AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart will make his return to NASCAR in February at Daytona.

Stewart will race Kaulig’s No. 25 Ram 1500 in the Feb. 13 season-opening race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway.

“I’ve raced just about everything with four wheels at Daytona, but never a truck. So when a seat in the new Ram was offered up for their first race back in NASCAR, I didn’t hesitate,” Stewart said. “Ram’s Free Agent program is another great way for me to stay sharp and have a little fun.”

Kaulig’s “Free Agent” program will bring legendary drivers and rising stars to the spotlight. They will announce the driver before every race – and the announcement about Stewart comes a month before Daytona.

“We’re not just returning to the track; we’re rewriting the playbook. Bringing Tony in as the first Free Agent will generate a crazy amount of excitement, which is exactly why we created the program, allowing fans to watch an all-time favorite driver get back into the seat, but this time, it’s a Ram truck,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of American Brands, SRT Performance, North America marketing and retail strategy, Stellantis. “This is about honoring a legacy. Tony represents grit, determination and the spirit of racing — pure adrenaline for the fans.”

Stewart is the fourth driver Kaulig has named to its Ram Trucks program. His teammates at Daytona will be Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, Daniel Dye, Justin Haley and the winner of the “Race for the Seat” reality TV show set to debut and air before the season opener at Daytona.

“Having Tony Stewart in one of our Ram trucks is the kind of thing you dream about,” said Matt Kaulig, founder and owner of Kaulig Racing. “He’s a legend. His name alone brings energy to the sport. We couldn’t be more fired up to have him in our camp as we roll into Daytona for our first race. This is going to be a ride worth watching.”

Stewart has 19 wins at Daytona across the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and IROC. Although he retired from full-time NASCAR competition in 2016, Stewart has continued his racing career in NHRA Top Fuel competition – winning in 2025 and contending for the title.

While Stewart’s last NASCAR national series start was in 2016 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series, his last scheduled start was in 2020 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. However, the COVID pandemic scrapped his plans to run the race – setting up his first race in nearly nine years this February at Daytona.

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com

The Whelen Modified Tour is the oldest division in NASCAR racing.

It began in 1947, and while it has undergone many name changes over the years, from the Winston Modified Tour to the Featherlite Modified Series to the Whelen Modified Tour in 2005, when Whelen Engineering began sponsoring, it is the only open-wheel division that NASCAR sanctions.

It is a style of racing with great tradition and history, and history was made last year.

Northampton native Austin Beers became the Whelen Tour’s youngest champion at 22 years, seven months, and five days. He broke the record set by current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, who was 22 years, 11 months, and 25 days old when he won the title in 2013.

Beers, who grew up in a racing family (his father Eric competed in the series from 1997 to 2012) has earned his share of wins and championships while racing at local tracks.

But this is his biggest accomplishment so far and could be a stepping stone to bigger circuits and championships.

“For sure, this is my biggest,” Beers said. “It’s a 16-race series where you need to be super consistent all year. You can’t have bad races. It’s a long, hard-fought year, and it came down to the last race at Martinsville in Virginia, and I was going against a four-time champion in the series [Justin Bonsignore] and someone who is second on the all-time win list. We were able to do what we needed to do and finished second in that last race at Martinsville. That allowed us to have enough points to win the championship.

“To be the youngest champion ever in the oldest series in NASCAR means a lot. It was not only special for me, but also for my family, who sacrificed all of their weekends throughout the year to support me and for my car owner, Mike Murphy, who got his first championship.”

Murphy is a story in his own right. He is a 68-year-old Irish immigrant who, according to NASCAR.com, bought his first race car in the mid-1990s and underwent a lung transplant last January.

“This is the best year of my life. I got a second chance at life,” Murphy told NASCAR.com. “Hard work, I would say, is all it takes. This is a great country. A country of opportunity. The only thing that is going to stop you is yourself.”

Murphy and his KLM Motorsports team took a chance on Beers in 2021 when he was 18.

So, learning they won the championship was emotional for Beers and Murphy.

“He took a gamble on me, and it has been all good ever since,” Beers said.

It is Murphy who believes in Beers as much as anyone. He said, again to NASCAR.com, “I hope this is a stepping stone. He’s still young. He’s only 22. Hopefully, there is somebody out there watching and will see how good he is, and maybe they’ll offer him a ride somewhere along the way.”

Beers was a model of consistency throughout the year.

In 16 races, he never finished lower than ninth. He scored two wins along with 12 top-5s and 16 top-10s. He was the tour’s only driver to finish every led and led all drivers with a 4.6 average finish.

“Hopefully this helps me move into a bigger series, whether it’s the NASCAR truck series or the Xfinity series, but in NASCAR, like in all of racing, it comes down to funding and money,” Beers said. “This is definitely something that should be eye-catching on a resume, I hope. Obviously, it’s only been a couple of months, but hopefully it does catch some people’s eyes. We’ve sent out our resumes to companies, hoping it will attract some sponsorship, and hopefully they can see it and know what I am capable of.”

Beers said the tour championship didn’t sink in until a month after he won it, and he went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and pulled the tape off, and got to see his name on the championship trophy.

“That’s when it truly sank in, and I got to go to the awards dinner with the higher-ups in NASCAR, and I got to meet the other champions as well,” Beers said. “I talked with them and got some advice from them. I talked to Brenden Queen, who is running full-time on the truck series for Kaulig Racing, and I asked him what I could do because he does a really good job on social media finding sponsorships. It was great to get his advice.”

Beers is getting another avenue to promote his name and boost sponsorship potential.

UFC CEO Dana White is backing an eight-part series called “Race for the Seat,” a new reality competition series featuring 15 aspiring drivers and giving them a chance to compete for a spot on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Kaulig Racing.

Beers is one of the participants in the series, which is sponsored by Ram Trucks. It was already filmed in November, and while Beers can’t reveal the results, he said it was an awesome experience and race fans should watch when it premieres on Fox on Jan. 25 on the day of the NFC Championship Game in pro football. Subsequent episodes will be on Ram’s YouTube Channel through Feb. 6, and the winner is expected to be on the Kaulig team for the Craftsman Truck Series opener Feb. 13 at Daytona.

“I was competing for a NASCAR truck series ride with 14 other talented drivers,” Beers said. “It was pretty special. It was an absolute blast, especially because of the people you’re dealing with. You are basically hanging out with 14 of your friends, and you get to drive race cars some days. For someone like me, that’s a dream. It was so much fun and an awesome experience. It was like a racecar boot camp. I think it will do something not only for my career, but also for the other 14 drivers. It will be huge for our racing careers. I am excited for it to come out and have everybody see it.”

Beers said he can’t go too in-depth on the series, but said it was about racing different types of cars and at different tracks.

“We were competing against each other to see who’s the best,” Beers said.

Meanwhile, Beers just hopes to keep getting better and looking for better and bigger opportunities.

“It’s just like a basketball player practicing 3-pointers or free throws,” he said. “The more laps you do, the better you’re going to get. Over these past two years, I’ve run over 50 races per year. On the asphalt side of racing, that’s a lot. I’ve just been trying to do as many races as possible, trying to perfect my craft and put myself in a situation where if I am in a certain situation, I know what to do because I’ve been in that scenario before. It becomes muscle memory and you know what to do with pit strategy and adjustments. The more laps you make, the better you’re going to get.”

But as good as he gets, you still need someone to notice.

“Winning a championship at a regional touring level is beyond what my dreams were when I started,” he said. “My dream was just to run the Whelen Modified Tour, and to have this kind of success has been amazing. I saw my dad get emotional, and that’s very rare. It meant a lot to my family and to my racing team. We kept building and building toward it. It’s not easy by any means. It’s a lot of work, a lot of hours, and long days at the race track. I owe so much to my sponsors and my family.

“Racing is such a different type of sport. A kid can go outside and shoot free throws or go out and put the ball on the tee in golf. In this sport, it costs money just to go to these race tracks and get practice laps. It’s not something you can practice. You have to be on your ‘A game’ at all times. You have to have a lot of support behind you, funding-wise, just to be able to try to do it. But I love it and hope we can continue to be successful.”

1/13/26

Yesterday, NASCAR announced a return to The Chase format in crowning a champion in its three highest series. From 2014 through last season, NASCAR developed a playoff format that was largely met with a negative reaction amongst the most ardent NASCAR fans. The Chase was used from 2004 to 2013, and The Chase 2.0 has some tweaks in the format from the old format.

In the revamped Chase format, there will still be 16 drivers in the Cup Series, 12 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and 10 drivers in the Truck Series, but the win-and-in part of the playoffs is gone. Race winners receive 55 points for a win, up from 40 points. Playoff points are gone, and at the start of The Chase, the regular season points winner earns an additional 25 points. They will start The Chase at 2,100 points, second at 2,075, third at 2,065, and a five-point gap from fourth to 16th place. The Chase is 10 races in the Cup Series, nine in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and seven in the Truck Series. There are no points reset after a certain number of races, like in the playoff format, and the driver with the most points at the end of The Chase is the champion.

Fans have been opining for a new format, and this change has been met with a positive response. NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell said that “everything was on the table” regarding shaking up the format for determining a champion. The straw that broke the camel’s back was last November’s Championship Race weekend. Corey Heim in the Truck Series won 12 races, but needed a green-white-checkered finish to pull off the win for the Championship after having a dominant season. Connor Zilisch took the NASCAR world by storm with his record-setting year in 2025, but finished second in the Championship Race to Jesse Love, and despite winning 10 races, including The Pacific Office Automation 147 in Portland, didn’t win the championship due to a late restart. The final nail in the coffin came in the Cup Series race. Denny Hamlin, who had suddenly turned into a crowd favorite after news of his father’s deteriorating health, was leading with three laps to go. William Byron’s tire blew, and Hamlin’s three-second lead evaporated as the caution came out, and Hamlin couldn’t get by Kyle Larson in the last two laps to lose the championship.

NASCAR’s history is treasured by its fans more than any other sport or sports league. Fans embrace tradition and don’t welcome unnecessary change. NASCAR is also unique in the sense that it’s a family-run sport, with the France family still owning NASCAR. NASCAR took a leap of faith in bringing the glory days of the sport from the 1980s through the 2000s back into the modern sports cycle, but ultimately it didn’t work. The sport is still trying to create stars that can crossover into the mainstream culture like Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and others were able to do.

Listening to the fans’ complaints and considering their thoughts has been something NASCAR does pretty well at. They’ve made changes to the car (i.e., adding horsepower), attempting to build tires with more tire wear from Goodyear, and now the overhaul of determining a champion. Perhaps other leagues should take a look at the value of not pissing off their most ardent fans at the risk of blindly and wildly adding new ones.

NASCAR won’t be racing in the Pacific Northwest in 2026, but hopefully one of the series will head back. The Cup Series won’t head to Portland International Raceway, as the facilities aren’t up to their standards, but maybe a street race awaits the PNW. Seattle was a city that was brought up in preliminary discussions about future street races. With Amazon streaming five NASCAR races per year in the new media rights deal, maybe they can get a “home race” in the future.

Until then, PNW NASCAR fans will sadly watch from afar. At least there is a more legitimate championship format.

www.elisportsnetwork.com

Hyak Motorsports is proud to announce a multi-race sponsorship with Chef Boyardee, welcoming the iconic brand to the NASCAR Cup Series. Chef Boyardee will serve as the primary sponsor for 3 Cup Series races for driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 team and will be an associate sponsor for the 2026 season.

The collaboration aligns two brands built on consistency, reliability, and connecting with fans across generations. Chef Boyardee, a longtime household name, will be showcased through on-car branding, team assets, and integrated fan-engagement activations designed to reach audiences both at the track and at home.

“We’re excited to welcome Chef Boyardee to the Hyak Motorsports family. They’re a brand everyone knows, and bringing them into NASCAR is something the entire team is looking forward to,” said Stenhouse. “We’re ready to start the season off strong and represent Chef Boyardee throughout the year.”

This iconic paint scheme will debut at NASCAR Clash on Sunday, February 1, at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, NC. Chef Boyardee’s sponsorship with Hyak Motorsports will then continue at the Daytona 500, a marquee event with added significance for the team and driver. Stenhouse Jr., the 2023 Daytona 500 winner, has established himself as one of the sport’s most competitive drivers on superspeedways, making the regular season-opening event an ideal launch point for the sponsorship.

“Ricky has been an incredible ambassador for our brands in the 12 years that we have been sponsoring his car in the Cup Series,” said Henk Hartong, CEO of Brynwood Partners. “We are excited to bring Chef Boyardee back to the track at Daytona and Talladega this season, both places where Ricky has taken the checkered flag previously.  We look forward to bringing the Chef Boyardee 47 to Victory Lane at Daytona in February.”

In addition to race-day visibility, the sponsorship will include digital and social media content, behind-the-scenes features, and fan-focused activations highlighting the connection between Chef Boyardee, Hyak Motorsports, and NASCAR’s passionate fan base.

After Daytona, Chef Boyardee will be on the No. 47 Chevrolet on April 26 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Hyak Motorsports PR

“The Chase” is returning to NASCAR in 2026, which NASCAR unveiled a new format that favors a season long battle for the championship rather than a winner take all format that we saw in previous years.

“The Chase” format was used in NASCAR’s premier series from 2004-2013 with NASCAR determining the seasons champion with a cumulative points accumulated over the course of the 10 race playoff races.

Beginning this season the champion crowned at seasons end in Homestead will have accumulated the most points throughout the 10 race playoff span.

Prior to the beginning of the 2025 season, NASCAR formed the “Playoff Committee”, which consisted of drivers, members of the media and executives. The panel discussed throughout the 2025 season plans for a change of the playoff format after NASCAR’s previous format which gave drivers a free ride to the playoffs with a win in the regular season and a winner take all format for the final race. Fans voiced their opinions on social media for a change in the format favoring a champion crowned with a culmination of points rather than one race deciding the champion.

“Was it the best format we could go with?,” Steve O’Donnell said during the press conference referring to the previous format NASCAR used.

Once the playoff field is set, the leader in points standings will have 2100 points heading into the 10 race playoff races. A ten point interval will separate second and third place while a five point interval will separate all other drivers.

Total points once “The Chase” begins: 1st: 2100 points, Second: 2075 points, Third: 2065 points, Fourth: 2060 points, Fifth: 2055 points, Sixth: 2050 points, Seventh: 2045 points, Eighth: 2040 points, Ninth: 2035 points, Tenth: 2030 points, Eleventh: 2025 points, Twelfth: 2020 points, Thirteenth: 2015 points, Fourteenth: 2010 points, Fifteenth: 2005 points, Sixteenth: 2000 points

Drivers in attendance included Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney. Also in attendance were NASCAR hall of famers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin as well as Steve O’Donnell from NASCAR.

Chase Briscoe said during the press conference that he believes this format is easier for the fans to follow.

“I’m a fan of the sport and now I know I’m compelled to plug in every week,” Chase Briscoe said. “Every single race, every single lap will have more importance.”

The 2026 NASCAR season gets underway with “The Clash” at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday, February 1st and the 68th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 15th.

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR’s nearly two-year study into an overhaul of its championship-deciding format concluded Monday with the reveal that in 2026 the stock car series will return to a 10-race version closely resembling the very first iteration introduced 22 years ago.

The system will return to a 10-race format consisting of the top 16 drivers in the regular-season standings. There will be no driver eliminations every three races, winning will be incentivized and its name will return to “The Chase.” The driver with the most points at the Nov. 8 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be the champion.

“As NASCAR transitions to a revised championship model, the focus is on rewarding driver and team performance each and every race,” NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said. “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.”

The changes come amid fan complaints to periodic tweaks of a system that was largely unchanged from its 2004 introduction to 2013, when Jimmie Johnson won six of his record-tying seven championships.

Changes slowly followed, with eliminations, an expanded field, a win-and-in guarantee and finally a winner-take-all season finale.

Fans had grown weary of the changes. Regular-season victories guaranteed a slot in the 10-race playoffs, a win in any of the first three three-race rounds advanced a driver into the next round, while the bottom three drivers at the end of each round were eliminated.

Finally, the winner was simply the highest-finishing driver among four remaining title contenders in the season finale.

THE TIPPING POINT

That system reached its breaking point in November when Denny Hamlin dominated the race until a late caution changed the final sequence and Kyle Larson won his second title by simply finishing ahead of Hamlin despite Larson not leading a single lap at Phoenix Raceway while mired in a 25-race losing streak.

Hamlin had won two playoff races – a Cup Series high six victories on the season – and led 208 of the 319 laps at Phoenix. He was the leader with three to go when a late caution changed the outcome and sent the race into overtime; Larson finished third, two spots ahead of Hamlin, to automatically claim the championship.

It wasn’t the only race on the final weekend of 2025 that didn’t finish as expected.

Corey Heim had 11 victories at the start of the Truck Series finale at Phoenix but needed to dip his truck low in an outrageous seven-wide scramble in overtime to secure the title. He did pull out the win and NASCAR dodged the controversy of the most consistent driver being denied a championship because of a gimmicky format.

NASCAR wasn’t so fortunate the next night in the Xfinity Series when 10-race winner Connor Zilisch lost the championship because Jesse Love won the race. Love opened the season with a win at Daytona and closed it with a win at Phoenix – his only two victories of the season but good enough in that format for a championship.

Fan discourse – which had been building for several years and intensified after Joey Logano won two titles in three years including in 2024 when he advanced on another’s driver elimination – exploded after Hamlin.

The changes announced Monday were already in the works and came after an extensive review that included collaboration between owners, drivers, automobile manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners, and fans.

“Going into Phoenix was a hold your breath moment,” O’Donnell said. “We recognize someone winning the championship, absolutely they won it by the rules. But was it the best format that we could go with? The tide had turned in the garage.”

The new format is designed to bolster the importance of each race and reward consistency while maintaining the importance of winning. It will be known as its original name, ‘The Chase,’ with an also accepted use of ‘postseason,’ NASCAR is eliminating the vernacular ‘playoffs’ and ‘regular-season champion.’

NASCAR’S NEW FORMAT

Moving forward, the driver with the most points after the postseason finale will be champion in all three NASCAR national series. The Chase will comprise of the final 10 races for the Cup Series.

NASCAR has eliminated the automatic berth into the playoff field earned by winning during the regular season, a move designed to increase the importance of every event on the schedule and emphasize consistency throughout the regular season.

A race victory win will now earn the winning driver 55 points, up from 40 points, to reward drivers who battle for wins instead of settling for a solid points days. NASCAR hopes it encourages aggressive racing and strong team performance.

Points for all other positions, including stage points, remain the same.

The points leader after the regular season will receive a 25-point cushion over the second seed as the points will be reset for the 16 Chase drivers. A win in a playoff race no longer earns the automatic advancement into the next round – a move NASCAR says prevents teams from using the remainder of that particular round as preparation time for the finale.