{"id":886132,"date":"2026-09-07T00:40:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886132\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:40:57","slug":"chase-elliott-reacts-as-nascar-brings-back-traditional-chase-format-for-2026-cup-series-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886132\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Elliott reacts as NASCAR brings back traditional Chase format for 2026 Cup Series title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Chase Elliott believes NASCAR has made the right call by bringing back its traditional Chase points format to decide the 2026 Cup Series champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Hendrick Motorsports star has welcomed the change, arguing that the sport does not need to rely on artificial drama to create an entertaining championship battle.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/hitc_articles_832\/fa80253e269e3d638a1748887f988640.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Chase Elliott backs NASCAR&#8217;s championship change<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For Elliott, the return of the Chase represents a move closer to what NASCAR is supposed to be, rather than an attempt to manufacture excitement through its championship format.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It feels better. It feels more like us. I think it represents our sport in a more real and raw manner that I think will just reaffirm that we never needed the gimmicks and we never needed the fabricated drama to create a really compelling story,&#8221; Elliott said during an interview with FOX NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 23-time Cup Series winner also reflected on how the 2026 season has unfolded and believes the NASCAR community has recognised that entertainment does not have to be forced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The traditional Chase format sees 16 drivers qualify, with points reset according to their finishing positions in the regular-season standings. The championship is then decided over the 10-race Chase, with the driver accumulating the most points being crowned champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Elliott believes NASCAR will ultimately be pleased with its decision to return to that system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I think when we look back, we&#8217;re going to be really happy that this is how we&#8217;re ultimately crowning a champion,&#8221; Elliott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The return of the traditional system comes after Elliott has experienced both success and disappointment under the previous playoff format.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 2020, he reached the Round of 8 before winning the final two races of the season and securing his first Cup Series championship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Two years later, however, Elliott found himself on the other side of the format. He won the regular-season championship and reached the Championship 4 race but could not finish the season as the Cup Series champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Hendrick Motorsports driver believes the change better reflects the sport and provides a more natural way to determine its champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chase Elliott believes NASCAR has made the right call by bringing back its traditional Chase points format to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,33140,634,82],"class_list":["post-886132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-elliott","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886132","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=886132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}