{"id":408211,"date":"2026-01-14T08:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408211\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:04:09","slug":"chase-elliott-reacts-to-nascars-new-championship-format-it-is-a-really-nice-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408211\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Elliott reacts to NASCAR’s new championship format: ‘It is a really nice compromise’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chase Elliott seems to like NASCAR\u2019s championship format for the 2026 season and beyond. After NASCAR announced it would return to \u201cThe Chase\u201d format<\/a> to determine a champion, Elliott praised the organization for the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all want it to be better because, to Dale [Earnhardt Jr.]\u2018s point, we are fans of this sport,\u201d Chase Elliott said to a group of reporters during a press conference<\/a>. \u201cI grew up a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott then discussed the time when NASCAR had \u201cThe Chase\u201d from 2004 to 2013, and the battles between drivers to win a championship. \u201cWe often times forget just how good we had it through those years of \u2018The Chase\u2019 format,\u201d he said, \u201cand I really do think it is a really nice compromise. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think getting a full season was going to be a really big challenge. I\u2019m not sure if 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on NASCAR bringing back \u2018The Chase\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chase\u201d will consist of the final 10 races for the NASCAR Cup Series. The 16 drivers who have the most points at the end of the regular season will compete in \u201cThe Chase,\u201d and the top driver will earn a 25-point cushion over the second seed.<\/p>\n

In the previous format, a driver who won a race in the regular season would clinch a spot in the playoffs. \u201cThe Chase\u201d changes all of that, as a race win will not guarantee automatic entry into the championship format. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs NASCAR transitions to a revised championship model, the focus is on rewarding driver and team performance each and every race,\u201d NASCAR president Steve O\u2019Donnell said in a press release. \u201cAt the same time, we want to honor NASCAR\u2019s storied history and the traditions that have made the sport so special. Our fans are at the heart of everything we do, and this format is designed to honor their passion every single race weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott sounds ready to win a championship in \u201cThe Chase\u201d format. In his career, the 30-year-old has won the Cup Series title in 2020 and claimed the regular season championship in 2022. Last season, Elliott won two races and finished eighth in the final standings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chase Elliott seems to like NASCAR\u2019s championship format for the 2026 season and beyond. After NASCAR announced it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,4387,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-408211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chase-elliott","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408211","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=408211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}