It’s Back to the Future for NASCAR’s Cup Series
By Dennis Krause
Facing growing criticism from both fans and competitors, NASCAR spent over a year evaluating how it crowns a champion in its premier series.
Out is the 10-race playoff system that decided the championship with a single race among four drivers that survived several rounds of eliminations, with the driver finishing the best of the four winning the title.
In is a 10-race Chase featuring the top 16 drivers based on points accumulated over the first 26races of the season. If that sounds familiar, it’s basically returning to a format used from 2004-13.
While there were those who advocated for a full 36-race championship, it’s been over twenty years since NASCAR determined a champion that way.
NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell believes The Chase is a good compromise between a full season championship and those who were in favor of some sort of playoff.
NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell at the NASCAR Championship Format Announcement at NASCAR Productions Facility on January 12, 2026 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
“We tried to strike a balance,” commented O’Donnell. “Not everyone’s going to love it. We don’t expect everyone to just go out and love it. We don’t expect this to be the magic wand we wave from a NASCAR standpoint and say everything’s now great. We’ve got a lot of work to do from our standpoint with the relationships in the garage, getting back to those, but getting back to who we are.”
NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin was one of the loudest voices calling for a return to a full season championship. As a member of the committee that took up the issue, he was pleased with what was finally decided.
“I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for,” Martin said. “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.”
Hendrick Motorsports driver and 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott fondly remembers the racing from the initial Chase era.
“I grew up a fan. A lot of those years of Jimmie (Johnson) dominating and the championship of Tony (Stewart) and Carl (Edwards) all during the Chase were incredible runs,” Elliott recalled. “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.”
Without the win-and-you’re-in incentive for The Chase, NASCAR still wants to make winning a race a priority by upping the points for a race win from 40 to 55. Ryan Blaney, the 2023 champion, feels that might clean up some of the over aggressive driving in the series.
“I feel like 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 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.”
Joey Logano celebrates with the Bill France NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 10, 2024 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Blaney’s teammate at Team Penske, Joey Logano won three titles in the playoff format, but is keeping an open mind to The Chase.
“Honestly, I’m OK with whatever they tell us because the rules are the same for everybody, just like they were before. Everyone started with the same set of rules. We all knew what we had to do to try to win a championship. Now, we have a different set of rules with all of us starting at zero again, and we have to change the way that we go win the championship. The strategy of how you race and prepare and all those things is different. There’s no doubt it’s very different. You just have to kind of go back to the drawing board and do something else. That’s fine. I don’t really care. Personally, I was one of the rare people that liked the old one just from a fan perspective. I enjoyed it, but if the majority doesn’t like that, then, sure, we’ll change it and we’ll go race another way and that’s OK with me, too. That’s kind of where I’m at with it.”
Even though he was 13th in points at the end of the regular season in 2025, Josh Berry punched his ticket to NASCAR’s playoffs with a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. For the driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, the 2026 season will be a new challenge.
“Ultimately, it’s the same for everybody – the system. We know that we’re gonna have to be a little bit better than we were last year. I don’t know exactly where we would have ended up with the new system versus last year, but we just need to be more consistent. Overall, I’m in support of what we’re doing. I think it’s a good change and we’ll see how it all sorts out. For us, the goals are still the same – just go out every week and run the best we can and the points will take care of themselves if we do that.”
With a new/old championship format back in place, O’Donnell is ready for the racing to take center stage.
“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 want to launch this, and we’re really excited about the 2026 season.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.