NASCAR
NASCAR returns to 10-race Chase format to decide national series champions
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
NASCAR is heading full-steam into the future with a return to the past.
In response to growing sentiment among fans and stakeholders in the sport, the sanctioning body has opted to revive the Chase format to crown champions in its top three national series.
In the Cup Series, NASCAR’s top division, 16 drivers will qualify for a 10-race Chase based on the number of points they score during the 26-race regular season, according to the format announcement on Monday at NASCAR’s Production Facility in Concord, N.C.
Gone is the “win-and-you’re in” provision that governed qualification in the elimination Playoff format in use from 2014 through 2025. Under the Chase format, the top 16 drivers in points will compete for the series title irrespective of the number of regular-season victories they accumulate.
To provide balance and to elevate the importance of wins in the Chase format, NASCAR will award 55 points for a victory versus 40 under the elimination system. Points for all other positions, including stage points, remain the same, though Playoff points, an important element of the elimination format, are now a thing of the past.
No longer is there Regular Season Champion, but finishing first in the standings will continue to have substantial value. The points leader after 26 races will start the 10-event Chase with 2100 points, 25 more than the second-place driver and 35 more than the third-place qualifier.
From third on down, the value of each position to start the Chase declines in five-point increments, with the 16th-place driver receiving 2000 points. Under the Chase format, there are no eliminations and no single championship race to decide the title. The driver who scores the most aggregate points in the final 10 races will be crowned champion.
In the newly christened NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 12 drivers will compete in a nine-race Chase; in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, 10 drivers will vie for the championship over seven races. Those numbers are commensurate with the respective proportions of the schedules of those two national divisions.
Landing on the Chase format followed lengthy discussions involving owners, drivers, manufacturers, tracks, broadcast partners and fans.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, a vocal advocate for a full 36-race championship format, was delighted with the compromise that revived the Chase.
“I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for,” Martin said at the announcement. “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.”
Like Martin, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell feels the return to the Chase provides a delicate balance between those who favor a full-season points race and those who prefer a postseason playoff.
“We believe we’ve struck that balance,” O’Donnell said. “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 we’re really excited about the 2026 season.”
Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, grew up watching drivers compete in the Chase, the system used from 2004 through 2013, and was enthralled by what he saw.
“A lot of those years of (seven-time champion) Jimmie (Johnson) dominating and the (2011) championship of Tony (Stewart) and Carl (Edwards) all during the Chase were incredible runs. I think we oftentimes forget how good we had it through all those years of Chase format.
“I think it’s 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.”
Kyle Larson, who won his second Cup title in November at Phoenix Raceway, favors the longer format, even when it was just theoretical—and even though next year’s final race is moving to Homestead-Miami Speedway, one of his favorite tracks.
“Even though Homestead’s arguably my best track and most dominant track, I still would feel like I have a better opportunity to win a championship going off—whatever it may be—a 10-race, three-race, four-race sort of point-earning thing,” Larson said two weeks before the Chase format was announced.
“With more races, it’s a little bit more in your hands… I think what we had kind of ran its course.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (February 3, 2026) – Four-time IndyCar Champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti is returning to the cockpit to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Franchitti will drive the No. 1 Dollar Tree Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in a partnership between TRICON Garage (TRICON), Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club. (LEGACY MC) for the Scotsman’s first NASCAR race in 17-years.
“The thought of racing a NASCAR truck on a street circuit is really intriguing to me,” said Franchitti, who is an advisor and driver coach at Chip Ganassi Racing. “The different surfaces, the fact that part of it is on an airport, then you go into the streets, the different bumps all those things you got to try and master. This was just the chance to race on a circuit that I love, and a chance to do something fun.”
Franchitti has remained deeply involved in motorsports as a broadcast analyst and as an advisor and driver coach at Chip Ganassi Racing, following a brutal crash at Houston in 2013. Franchitti began competing in historic car events in 2019 allowing him to still fulfill his love of driving. Teaming up with his friend and fellow racing Champion made it all that much more intriguing.
“This all stemmed from a conversation with Jimmie,” said Franchitti. “The opportunity to race the truck, it was really him, it was the whole team that he has there [at LEGACY MC] that made it all happen. His relationship with Toyota, Dollar Tree coming on a sponsor — it’s all been through Jimmie and the team at LEGACY MC. If it goes well, great. If it doesn’t go well, I am going to be blaming Jimmie.”
Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished drivers of his generation, Franchitti has a decorated résumé at the highest levels of open-wheel motorsports. The Scottish driver captured the IndyCar Series championship in 2007 followed by three consecutive championships from 2009 to 2011. His 31 career wins between IndyCar and CART, highlighted by Indianapolis 500 triumphs in 2007, 2010 and 2012, includes a victory at the 1.8-mile St. Petersburg street course on March 27, 2011, in a dominant performance leading 94 out of 100 laps.
“Dario and I had been talking for a long time about the chance to race together, so when he approached me about St. Petersburg, I knew I had to get to work,” explained Johnson. “I called him back a day later with an incredible opportunity to join a championship-winning team with Toyota and the great people at TRICON.”
It will be role reversal to a degree for the duo as Franchitti mentored Johnson when the 7-time NASCAR Champion went IndyCar racing with CGR in 2021 & 2022.
“It’s been a lot of fun getting him integrated into the team and spending more time together, going through the process of getting him back to racing,” said Johnson. “I’m so excited it all came together and thankful that Dollar Tree is going to support. I am looking forward to sitting on the pit box alongside the team and sharing this experience with Dario.”
The NCTS Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is scheduled for Saturday February 28 at 12 p.m. ET, with broadcast coverage on FOX and radio coverage on SiriusXM and the NASCAR Racing Network.
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
(February 1, 2026) – Unexpectedly heavy snow from Saturday’s storm over the Southeast forced a second postponement of the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The season-opening NASCAR Cup Series exhibition race will move from Monday to Wednesday, with practice and qualifying set to open the proceedings at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The 75-lap Last Chance Qualifying Race will take place at 4:30 p.m. ET, followed by the 200-lap Clash at 6 p.m. ET.
Practice and qualifying, consisting of three groups, will be broadcast on the Fox Sports App, with FOX picking up the coverage of the Last Chance Qualifier and Clash main event.
MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will broadcast all components of the racing action on Wednesday.
“This event is for the fans, and the fans at The Madhouse are some of the most passionate fans in all of sports,” said Justin Swilling, project lead for the Cook Out Clash.
“Moving the Cook Out Clash to Wednesday, Feb. 4, gives us the best opportunity to hold this event with fans at Bowman Gray Stadium while allowing the City of Winston-Salem to dedicate all of their resources to respond to the needs created by this historic weather event.”
NASCAR is continuing to work closely with the City of Winston-Salem and North Carolina Department of Transportation on the on-going impacts of the historic winter weather in the city and surrounding region to host a safe event.
Parking lots will open Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. with off-site shuttle services beginning at noon. Gates will open at 12:30 p.m.
Ticket holders can get more information at www.nascarclash.com/weather or by calling 855-525-7223.
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
NASCAR announced Tuesday that Steve Phelps will be leaving his position as Commissioner of the stock car sanctioning body after a two-decade long career in the sport’s executive leadership.
The decision was Phelps’ and NASCAR leaders offered the 63-year old Vermont-native praise for the legacy and accomplishments he leaves behind over a long career of guiding the sport – noting “a legacy of leadership and a strategic vision that delivered significant growth and lasting innovation, championed equity and social justice initiatives, and created industry-wide opportunities for all stakeholders.”
Phelps held the helm of the sport through a modern-era time of both great challenges – such as navigating the COVID pandemic – and noted triumphs, such as a broader international presence and multi-billion-dollar media rights agreements.
“As a lifelong race fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR’s first Commissioner and to lead our great sport through so many incredible challenges, opportunities and firsts over my 20 years,’’ Phelps said.
“Our sport is built on the passion of our fans, the dedication of our teams and partners and the commitment of our wonderful employees. It has been an honor to help synthesize the enthusiasm of long-standing NASCAR stakeholders and that of new entrants to our ecosystem, such as media partners, auto manufacturers, track operators and incredible racing talent.”
Among Phelps’ legacies as a leader is what many in the sport consider a “transformational” new schedule in NASCAR’s big leagues, from the holding the annual “Clash” preseason feature at California’s famed Los Angeles Coliseum to adding races again at some of NASCAR’s favored venerable facilities such as North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and Raleigh’s Bowman Gray Stadium to adding first-time street races in Chicago and this year in San Diego, as well as bringing NASCAR internationally to a well-received event in Mexico City last season.
Among the highlights under Phelps’ tenure, NASCAR completed its merger with International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019 and launched the Next Gen race car in 2022 – only the seventh new car in the sport’s history. He is also credited with leading the sport’s outreach to new fans and of course, securing a long-term media rights deal, and overseeing the sport’s innovative charter agreements.
“Steve will forever be remembered as one of NASCAR’s most impactful leaders,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said, calling it an “honor” to work alongside Phelps.
“For decades he has worked tirelessly to thrill fans, support team and execute a vision for the sport that has treated us all to some of the greatest moments in our nearly 80-year history,” France said.
Phelps thanked the France family, colleagues, friends and fans for playing an “important and motivational role in my career” said he plans to “embark on new pursuits in sports and other industries.”
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series championship Hendrick Motorsports organization released a statement thanking Phelps for his ‘leadership and dedication to NASCAR” noting he “helped our sport navigate opportunities, challenges and periods of significant change while positioning it for the future.”
No successor to Phelps has been named and in a statement announcing Phelps planned departure, NASCAR said, “there are no immediate plans to replace the Commissioner role or to seek outside leadership as the administration of his responsibilities will be delegated internally through NASCAR’s President and executive leadership team.”
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NASCAR returns to 10-race Chase format to decide national series champions
