NASCAR is heading full-steam into the future with a return to the past.

In response to growing sentiment among fans and stakeholders in the sport, the sanctioning body has opted to revive the Chase format to crown champions in its top three national series.

In the Cup Series, NASCAR’s top division, 16 drivers will qualify for a 10-race Chase based on the number of points they score during the 26-race regular season, according to the format announcement on Monday at NASCAR’s Production Facility in Concord, N.C.

Gone is the “win-and-you’re in” provision that governed qualification in the elimination Playoff format in use from 2014 through 2025. Under the Chase format, the top 16 drivers in points will compete for the series title irrespective of the number of regular-season victories they accumulate.

To provide balance and to elevate the importance of wins in the Chase format, NASCAR will award 55 points for a victory versus 40 under the elimination system. Points for all other positions, including stage points, remain the same, though Playoff points, an important element of the elimination format, are now a thing of the past.

No longer is there Regular Season Champion, but finishing first in the standings will continue to have substantial value. The points leader after 26 races will start the 10-event Chase with 2100 points, 25 more than the second-place driver and 35 more than the third-place qualifier.

From third on down, the value of each position to start the Chase declines in five-point increments, with the 16th-place driver receiving 2000 points. Under the Chase format, there are no eliminations and no single championship race to decide the title. The driver who scores the most aggregate points in the final 10 races will be crowned champion.

In the newly christened NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 12 drivers will compete in a nine-race Chase; in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, 10 drivers will vie for the championship over seven races. Those numbers are commensurate with the respective proportions of the schedules of those two national divisions.

Landing on the Chase format followed lengthy discussions involving owners, drivers, manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners and fans.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, a vocal advocate for a full 36-race championship format, was delighted with the compromise that revived the Chase.

“I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for,” Martin said at the announcement. “It’s going to require our 2026 champion to be lightning fast and incredibly consistent, and that’s what we can all get behind.

“So, I’m really excited. I think it’s fantastic. I would just appeal to the race fans, all the race fans, but especially the classic fans who say to me, ‘I don’t watch anymore.’ I say we need you. Come on back. We’re headed in the right direction. Come back and join with us, and we’ll keep making progress.”

Like Martin, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell feels the return to the Chase provides a delicate balance between those who favor a full-season points race and those who prefer a postseason playoff.

“We believe we’ve struck that balance,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve got the best of both worlds where every race matters. We’ve talked to a lot of folks in the industry. We’ve run a lot of different models and believe this is the best place to land really to get back to who we are.

“That’s the core of NASCAR… and we’re really excited about the 2026 season.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, grew up watching drivers compete in the Chase, the system used from 2004 through 2013, and was enthralled by what he saw.

“A lot of those years of (seven-time champion) Jimmie (Johnson) dominating and the (2011) championship of Tony (Stewart) and Carl (Edwards) all during the Chase were incredible runs. I think we oftentimes forget how good we had it through all those years of Chase format.

“I think it’s a really nice compromise. I think getting a full season was going to be a pretty big challenge, and I’m not sure there’s really a better place to land than a true 10-race Chase, really similar to what we had through those years of the epic battles that we saw.”

Kyle Larson, who won his second Cup title in November at Phoenix Raceway, favors the longer format, even when it was just theoretical—and even though next year’s final race is moving to Homestead-Miami Speedway, one of his favorite tracks.

“Even though Homestead’s arguably my best track and most dominant track, I still would feel like I have a better opportunity to win a championship going off—whatever it may be—a 10-race, three-race, four-race sort of point-earning thing,” Larson said two weeks before the Chase format was announced.

“With more races, it’s a little bit more in your hands… I think what we had kind of ran its course.”

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.

Starting in 2026, NASCAR will revert to a variation of the Chase for the Championship format it used to crown its champions from 2004-to-2013.

In other words, no more win and you’re in and no more multiple elimination rounds. Most importantly, the sample size to determine the champion is no longer a single race but a 10-race points race.

However, unlike NASCAR’s first version of a playoff, which included 10 and then 12 drivers, this version will feature the expanded 16 that the most recent version used over the past decade.  

But again, winning is no longer the point of entry as the top 16 drivers in points following the 26-race regular season will make the Chase for the Championship. However, winning races will have an increased impact on the new format as wins count for 55 points instead of 40.

Second place will still pay 35 points, third 34 points, so on and so forth.

Once the Chase for the Championship begins, the regular season champion will begin the final 10 races with a 25-point advantage over the second-place finisher down to 100 over the 16th seed.

1st: 2100
2nd: 2075
3rd: 2065
4th: 2060
5th: 2055
6th: 2050
7th: 2045
8th: 2040
9th: 2035
10th: 2030
11th: 2025
12th: 2020
13th: 2015
14th: 2010
15th: 2005
16th: 2000

The O’Reilly Series and Craftsman Truck Series will feature a Chase for the Championship too with 12 and 10 drivers respectively. The NOAPS Series will feature a nine-race Chase and the Trucks will feature a seven-race Chase. 

NASCAR will still feature stages, which also continue to pay stage points, which provide even more opportunities to score points to make the playoffs and race for the championship over the final 10 races. 

Quotes 

“I was really excited to hear the news that we were getting a little closer to a full 36-race format. This is as close in my opinion that you can get without going all the way.

“What I believe it does is it makes it simpler for our fans to follow. I’m a fan of the sport, and now I’m compelled to plug in every single week because I know there’s a long form objective for my driver to accomplish to be able to give himself the opportunity to win the championship.

“So even though my driver may have success early on in the season, it does not assure him success in the postseason. So with the way that they’re going to stack the bonus points and everything else, it’s critical that these drivers have success every single week. Every single race, every single lap will have more importance. I think it’s fun for the drivers to have a more clear objective for how to get to the championship and easier for our fans to follow.”

Watch: Mark Martin on 10-race Chase: ‘This is the most perfect compromise’

The fans were yelling at me we want full season points. So I yelled even louder and almost got thrown out, as Steve said.

“I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for. It’s going to require our 2026 champion to be lightning fast and incredibly consistent, and that’s what we can all get behind. So I’m really excited. I think it’s fantastic. I would just appeal to the race fans, all the race fans, but especially the classic fans who say to me, I don’t watch anymore. I say we need you. Come on back. We’re headed in the right direction. Come back and join with us, and we’ll keep making progress.

“One more thing. For the broadcasters, for the media, the journalists and everyone, this is a time for a change, a change in how we cover the sport, and that means, instead of every week talking about the cutoff line, the playoff, who’s in, who’s out, all these things, we need to focus even more on our heroes.

“These guys behind me that are winning these races are our Pearsons and our Yarboroughs and our Buddy Bakers of today, and we need our fans to connect with these guys. We need them to connect with the crew chiefs. We need to connect with the engineers as well. Give the fans something that they can connect to and help us bill these superstars like they deserve to be.”

Watch: Elliott on The Chase returning: ‘We’re making history’

“Not only to Mark and Dale and even guys like myself and Ryan, who I think have kind of screamed at some of these things over the course of time of just wanting it to be better. I think we all want it to be better because, to Dale’s point, we are fans of this sport. I grew up a fan. I watched that video. A lot of those years of Jimmie dominating and the championship of Tony and Carl all during the Chase were incredible runs. I think we oftentimes forget how good we had it through all those years of Chase format. I think it is a really nice compromise. I think getting a full season was going to be a pretty big challenge, and I’m not sure there’s really a better place to land than a true 10-race Chase, really similar to what we had through those years of the epic battles that we saw.

“I personally appreciate Steve and the folks at NASCAR for being able to come together with our TV partners and making everyone happy. That’s a really hard thing to do, and I think sometimes we all forget about that and just how many pieces make this puzzle.

“Really proud to be here. I can say that with complete honesty. This is something that I’m proud of as a competitor, something I’m looking forward to competing in and against these guys with, and I think, just from my perspective, challenge the race fans this year, let’s enjoy what we got. We’re so quick to complain about everything, everything that we have and everything that we do. Let’s enjoy what we have because we’re making history whether you like it or not.

“Celebrate the champion. Celebrate the guys who went out there and did a good job. I think this format promotes that. Let’s enjoy what we have. We’ve got a pretty cool thing at the end of the day. Let’s not forget about it, and enjoy what we got today.”

“I think probably all three of us sitting up here are at the age where we all grew up, the Chase was in place, and this is what we watched as kids. I loved seeing it, and I loved seeing close battles.

“I feel like it also is going to — I sit back, and I look at this new format, and sometimes we all get grief about over aggressiveness and things like that, and sometimes you get put in these situations where it’s a win and move on type scenario. I think it’s going to clean up a lot of the racing side of it and get back to the purity side of it to where it is a little bit more of not brash, a little bit more of the beautiful art form that I grew up loving.

“I am a huge fan of it, like Chase said and all these guys said. I appreciate NASCAR for listening. I appreciate all these guys, Mark and Dale, for being big voices for us. It’s just fun to be a part of it. I look forward to next year, and consistency is going to be a massive part of it.

“It’s not going to be — I don’t think you’re going to get guys who get out and say good points day. It’s still going to be winning is a huge product of it because of the increase in the winner’s points. Yeah, I’m excited. I hope everyone is as excited as we all are to be a part of it and for them to watch it on TV.”

We want your opinion!

– The Motorsport.com Team

NASCAR is turning back the clock in 2026, reintroducing “The Chase” as the championship format for its three national series. The move marks a return to the postseason structure that defined the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2013, following an extensive review process involving team owners, drivers, manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners, and fans.

The revamped system emphasizes consistency and performance across the entire season while maintaining the drama of a playoff-style finish. Under the new format, the driver with the most points after the postseason will be crowned champion in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Chase will span the final 10 races for the Cup Series, nine for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and seven for the Truck Series.

Several key changes accompany the return of The Chase:

• No More “Win and You’re In”: A race victory will no longer guarantee a playoff berth. Drivers must perform consistently throughout the regular season to qualify.
• Bigger Points for Wins: Winning a race will now earn 55 points, up from 40, reinforcing the value of aggressive racing and strong team execution.
• Points-Based Qualification: The top 16 drivers in regular-season points will make The Chase in the Cup Series, with 12 and 10 drivers qualifying in the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series, respectively.
• Regular-Season Champion Advantage: The points leader entering The Chase will start with a 25-point cushion over second place.
• Seeded Points Structure: Drivers will begin The Chase with tiered points, starting at 2,100 for the top seed and descending to 2,000 for the 16th seed.

The changes aim to create a larger sample size for determining champions, increase the significance of every race, and reward season-long excellence while keeping winning central to the sport’s identity.

Chase Seeding Points:

1st: 2100

2nd: 2075

3rd: 2065

4th: 2060

5th: 2055

6th: 2050

7th: 2045

8th: 2040

9th: 2035

10th: 2030

11th: 2025

12th: 2020

13th: 2015

14th: 2010

15th: 2005

16th: 2000

With The Chase returning, NASCAR hopes to blend tradition with modern competition, delivering a format that honors its history and keeps fans engaged through every lap of the season.

Chris Knight

Chris Knight has served as a senior staff writer and news editor for CATCHFENCE.com since 2001.

In his 20-plus years with CATCHFENCE.com, he has covered NASCAR’s top three national series, often breaking news and providing exclusive at-track content, including in-depth race weekend coverage.

He also offers insider coverage of the entire Motorsports platform, including the ARCA Menards Series.

In 2022, Knight became co-owner of CATCHFENCE.com.

In addition to his active duties at CATCHFENCE.com and other Motorsports-related endeavors, he is also a frequent contributor to SiriusXM Satellite Radio NASCAR Channel 90.

You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @Knighter01 or on Instagram, Snapchat, or Threads at @TheKnighter01.

He can be reached by email at [email protected].