CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR has pulled the covers off the new championship format during a Monday afternoon event at the Production Facility. The Chase is back.
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According to the announcement, the national series will move into 2026 and beyond without worrying about a one-race championship format. Instead, they will go back to The Chase, albeit with some tweaks to the point format.
The updated Chase format
- Like in past seasons, the top drivers in the points will advance to the postseason in the Cup Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and Craftsman Truck Series. However, a win no longer guarantees a spot in the playoffs. This means that someone can not win at Daytona and go from 30th in points to inside the playoffs. They must deliver sustained consistency while also winning.
- The Cup Series Chase will still feature the 16 drivers as in the elimination era. The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series field will feature 12 drivers. The Craftsman Truck Series field will feature 10 drivers.
- This updated version of The Chase will pay more points to race winners. They will earn 55 points with each win instead of 40 points as in years past.
- Stage points remain the same in this updated format as stage racing continues. As NASCAR noted, the goal is to have drivers still aggressively pursuing wins instead of simply focusing on a clean points day. This became a concern before the elimination era in 2014.
- The playoff seeding will pay more points to the regular-season champion. They will start The Chase with a base 2,100 points. Second place will have 2,075 points. Third place will have 2,065 points. Drivers in fourth through 16th place will have a decreasing number of points in five-point increments.
"As NASCAR transitions to a revised championship model, the focus is on rewarding driver and team performance each and every race," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR President, in a press release.
"At the same time, we want to honor NASCAR's 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."
Moving on from elimination
The move to this new championship format effectively ends the elimination era, which lasted from 2014 until Kyle Larson's second title in 2025.
This format pitted 16 drivers against each other over three races. The field then cut to 12 drivers as they entered the second round. Three races later, the field cut to eight drivers.
The penultimate round featured these eight drivers battling over three races for spots in the Championship 4. The four surviving drivers then headed to the final race of the season. The one with the best finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2014-2019) and then Phoenix Raceway (2020-2025) won the championship.
Some drivers, such as three-time champion Joey Logano, embraced the elimination era of the playoffs. He called the format "wicked" while pointing to desperate moves made by Ross Chastain and other drivers needing to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Other drivers, such as Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, seemingly did not particularly enjoy this era. Bell voiced his support for full-season points while Hamlin said that the sport just needed a bigger sample size. He compared the situation to other sports having multi-game series to determine the champion.
Other drivers did not take either stance. They requested some tweaks to the system, such as adjusting the points to only include positions of playoffs drivers during the 10-race stretch or removing one of the elimination rounds.
