1/13/26
Yesterday, NASCAR announced a return to The Chase format in crowning a champion in its three highest series. From 2014 through last season, NASCAR developed a playoff format that was largely met with a negative reaction amongst the most ardent NASCAR fans. The Chase was used from 2004 to 2013, and The Chase 2.0 has some tweaks in the format from the old format.
In the revamped Chase format, there will still be 16 drivers in the Cup Series, 12 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and 10 drivers in the Truck Series, but the win-and-in part of the playoffs is gone. Race winners receive 55 points for a win, up from 40 points. Playoff points are gone, and at the start of The Chase, the regular season points winner earns an additional 25 points. They will start The Chase at 2,100 points, second at 2,075, third at 2,065, and a five-point gap from fourth to 16th place. The Chase is 10 races in the Cup Series, nine in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and seven in the Truck Series. There are no points reset after a certain number of races, like in the playoff format, and the driver with the most points at the end of The Chase is the champion.
Fans have been opining for a new format, and this change has been met with a positive response. NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell said that “everything was on the table” regarding shaking up the format for determining a champion. The straw that broke the camel’s back was last November’s Championship Race weekend. Corey Heim in the Truck Series won 12 races, but needed a green-white-checkered finish to pull off the win for the Championship after having a dominant season. Connor Zilisch took the NASCAR world by storm with his record-setting year in 2025, but finished second in the Championship Race to Jesse Love, and despite winning 10 races, including The Pacific Office Automation 147 in Portland, didn’t win the championship due to a late restart. The final nail in the coffin came in the Cup Series race. Denny Hamlin, who had suddenly turned into a crowd favorite after news of his father’s deteriorating health, was leading with three laps to go. William Byron’s tire blew, and Hamlin’s three-second lead evaporated as the caution came out, and Hamlin couldn’t get by Kyle Larson in the last two laps to lose the championship.
NASCAR’s history is treasured by its fans more than any other sport or sports league. Fans embrace tradition and don’t welcome unnecessary change. NASCAR is also unique in the sense that it’s a family-run sport, with the France family still owning NASCAR. NASCAR took a leap of faith in bringing the glory days of the sport from the 1980s through the 2000s back into the modern sports cycle, but ultimately it didn’t work. The sport is still trying to create stars that can crossover into the mainstream culture like Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and others were able to do.
Listening to the fans’ complaints and considering their thoughts has been something NASCAR does pretty well at. They’ve made changes to the car (i.e., adding horsepower), attempting to build tires with more tire wear from Goodyear, and now the overhaul of determining a champion. Perhaps other leagues should take a look at the value of not pissing off their most ardent fans at the risk of blindly and wildly adding new ones.
NASCAR won’t be racing in the Pacific Northwest in 2026, but hopefully one of the series will head back. The Cup Series won’t head to Portland International Raceway, as the facilities aren’t up to their standards, but maybe a street race awaits the PNW. Seattle was a city that was brought up in preliminary discussions about future street races. With Amazon streaming five NASCAR races per year in the new media rights deal, maybe they can get a “home race” in the future.
Until then, PNW NASCAR fans will sadly watch from afar. At least there is a more legitimate championship format.
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