NASCAR’s New Chase Format Is Creating Wild Championship Swings
No eliminations, 55-point wins and a one-time points reset. At Bristol, eight of the ten Truck Series title contenders hit trouble and a 25-point lead shrank to three. In the Cup Chase, the top two are split by a single point. How the new format works, and why it’s so unpredictable.
NASCAR’s New Chase: Wild Championship Swings
No eliminations, 55-point wins, and a lead cut from 25 to 3 in one race.
For 2026, NASCAR scrapped the elimination playoffs it had used since 2014 and brought back The Chase: a championship run where nobody gets knocked out and the driver with the most points after the finale wins the title. On paper it rewards consistency. In practice, three weeks in, it’s producing some of the wildest points swings in years.
The clearest example came at Bristol in the Truck Series Chase opener. Eight of the ten championship-eligible drivers had some kind of problem, not one of them finished in the top five, and top seed Layne Riggs saw his 25-point cushion cut to just three points over Kaden Honeycutt. In the Cup Series, Kyle Larson leads Denny Hamlin by a single point after three Chase races. Below we explain how the new format works in all three national series, why it creates such big swings, and how it compares with the old system. For the full points table, see our NASCAR standings page.
How NASCAR’s 2026 Chase Works
The Chase runs the same basic way in all three national series, with different numbers of drivers and races:
| Series | Drivers in the Chase | Chase races |
|---|---|---|
| Cup Series | 16 | 10 (after a 26-race regular season) |
| O’Reilly Auto Parts Series | 12 | 9 |
| Craftsman Truck Series | 10 | 7 |
The key rules are:
1. Qualification by points only. Drivers qualify for the Chase purely on regular-season points. There’s no “win and you’re in” rule any more.
2. One points reset. After the regular season, points are reset once on a descending scale. In the Cup Series, the top seed starts on 2,100 points, the second seed on 2,075, down to 2,000 for the 16th seed. That gives the regular-season champion a 25-point cushion, a real reward for the first 26 races.
3. Wins are worth more. A race win now pays 55 points, up from 40. NASCAR wants drivers to go for wins rather than settle for safe finishes.
4. No eliminations. Every Chase driver stays eligible to the end. As NASCAR puts it, “whichever driver in The Chase has the most points following the season finale is the champion.” There’s no winner-take-all final among four drivers.
The 10-race Cup Chase ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway on 8 November 2026. Remaining races: Kansas (27 Sept), Las Vegas (4 Oct), Charlotte (11 Oct), Phoenix (18 Oct), Talladega (25 Oct), Martinsville (1 Nov) and Homestead (8 Nov).
Bristol: The Race That Showed How Wild the Chase Can Be
The Truck Series Chase opened at Bristol on 17 September, and very little went to plan for the title contenders. Jake Garcia won his first Truck Series race in his 94th start, leading 104 laps for ThorSport Racing, but the bigger story was behind him. It was the first time in series history that no postseason driver finished inside the top five.
| Chase driver | What went wrong | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| Layne Riggs (1st seed) | Won both stages, then a loose right-rear wheel cost two laps; later contact meant another stop | 32nd |
| Kaden Honeycutt (2nd seed) | Unscheduled stop for a loose wheel / vibration late in the race | 8th |
| Chandler Smith (3rd seed) | Speeding penalty at the Stage 2 break, then a flat tyre in the final run | 24th |
| Christian Eckes (4th seed) | Early contact and front-end damage | 30th |
| Grant Enfinger | Damage from the incident with Eckes, but salvaged a top ten | Top 10 |
| Gio Ruggiero | Spun in fluid on lap 170; best Chase finisher | 6th |
| Ty Majeski | Spun in fluid on lap 170 | — |
| Ben Rhodes | Pit-road penalty on lap 135 | — |
The biggest swing was at the top. Riggs started the Chase with the 25-point cushion that comes with being the top seed, and had the truck to protect it: he won both stages. Then the loose wheel on lap 156 cost him two laps, and late contact finished off his night in 32nd, 16 laps down. His lead dropped from 25 points to 3 over Honeycutt, the closest the top two have been since the spring Bristol race.
“I feel like we had the truck to beat again,” Riggs said afterwards. He also summed up the new format: “25 points is nothing, even though it sounds like…”
| Pos | Truck Chase standings after Bristol | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Layne Riggs LEADER | — |
| 2 | Kaden Honeycutt | −3 |
| 3 | Chandler Smith | −30 |
| 8 | Christian Eckes | −58 |
In the old elimination format, a night like that could have put Riggs in real danger of being knocked out after three races. In the Chase, it’s just points lost. He’s still leading, with six races to recover. That’s the new format in a nutshell: bad nights hurt, but they don’t end your season.
The Cup Chase: One Point at the Top
The Cup Series Chase is also tight. Kyle Larson won at Gateway, and Joey Logano took the Bristol Night Race by driving underneath a battle for the lead between Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar late on. Logano scored 73 points that night. Larson took over the Chase lead from Denny Hamlin, by one point.
| Pos | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Larson LEADER | 2206 | — |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 2205 | −1 |
| 3 | Joey Logano | 2190 | −16 |
| 4 | Christopher Bell | 2189 | −17 |
| 5 | Ty Gibbs | 2164 | −42 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 2154 | −52 |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | 2145 | −61 |
| 8 | Carson Hocevar | 2121 | −85 |
| 9 | Chase Briscoe | 2119 | −87 |
| 10 | Bubba Wallace | 2114 | −92 |
| 11 | Austin Cindric | 2090 | −116 |
| 12 | Chase Elliott | 2089 | −117 |
| 13 | William Byron | 2085 | −121 |
| 14 | Ryan Preece | 2082 | −124 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher | 2082 | −124 |
| 16 | Daniel Suárez | 2072 | −134 |
Four drivers are within 17 points, which is less than the difference between a win and a second-place finish. With 55 points for a win and seven races left, even drivers more than 100 points back can still get back into it with a couple of wins. The next test is the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas on Sunday 27 September. Our how to watch NASCAR guide has TV details.
Why the New Chase Creates Such Big Swings
1. Every race counts in full. In the elimination format, points were reset at the start of every three-race round, so a bad night only mattered until the next reset. In the Chase, a bad night stays on your record all the way to the finale. That’s why Riggs’ 32nd at Bristol was such a big story: those lost points don’t come back.
2. Wins are worth much more. At 55 points, a win is worth considerably more than a typical top-five finish. One win can wipe out a bad race, and two wins can move a driver from the bottom of the Chase to the top. That keeps drivers attacking rather than cruising.
3. Stage points add up. Points for the top ten at the end of each stage mean a driver who runs up front all night collects points even if the finish goes wrong. Riggs won both stages at Bristol, and those points are part of why he’s still leading despite finishing 32nd. Logano’s 73-point Bristol night shows how much a dominant race is worth.
4. The cushion is small. A 25-point head start sounds big, but it’s less than half a race win. As Riggs said, “25 points is nothing.” One bad night can wipe out a whole regular season’s advantage.
“25 points is nothing, even though it sounds like…”
For the basics of how points are awarded, see our explainer on how racing championships are scored, and for the strategy behind finishing positions, our guide to fuel strategy in NASCAR.
Old Playoffs vs New Chase
| Feature | Elimination playoffs (2014–2025) | The Chase (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| How you qualify | Wins, then points (“win and in”) | Regular-season points only |
| Eliminations | Drivers knocked out after each round | None |
| Points reset | At the start of each round | Once, before the Chase |
| Win value | 40 points | 55 points |
| Finale | Winner-take-all among four drivers | Most points after the finale wins |
The trade-off is clear. The old format produced a guaranteed winner-take-all showdown at the finale, but a single bad race or a wreck caused by someone else could end a strong season. The new Chase gives a bigger sample: every race counts, and the champion is the driver who’s best over the whole run. The risk is that someone builds an unbeatable lead before the finale, but three races in, that looks unlikely.
NASCAR Chase 2026 — FAQ
Consistency, but not calm
NASCAR brought back the Chase to reward the best driver over a long run, without eliminations. Three weeks in, it’s anything but predictable: a Truck Series leader’s cushion wiped out in one night, and a Cup Chase led by a single point. With 55-point wins and every race counting, the swings are only going to continue.
Follow World of Speed for results and updated Chase standings after every race, all the way to Homestead.
