Then again, \u201cnew\u201d might be a misnomer.<\/p>\n
The governing body of the largest motorsport in America announced the return of \u201cThe Chase\u201d as its national series championship format beginning in 2026. \u201cThe Chase\u201d was the postseason configuration\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0had in place from 2004-13 in the Cup Series \u2014 the first postseason of any kind in\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0history.<\/p>\n
This change comes after some sustained criticism of the postseason model in its most recent form \u2014 one that detractors claim produced too many champions that didn\u2019t have \u201cchampionship years.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASCAR\u00a0underwent an \u201cextensive review\u201d of its format during the 2025 season that sought input from owners, drivers, manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners and fans, according to a release. Those stakeholders told\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0they wanted to ensure three things: (1) that the championship round was longer than a single race; (2) that each race during the regular season and postseason mattered; and (3) that there wasn\u2019t an imbalance of importance between winning races and being consistent week-in and week-out.<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0president Steve O\u2019Donnell \u2014 as well as many other stakeholders and legends in the sport who were present for the announcement Monday at the NASCAR Productions Facility in\u00a0Concord\u00a0\u2014 the new playoff format achieves those ends.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell believes that this format, specifically, strikes a balance between deciding a champion via a full season on points \u2014 all 36 races with no playoff, like the sport used to have when it rose to prominence in the 80s and 90s \u2014 and the playoff that created these \u201cGame 7 moments\u201d the sport was after.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got the best of both worlds where every race matters,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said on Monday. \u201cWe\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\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0wanting to launch this, and we\u2019re really excited about the 2026 season.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASCAR\u00a0legend\u00a0Mark Martin, who was also at the announcement Monday, said, \u201cI think this is the most perfect compromise you could ever ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n
How the NASCAR season will change<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0will determine champions in 2026 and beyond for each of its national series: Cup Series, O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series (previously Xfinity) and Truck Series.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The postseason is \u201cThe Chase.\u201d The driver with the most points after the postseason will be crowned champion. Simple as that. The postseason will be the final 10 races of the Cup Series, the final nine of the O\u2019Reilly Series and the final seven of the Truck Series.<\/p>\n
And how do you qualify for the postseason?<\/p>\n
\u2014 The Top 16 NASCAR Cup Series drivers in points from the regular season will qualify for the postseason. It\u2019s all points-based, as fans wanted. That number of drivers differs slightly in the O\u2019Reilly Series (12 drivers) and the Truck Series (10).<\/p>\n
\u2014 No more \u201cwin and you\u2019re in.” A race win during the regular season will no longer guarantee automatic entry into the postseason. That\u2019ll eliminate the incentives for teams \u201cspecializing\u201d in a certain kind of car package at the expense of the rest of the schedule; it\u2019ll also prevent a scenario in which the 30th driver in points makes the postseason because of a fluke earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Winning is still important, however. To ensure winning races are still paramount, a driver will now earn 55 points \u2014 much more than the previous 40-point sum \u2014 for taking a checkered flag. Points for all other positions, including stage points, remain the same.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The points leader after the regular season has a 25-point cushion over the rest of the field, incentivizing those near the top of the points standings to finish out their regular seasons well.<\/p>\n
Getting into the weeds with the NASCAR postseason format<\/p>\n
Which 16 drivers are in the postseason and how those 16 drivers can win a championship are known \u2014 they just have to accrue more points than anyone else over their postseason races.<\/p>\n
But how are the drivers seeded in the playoffs in a way that gives those who performed the best in the regular season a fair advantage?<\/p>\n
How it works, per\u00a0NASCAR: Once a driver makes the postseason, the drivers\u2019 points are \u201creset\u201d based on the seeding they obtained in the regular season. The regular-season points champion will have a 25-point lead over the second-place finisher; the second-place finisher will have a 10-point cushion over the third-place finisher; and the third-point finisher will have a 5-point advantage over the fourth-place finisher. From then on out, each seed will have a five point advantage over the one directly below them.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how The Chase seedings will be set for the NASCAR Cup Series, according to\u00a0NASCAR: The O\u2019Reilly Series and Truck Series seedings will be the same, except cut off at 12 and 10, respectively.<\/p>\n
What key stakeholders are saying about NASCAR\u2019s new playoff system<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell made this announcement seated alongside two legends of the sport and three current drivers.\u00a0Dale Earnhardt Jr., still the most influential figure in the sport, was among them. So was Martin. The three current drivers were\u00a0Chase Elliott\u00a0(the sport\u2019s most popular driver),\u00a0Chase Briscoe\u00a0and\u00a0Ryan Blaney.<\/p>\n
All were united in the message:<\/p>\n
This is a huge moment of progress for the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be enough for some,\u201d said Martin, who was the loudest advocate for the return to a 36-race season determine the champion. He was so assertive that he said Monday he was concerned he\u2019d foiled his relationship with\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0and the industry.<\/p>\n
But he couldn\u2019t stay silent, he said. And as a result, he was a massive catalyst for this change.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the second meeting that we had, I was still convinced that we couldn\u2019t even get to this,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI am so happy. Everyone wins with this format, everyone. The fans win. They were heard. They win. The drivers, the teams win.\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0wins. Everybody wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, you can\u2019t always have everything you want. I wanted it all, but I\u2019m sure happy. This is great for our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earnhardt agreed and added that such a feat isn\u2019t easy. Contracts will need to be rewritten because of this change. Drivers had incentives for making it to the \u201cRound of 12\u201d or \u201cRound of 8\u201d portion of the playoffs. Racetracks loved being playoff \u201ccutoff\u201d races because of the natural increased interest.<\/p>\n
He also made the point that most of the current drivers \u2014 whose buy-in for the new format was paramount \u2014 grew up with The Chase, and fell in love with the sport while that was the operating format.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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 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,\u201d Earnhardt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\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. So that will be fun for our portion of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three drivers also are excited about the change. Elliott told reporters that such a switch will help focus the sport on the craft of racing and building a race car than finding a way to win one race. Blaney and Briscoe agreed.<\/p>\n
Briscoe admitted that the most recent format was always a bit strange to him. He didn\u2019t love how\u00a0Connor Zilisch, a driver who utterly dominated in the Xfinity Series last year with a series-leading 10 wins, didn\u2019t take home the crown because of the final race\u2019s result. He didn\u2019t love that a caution with two laps to go robbed his teammate,\u00a0Denny Hamlin, of a legacy moment. He also thought it was silly \u2014 though it would never happen \u2014 that a driver could win the first 35 races of the season, blow a motor on the final race and finish fourth in the championship standings.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell and Martin had a similar dissonance.<\/p>\n
It all led to Monday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve won\u2019t say it, but there are contracts, team contracts with sponsors,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot more complicated than our fans really realize. It\u2019s very complicated. We\u2019re really lucky to have gotten what we\u2019ve got here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0NASCAR\u00a0has a new playoff format for 2026 and beyond. Then again, \u201cnew\u201d might be a misnomer. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,18241,8354,171840,8662,36547,82],"class_list":["post-407906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-craftsman-truck-series","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-nascar-o","tag-nascar-playoffs","tag-playoffs","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407906","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=407906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}