NASCAR announces massive changes to playoff format for 2026

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR has a new playoff format for 2026 and beyond.

Then again, “new” might be a misnomer.

The governing body of the largest motorsport in America announced the return of “The Chase” as its national series championship format beginning in 2026. “The Chase” was the postseason configuration NASCAR had in place from 2004-13 in the Cup Series — the first postseason of any kind in NASCAR history.

This change comes after some sustained criticism of the postseason model in its most recent form — one that detractors claim produced too many champions that didn’t have “championship years.”

NASCAR underwent an “extensive review” of its format during the 2025 season that sought input from owners, drivers, manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners and fans, according to a release. Those stakeholders told NASCAR they wanted to ensure three things: (1) that the championship round was longer than a single race; (2) that each race during the regular season and postseason mattered; and (3) that there wasn’t an imbalance of importance between winning races and being consistent week-in and week-out.

According to NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell — as well as many other stakeholders and legends in the sport who were present for the announcement Monday at the NASCAR Productions Facility in Concord — the new playoff format achieves those ends.

O’Donnell believes that this format, specifically, strikes a balance between deciding a champion via a full season on points — all 36 races with no playoff, like the sport used to have when it rose to prominence in the 80s and 90s — and the playoff that created these “Game 7 moments” the sport was after.

“We’ve got the best of both worlds where every race matters,” O’Donnell said on Monday. “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 wanting to launch this, and we’re really excited about the 2026 season.”

NASCAR legend Mark Martin, who was also at the announcement Monday, said, “I think this is the most perfect compromise you could ever ask for.”

How the NASCAR season will change

Here’s how NASCAR will determine champions in 2026 and beyond for each of its national series: Cup Series, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (previously Xfinity) and Truck Series.

— The postseason is “The Chase.” The driver with the most points after the postseason will be crowned champion. Simple as that. The postseason will be the final 10 races of the Cup Series, the final nine of the O’Reilly Series and the final seven of the Truck Series.

And how do you qualify for the postseason?

— The Top 16 NASCAR Cup Series drivers in points from the regular season will qualify for the postseason. It’s all points-based, as fans wanted. That number of drivers differs slightly in the O’Reilly Series (12 drivers) and the Truck Series (10).

— No more “win and you’re in." A race win during the regular season will no longer guarantee automatic entry into the postseason. That’ll eliminate the incentives for teams “specializing” in a certain kind of car package at the expense of the rest of the schedule; it’ll also prevent a scenario in which the 30th driver in points makes the postseason because of a fluke earlier in the year.

— Winning is still important, however. To ensure winning races are still paramount, a driver will now earn 55 points — much more than the previous 40-point sum — for taking a checkered flag. Points for all other positions, including stage points, remain the same.

— The points leader after the regular season has a 25-point cushion over the rest of the field, incentivizing those near the top of the points standings to finish out their regular seasons well.

Getting into the weeds with the NASCAR postseason format

Which 16 drivers are in the postseason and nd how those 16 drivers can win a championship are known — they just have to accrue more points than anyone else over their postseason races.

But how are the drivers seeded in the playoffs in a way that gives those who performed the best in the regular season a fair advantage?

How it works, per NASCAR: Once a driver makes the postseason, the drivers’ points are “reset” based on the seeding they obtained in the regular season. The regular-season points champion will have a 25-point lead over the second-place finisher; the second-place finisher will have a 10-point cushion over the third-place finisher; and the third-point finisher will have a 5-point advantage over the fourth-place finisher. From then on out, each seed will have a five point advantage over the one directly below them.

Here’s how The Chase seedings will be set for the NASCAR Cup Series, according to NASCAR: The O’Reilly Series and Truck Series seedings will be the same, except cut off at 12 and 10, respectively.

What key stakeholders are saying about NASCAR’s new playoff system

O’Donnell made this announcement seated alongside two legends of the sport and three current drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr., still the most influential figure in the sport, was among them. So was Martin. The three current drivers were Chase Elliott (the sport’s most popular driver), Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.

All were united in the message:

This is a huge moment of progress for the sport.

“It’s not going to be enough for some,” said Martin, who was the loudest advocate for the return to a 36-race season determine the champion. He was so assertive that he said Monday he was concerned he’d foiled his relationship with NASCAR and the industry.

But he couldn’t stay silent, he said. And as a result, he was a massive catalyst for this change.

“After the second meeting that we had, I was still convinced that we couldn’t even get to this,” Martin said. “I am so happy. Everyone wins with this format, everyone. The fans win. They were heard. They win. The drivers, the teams win. NASCAR wins. Everybody wins.

“You know, you can’t always have everything you want. I wanted it all, but I’m sure happy. This is great for our sport.”

Earnhardt agreed and added that such a feat isn’t easy. Contracts will need to be rewritten because of this change. Drivers had incentives for making it to the “Round of 12” or “Round of 8” portion of the playoffs. Racetracks loved being playoff “cutoff” races because of the natural increased interest.

He also made the point that most of the current drivers — whose buy-in for the new format was paramount — grew up with The Chase, and fell in love with the sport while that was the operating format.

“I recall 20 years ago how cool it was to be able to stand on that stage at Richmond after that final race of the regular season and be one of the guys that had worked all year, every lap, every race, put a good points record together one week and win the next and drag a torn-up race car across the line for 20th to get that stage every single week and grind and grind,” Earnhardt said.

“That’s kind of what I’m excited about for these guys to experience, is the pride and the work that they’ve got to put in every single lap and every single race to finally be one of those few people who actually gets to be a part of that at the end of the year. So that will be fun for our portion of the season.”

The three drivers also are excited about the change. Elliott told reporters that such a switch will help focus the sport on the craft of racing and building a race car than finding a way to win one race. Blaney and Briscoe agreed.

Briscoe admitted that the most recent format was always a bit strange to him. He didn’t love how Connor Zilisch, a driver who utterly dominated in the Xfinity Series last year with a series-leading 10 wins, didn’t take home the crown because of the final race’s result. He didn’t love that a caution with two laps to go robbed his teammate, Denny Hamlin, of a legacy moment. He also thought it was silly — though it would never happen — that a driver could win the first 35 races of the season, blow a motor on the final race and finish fourth in the championship standings.

O’Donnell and Martin had a similar dissonance.

It all led to Monday’s announcement.

“Steve won’t say it, but there are contracts, team contracts with sponsors,” Martin said. “It’s a lot more complicated than our fans really realize. It’s very complicated. We’re really lucky to have gotten what we’ve got here.

“This is a great compromise, in my eyes. And the jump from 10 to 36 is not nearly as unlikely as from Playoffs to 36. So you never know what happens in the future.”

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