The Chase for the Cup is back in NASCAR.
The sanctioning body announced Monday that it was returning to its original postseason roots and getting rid of the multi-round format it had used since 2014. In 2026, the top 16 drivers through the first 26 races of the season will compete in the 10-race postseason. The driver with the most points over the final 10 races of the season will win the championship.
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NASCAR first implemented the Chase in 2004. Before 2004, NASCAR’s Cup Series had been decided by whoever earned more points over the entirety of the season.
The format from 2014 through 2025 eliminated four drivers in each of the first three three-race rounds. The final four drivers would then race heads-up for the championship in the final race of the season.
In 2025, Kyle Larson used a two-tire pit stop during the last caution to get off pit road first among the championship contenders and win his second Cup Series title. Larson did not lead a single lap during the final race as Denny Hamlin dominated but found himself behind Larson thanks to a four-tire pit stop ahead of the two-lap sprint to the finish.
How the Chase will work
In the previous format, drivers who won a race during the regular season were guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Now, the top 16 drivers in the points standings after the first 26 races of the season will make the playoff field, regardless of how many wins each has and playoff points no longer exist.
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Drivers will receive a base level of 55 points for winning a race instead of 40 before stage points are added in and the driver who finishes first in the standings over the first 26 races of the season will start the playoffs with 25 more points than the driver who finished second.
The No. 1 seed will start the postseason with 2,100 points and the scale will slide down to 2,000 for the last driver in the playoff field.
If two drivers are tied at the end of the playoffs, their number of wins and, if necessary, second-place finishes, will serve as the primary tiebreakers.
The format will also be implemented in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly the Xfinity Series) and the Truck Series. The O’Reilly postseason will be nine races and include 12 drivers while the Truck Series playoffs will be seven races and 10 drivers.
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Homestead will host the finale again
The original site of the playoff finale will be the site of the 2026 final race. Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the finale in 2004 and will again be the last race of the season. The nine Cup Series playoff races before Homestead will be at Darlington, Gateway, Bristol, Kansas, Las Vegas, the Charlotte Roval, Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville.
Homestead is considered one of the best tracks in NASCAR thanks to its aged pavement and progressive banking. The track put on one of the most thrilling races in modern NASCAR history when Tony Stewart won his fifth race of the playoffs to tie Carl Edwards on points in 2011. Edwards, who finished second to Stewart in that race, lost the title to Stewart because he had fewer wins.
That race, ironically enough, seemed to heavily influence NASCAR’s move to a multi-round playoff format in 2014 as it attempted to create more season finales with the drama that unfolded in 2011.
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How the Chase has evolved over the years
When the Chase was first implemented in 2004, the top 10 drivers in the points standings after 26 races made the postseason. The driver who won the regular-season title got 5,050 points while the driver in 10th got 5,000 points.
In 2007, NASCAR expanded the postseason field to 12 drivers. Each driver in the playoffs started with 5,000 points, but that total could be boosted by 10 for every race win during the regular season.
In 2011, the top 10 drivers in the standings again automatically qualified for the Chase while the 11th and 12th spots went to the drivers with the most wins from those who were between 11th and 20th in the standings.
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NASCAR’s most controversial Chase moment came in 2013, thanks to a poorly executed attempt at race manipulation in the regular-season finale. Clint Bowyer purposely spun to protect his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.’s playoff spot. After NASCAR investigated, Truex was removed from the postseason field in favor of Ryan Newman. Additionally, David Gilliland pitted late in the race to help Joey Logano sneak into the playoffs ahead of Jeff Gordon.
The overarching result? Gordon was added to the playoff field as a 13th participant by then-NASCAR CEO Brian France.
A year later, NASCAR overhauled the Chase, expanded the field to 16 participants and implemented the multi-round format it used for over a decade.
NASCAR kept that format for three seasons, but changed it again in 2017 when it added stages to its races. As NASCAR broke each race into three stages, drivers could earn a point they could bank for the playoffs by winning a stage and five points for the playoffs by winning a race. In the first three years of the multi-round format, everyone started with the same number of points at the start of each round.
Additionally, the regular-season champion was rewarded with 15 playoff points and other drivers in the top 10 at the end of 26 races got bonus points to use in the postseason.
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