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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The NASCAR Cup Series championship<\/a> fight is officially underway.<\/p>\n After 26 regular-season races determined the 16 drivers eligible to compete for the title, NASCAR\u2019s revamped Chase<\/a> will decide the 2026 Cup Series champion over the final 10 races of the season.<\/p>\n The road begins with one of NASCAR\u2019s crown jewels, the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6, and doesn\u2019t end until the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n Unlike the elimination-style playoff system NASCAR used in recent years, there are no elimination rounds in the 2026 Chase. All 16 championship-eligible drivers remain in contention throughout the 10-race stretch, with the title ultimately going to the Chase driver who finishes the season with the most points.<\/p>\n So when and where are all 10 races?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the complete 2026 NASCAR Chase schedule, including race dates, start times, tracks and television information.<\/p>\n Full 2026 NASCAR Chase Schedule<\/p>\n Date Sept. 6 Sept. 13 Sept. 19 Sept. 27 Oct. 4 Oct. 11 Oct. 18 Oct. 25 Nov. 1 Nov. 8 All 10 Chase races are also scheduled to stream on HBO Max. Radio coverage is available through MRN or PRN, depending on the track, along with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.<\/p>\n How Does the 2026 NASCAR Chase Work?<\/p>\n The championship format looks considerably different in 2026.<\/p>\n NASCAR abandoned the elimination-style playoff format and revived The Chase, with 16 drivers qualifying based on their position in the regular-season standings after the first 26 races.<\/p>\n There is no longer an automatic championship berth simply for winning a regular-season race.<\/p>\n Once the 16-driver field is established, points are reset ahead of Darlington. The regular-season points leader begins The Chase with 2,100 points, followed by 2,075 for second place and 2,065 for third. The gaps continue down the standings until the 16th seed begins with 2,000.<\/p>\n From there, every point matters.<\/p>\n There are no eliminations after three races, no Round of 12, no Round of 8 and no Championship 4.<\/p>\n Instead, the same 16 drivers remain championship eligible for all 10 races. Race wins are worth 55 points, stage points remain available and the championship goes to whichever Chase driver has accumulated the most points when the checkered flag falls at Homestead.<\/p>\n That makes consistency across the entire schedule significantly more important.<\/p>\n Where Is the 2026 NASCAR Championship Race?<\/p>\n NASCAR will crown its 2026 Cup Series champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 8.<\/p>\n The championship race is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.<\/p>\n Homestead\u2019s return as the championship venue is another major change. The South Florida track previously hosted NASCAR\u2019s season finale from 2002 through 2019 before Phoenix Raceway took over beginning in 2020.<\/p>\n Phoenix hasn\u2019t disappeared from the championship picture, however. It now hosts the seventh race of The Chase on Oct. 18.<\/p>\n Before Homestead, drivers will have to survive a particularly unpredictable closing stretch.<\/p>\n Talladega hosts Race No. 8 on Oct. 25, followed by 500 laps around the tight confines of Martinsville Speedway on Nov. 1. One week later, NASCAR will crown its champion at Homestead.<\/p>\n There is no points reset before that finale.<\/p>\n That means Homestead isn\u2019t a winner-take-all championship race between four drivers. It is simply the final opportunity for all 16 Chase competitors to score points toward the championship they have been pursuing since Darlington.<\/p>\n Ten races. No eliminations. One champion.<\/p>\n And for the first time in years, NASCAR\u2019s title fight<\/a> will be decided by performance across the entire postseason rather than a single final race.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMaggie MacKenzie<\/a> Maggie MacKenzie covers NASCAR for Heavy.com. She previously worked for NASCAR.com, where she reported, wrote, and edited race-weekend coverage and traveled to key events throughout the season. She has more than ten years of experience in sports media and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. More about Maggie MacKenzie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-886030","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\/886030","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=886030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRace
\nTrack
\nStart Time\u00a0
\nTV<\/p>\n
\nCook Out Southern 500
\nDarlington Raceway
\n5 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nEnjoy Illinois 300
\nWorld Wide Technology Raceway
\n3 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nBass Pro Shops Night Race
\nBristol Motor Speedway
\n7:30 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nHollywood Casino 400
\nKansas Speedway
\n3 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nSouth Point 400
\nLas Vegas Motor Speedway
\n5:30 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nBank of America 400
\nCharlotte Motor Speedway
\n3 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nFreeway Insurance 500
\nPhoenix Raceway
\n3 p.m. ET
\nUSA Network<\/p>\n
\nYellaWood 500
\nTalladega Superspeedway
\n2 p.m. ET
\nNBC<\/p>\n
\nXfinity 500
\nMartinsville Speedway
\n2 p.m. ET
\nNBC<\/p>\n
\nNASCAR Cup Series Championship Race
\nHomestead-Miami Speedway
\n3 p.m. ET
\nNBC<\/p>\n