{"id":409978,"date":"2026-01-15T02:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409978\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T02:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:39:07","slug":"dale-earnhardt-jr-pulls-back-curtain-on-nascar-return-to-chase-championship-format-mark-martin-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/409978\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulls back curtain on NASCAR return to Chase championship format, Mark Martin impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dale Earnhardt Jr. discussed his role in NASCAR\u2019s decision to return to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/pro\/news\/nascar-reveals-championship-format-2026-season-beyond-the-chase\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Chase championship format<\/a> for the 2026 season. On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ublcIeUgaX4&amp;t=6s\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dale Jr. Download,<\/a> Earnhardt explained he joined the playoff committee in the offseason last year and was surprised to learn about NASCAR\u2019s intention to revert to The Chase only a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>Earnhardt said that when everyone met for the first time, he felt like his opinion of what NASCAR should do about its championship format was going to get \u201clost in the conversation\u201d because there were a lot of people in the room. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI looked across the room, and I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t think I can convince the networks to let go of what they want to hang on to,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I can convince NASCAR to go as far as they need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dale Earnhardt Jr. supported Mark Martin during the playoff committee meetings<\/p>\n<p>Dale Earnhardt Jr. then shared the impact Mark Martin had on NASCAR, making the big change. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of credit being given to Martin,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cIt\u2019s deserving because right out the gate, he\u2019s like, \u2018This is the best way to do it.\u2019 He never let off the gas. If Mark hadn\u2019t have been so adamant at first and stayed the course, I don\u2019t know that we would have gotten this far, and he really did put his neck on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martin believes that NASCAR should go back to the 36-race format to determine a champion. Earnahardt revealed that he told the committee in June that he backs Martin on the 36-race format. \u201c36 is the best way to choose who truly is the champion,\u201d Earnahrdt said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to change my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, NASCAR seemed to have listened to Earnhardt and Martin because The Chase has elements of the 36-race format. Points will determine which 16 drivers will qualify for The Chase, and there are no elimination rounds. With The Chase, the driver with the most points at the end of the postseason will be crowned the champion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. discussed his role in NASCAR\u2019s decision to return to The Chase championship format for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14056,634,82],"class_list":["post-409978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409978","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=409978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}