NASCAR went back to its past in order to speed toward its future.
On Monday, Jan. 12, it announced its new playoff format, which is actually just a reversion to an old way of crowning a champion called “The Chase.”
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The method will resemble the format used from 2004 to 2013, determining the champ based on cumulative points over the final 10 weeks of the season. No more four-round playoffs with the winner-take-all championship race that had been in place since 2014.
“There were a couple things that were vitally important to everyone in the group,” NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said. “One was that winning still had to matter. We had to make sure that was a big component of what we were doing. We certainly wanted consistency to matter.
“It’s not lost on us that, throughout what we’ve seen with the current format, there were times when a driver could win and maybe take a couple races (easy) because he had that win in the bank. That’s not something we wanted. We wanted every race to matter, so both of those needed to be front and center. And then we also wanted our fans to know we’re listening and our industry to know we’re listening.”
AVONDALE, ARIZONA – NOVEMBER 02: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after finish first of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 drivers to win the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 02, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Here are the details:
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The Cup Series regular season will remain 26 races. Once the checkered flag drops on the finale in August at Daytona International Speedway, the top 16 drivers in points will qualify for The Chase.
Drivers will no longer clinch postseason berths with a regular-season win, but the points reward for victories has increased. Winners will receive 55 points, not including stage points, for a win. Previously, that total stood at 40.
The points leader will enter The Chase at 2,100 points, with a 25-point cushion between himself and the second-place driver. Second and third place will be separated by 10 points. After that, the positions will go down by five points apiece.
Playoff rounds and eliminations are also gone.
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“I think this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for,” said legendary driver Mark Martin, who had been an outspoken advocate for a format change in recent months. “It’s going to require our 2026 champion to be lightning fast and incredibly consistent. That’s what we can all get behind.”
The move comes after more than a year of consideration.
It will also affect the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. The O’Reilly Series playoffs will feature 12 drivers across a nine-race Chase. The Truck Series will see 10 drivers compete during a seven-race postseason.
“I think we oftentimes forget how good we had it through those years of The Chase format,” Hendrick Motorsports star Chase Elliott said. “I do think it is a really nice compromise.”
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When is the 2026 Daytona 500?
The new NASCAR season will commence with the 68th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. The green flag is scheduled for shortly after 2:30 p.m. The race will air on Fox.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR playoff format: ‘The Chase’ to crown series champion returns
