a great format. Like Ryan was saying, I grew up with the Chase format and loved it. I think this makes it even better. Yeah, just looking forward to finally being a competitor in it and looking forward to seeing what we have.<\/p>\n

Steve, what was the process like from the very start of the conversations with all the people, the committee and everybody, to start the ideas of what we should do to kind of change the format to first week, second week, like through that? What was the processes like for getting everyone to have a good compromise, and how much influence did, say, drivers, team owners, and fans outside of this main committee, how much did you all look at things like that?<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0That\u2019s a really good question. Over a year, probably a year and a half process, if I\u2019m totally honest with everyone, which that\u2019s my nature, going into even Phoenix this year, it was kind of a hold your breath moment. We recognize more and more that someone winning a Championship, absolutely, they win it by the rules, but was it the best format that we could go with?<\/p>\n

The tide had turned in the garage area, and that\u2019s important to us and certainly important to our race fans. We did a lot of listening. We did a lot of talking and looked at a ton of ideas, modeled a lot of different things. But I applaud the industry, and that includes the media as well.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear me often say, when I say NASCAR, I\u2019m not just talking about the folks who are making the rules at the R&D center. NASCAR is everyone here. It\u2019s everyone here. It\u2019s the team owners, the OEMs, and all those people had a voice in this.<\/p>\n

We tried to strike a balance. Not everyone\u2019s going to love it. We don\u2019t expect everyone to just go out and love it. We don\u2019t expect this to be the magic wand we wave from a NASCAR standpoint and say everything\u2019s now great. We\u2019ve got a lot of work to do from our standpoint with the relationships in the garage, getting back to those, but getting back to who we are. That\u2019s hard-core racing and the Chase and people having fun. We work in a pretty damn good industry, and we need to have some fun, celebrate the wins.<\/p>\n

It was a great process. We looked at everything, beat up a ton of models, and I\u2019m proud of where we landed as a group.<\/p>\n

Also for Steve and I guess anybody on the panel. You guys have talked about the compromise to get to this point. What is the desired end game overall? You said not everybody\u2019s going to agree with it, not everybody\u2019s going to love it, but what are you trying to most maximize out of this Playoff format or going back to the Chase?<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0I think from my perspective, and I\u2019d be interested to hear it from the other guys, is re-engage with our core fans. The folks who got us there are a loud voice.<\/p>\n

I think, when the industry is talking about they want a different format, we want that as well. We want the drivers to feel like \u2014 they\u2019re the best drivers in the world, and we want them to feel great that, when they win a championship, that they ran through a gauntlet of the toughest race tracks, 36 weekends, and they pulled it off.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it\u2019s growing the fan base, but it\u2019s not just chasing new fans. We need to be with the folks who brought us to the dance, make sure they believe in us, where we\u2019re going. New fans will come along because they\u2019re going to see that this is a cool sport to be around.<\/p>\n

For any of our active drivers, with wins counting for more points now, how does that help counter what we used to hear of just having good points days, still incentivizing winning while also rewarding consistency now?<\/p>\n

CHASE ELLIOTT:\u00a0I think from my perspective winning mattered in the previous format that we had as well, but you could also have good points days too. I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s totally gone. I don\u2019t think either side of the fence is gone, and to me I think that\u2019s kind of the whole point of this.<\/p>\n

You can go out there and have a great stretch of top 5s and top 10s and get stage points and all of those things. You can still have good points days. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s erased. But certainly the amount of points that you\u2019re going to get for winning is eventually going to add up.<\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019ve always kind of been a believer that I think a lot of the formats and things, a lot of times it\u2019s going to come out in the wash. To me, that was where as long as we had an opportunity for a format to make it come out in the wash, I think we were doing the right thing. To me this format does that.<\/p>\n

Having bigger sample sets, as we\u2019ve heard, not coming down to one race \u2014 there\u2019s just a lot of variables in motorsports. I think, as long as you give these drivers and teams and just the races play out and let it come out eventually the way that it should, I think we\u2019re doing right, and I think this is a great step to achieving that.<\/p>\n

Dale, obviously you won\u2019t be in the booth for these races, but from your broadcasting perspective, what does this do for the overall storylines as opposed to four drivers or eight drivers or 12 drivers at any given part of the rounds?<\/p>\n

DALE EARNHARDT JR:\u00a0Well, I think that for us, we\u2019ll be in a pretty unique part of the season throughout the summer as we\u2019re building toward the Playoffs or the Chase, and we\u2019ll be sort of trying to understand who is trying to fight their way into that position to be one of those 16 drivers.<\/p>\n

I recall 20 years ago how cool it was to be able to stand on that stage at Richmond after that final race of the regular season and be one of the guys, right, that had worked all year, every lap, every race, put a good points record together one week and win the next and drag a torn-up race car across the line for 20th to get that stage every single week and grind and grind.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s kind of what I\u2019m excited about for these guys to experience, is the pride and the work that they\u2019ve got to put in every single lap and every single race to finally be one of those few people who actually gets to be a part of that at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

So that will be fun for our portion of the season. I love the idea that, once we do get to the Chase, we just get to sit back and watch these guys go at it for 10 races, and they have to put together the full body of work. I feel like whoever can accomplish that can feel pretty darn good about what they\u2019ve done at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019m looking forward to it. Like I said at the first of this, it\u2019s simpler, easier, I think that\u2019s great. We all understand what the objective is, pretty cut and dried. It\u2019s the full body of work. It\u2019s the entire season.<\/p>\n

You can be hot at the end of the year and still have success and do well and have a shot at the championship, but what you do in the regular season of the first 26 races is going to be critical to giving you that chance.<\/p>\n

This one\u2019s for Mark. You seem to really have your finger on the pulse of the fan, the classic race fan. So do you think this format is enough? Because some classic race fans, of course, just want a straight race, just like it used to be in the \u201980s or whatever. What would you say to that?<\/p>\n

MARK MARTIN:\u00a0Yeah, it\u2019s not going to be enough for some. You just can\u2019t make everyone happy. I think that it is the best possible scenario that you could have asked for.<\/p>\n

After the second meeting that we had, I was still convinced that we couldn\u2019t even get to this. I am so happy. Everyone wins with this format, everyone. The fans win. They were heard. They win. The drivers, the teams win. NASCAR wins. Everybody wins. You know, you can\u2019t always have everything you want.<\/p>\n

I wanted it all, but I\u2019m sure happy. This is great for our sport.<\/p>\n

Steve, how close, if at all, did you come to going to a full race or full season points? And what was the determining factor not to go there?<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0I think I\u2019d go back to we looked at everything. I think the leader probably to begin with was maybe a longer four-race championship format that I think some people thought about, then it was five, what would the different mix of tracks be. Then really it narrowed down to a full season or some type of a Chase.<\/p>\n

Just looking at both of those, there are a lot of fans, yes, there are a lot of vocal fans on social media. Those aren\u2019t all of our fans, and there are a lot of fans who like Playoffs or liked a Playoff format as well. So we felt like this was a great balance.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s simple. There\u2019s no Playoff points and all those things. Ryan McGee said it best, I think, in the committee that you need to get on an elevator, get to the 20th floor, and be able to explain this to somebody, and we could finally do that. We couldn\u2019t do that in the past. It was really challenging.<\/p>\n

So this we feel like, as Mark said, is the best of both worlds. It gives us room to take a look at it. It won\u2019t be perfect. We\u2019ll learn some things along the way. We\u2019ve got the smartest group of engineers and drivers and teams who will look at this and say, Here we go, this is the way I am going go after it. And we\u2019ll learn some things along the way as well.<\/p>\n

Steve, what went into settling on 16 as the right number to qualify for the Chase? Then also, what was the balance of the points for winning versus a win-and-in scenario? I look back at maybe last season where a guy like Shane van Gisbergen, what he did in the regular season versus being able to get in this format?<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0Let me answer the first part in terms of the win and in. One of the challenges around there, we\u2019re going to the Daytona 500, biggest race of the year. Mark Martin wins the Daytona 500, and what\u2019s the first thing the announcer is going to say? He\u2019s in the Playoffs. What are we doing?<\/p>\n

When you look at that, it doesn\u2019t happen in any other sport, and it really became something that was taking away from the entirety of the season. So it was important to us to still have winning matter but every race matter.<\/p>\n

Even when you got to the old Playoffs, you could win in the first round, and you could test for two races if you wanted to. The sponsors probably wouldn\u2019t allow that, and you\u2019re going after it, but there were some unique situations we learned along the way that allowed for some things that we didn\u2019t love.<\/p>\n

This was important for us to have winning still matter, adjust the points, and make it as simple as possible going in.<\/p>\n

I forgot the first part.<\/p>\n

Settling on 16.<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a016, yeah. Not lost on us that a lot of things were going on in Phoenix and throughout the year, and we wanted to make sure that we limited the disruption as much as possible in the industry to make this happen.<\/p>\n

16, when you look at it in totality, it still felt like it was a fair number, and if we could keep it the same, we felt like that would be important.<\/p>\n

We recognize there will have to be some tweaks with drivers and owners and how those things were structured in the past, but we wanted to keep the number the same if at all possible.<\/p>\n

Steve, there\u2019s going to be people on both sides that still won\u2019t be satisfied with this, particularly the people that were on the 36 race side that were really hoping for that. How do you do outreach, or how do you get them back in the fold so to speak and embrace them even though this decision didn\u2019t turn out quite the way they wanted maybe?<\/p>\n

STEVE O\u2019DONNELL:\u00a0Again, I\u2019d go back to we think it\u2019s a good compromise. At the end of the day, it\u2019s going to be all about are we putting on great races that\u2019s people want to tune in and go and see? Do they care about our drivers? Are we promoting the heroes that they are, as Mark and Dale said?<\/p>\n

We were talking in the past about, if you go to Bristol, Ryan Blaney wins the race. Chase Briscoe \u2013 I\u2019m making it up here \u2013 finishes 18th but makes the cutoff. The story was all about the 18th-place finisher instead of the winner. Long term that wasn\u2019t good for us.<\/p>\n

We wanted to build heroes. It\u2019s hard to win these races. It\u2019s hard to be in the top 10. Really important for us to get back to these storylines. We think the fans will come with us.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got work to do on this. It\u2019s not lost on any one of us at NASCAR. We have talented people who are hungry to get back to where we were. We\u2019re going to work our asses off for the industry to deliver to our race fans.<\/p>\n

MARK MARTIN:\u00a0I\u2019d like to add a couple of things to Jeff. Steve won\u2019t say it, but there are contracts, team contracts with sponsors. It\u2019s a lot more complicated than our fans really realize. It\u2019s very complicated.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re really lucky to have gotten what we\u2019ve got here. This is a great compromise, in my eyes. And the jump from 10 to 36 is not nearly as unlikely as from Playoffs to 36. So you never know what happens in the future. He didn\u2019t say that. I did, though.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR:\u00a0That\u2019s a good place to end it. That wraps this portion of our announcement. We thank our panel here today. We thank those gathered in the room. We also want to say a special thanks to those watching on the YouTube channel and the NASCAR Channel and listening on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.<\/p>\n

\u2014 NASCAR \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR has unveiled a significant revamp to its championship format for the 2026 season, bringing back the iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-405978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}