Eight storylines to watch as Clash kicks off 2026 season at Bowman Gray

As the Cup Series heads to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Cook Out Clash, the 2026 NASCAR season is finally upon us. While the exhibition race won't pay any points, it will give us a chance to see all of the new faces in new cars (or new paint schemes) driving around a track in live action for the first time this year. RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule And this promises to be a transformative year, indeed, not least of all because 2026 will feature the return of a new and improved Chase format for determining the championship. That's one of the big things I'm excited to see begin its journey this weekend -- though far from the only storyline worth tracking this season. Here are some of the other items to look forward to in 2026: Denny Hamlin, driving with the whole sport behind him Few athletes (if any) have ever gone through as much as Denny Hamlin did over the past few months, between an unthinkable personal tragedy, a stressful lawsuit and a crushing disappointment the last time he was behind the wheel of the No. 11 car. It's a testament to his character, professionalism and determination that he'll be back at it once again, trying to win that elusive first career championship in his 22nd Cup season. We know drivers tend to stall out in their performance around age 45 -- which Hamlin will be this season -- but if he ends up being more galvanized to win than ever, it's hard to imagine even the most ardent Denny-hater not somewhat rooting for him this season. Connor Zilisch's full-time debut Zilisch, arguably the greatest prospect the sport has seen in the modern era, will be embarking on his official rookie season as a full-time Cup Series driver with Trackhouse Racing. And with only three previous Cup races to his record, every little bit of extra experience in these cars -- with new crew chief Randall Burnett in his ear -- matters. That might be especially true at Bowman Gray, since it will be Zilisch's first career short-track race at the Cup level -- though he had a respectable average finish of 11.6 in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series on short tracks last season. Will we get a first-time champ? (And will it be Byron or Bell?) As chaotic and arbitrary as the old playoff system sometimes felt, it had as much of a penchant for producing repeat champions as some of the older formats. Kyle Larson won his second title last season, which came on the heels of Joey Logano's third crown in 2024. There's no way to definitively say whether the new Chase format will favor repeat winners or give new faces a chance, but if we do get a new champ in 2026, Christopher Bell or William Byron might be next in line. The two drivers rank Nos. 1 and 3 in Adjusted Points+ index over the past three seasons, sandwiched around Larson -- despite zero championships. Bell would have finished second behind Larson in each of the past two seasons if The Chase were in effect, while Byron would have won the championship in 2023. New races in new places Every new season is shaped not just by who's driving, but where they're driving (and when), and 2026 offers a few important differences. For one, the final race of the season -- which will no longer single-handedly determine the championship in the new Chase format -- will be at Homestead-Miami Speedway after being held at Phoenix Raceway from 2020-25. Two tracks from a year ago -- Mexico City and the Chicago Street Course -- will be saying goodbye, with Dover also shifting to host the All-Star Race in mid-May. In their place, North Wilkesboro will make its triumphant return to the points schedule, as will Chicagoland Speedway. And NASCAR will introduce a new track in June at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. That means the 2026 schedule will be down one road course relative to 2025, which could matter for the question of ... Will Shane van Gisbergen continue dominating road courses? In 2025, we witnessed SVG produce not just the most dominant season in NASCAR history on road courses, but possibly the most dominant season by any driver on any single track type. Going back to 2005, nobody ever had a higher Driver Rating on any one track type (min. five races) in a season than SVG's 140.2 on road courses last year. (Hamlin on short tracks in 2009 -- 127.0 -- is No. 2.) Beyond that, SVG's 83.3% road winning percentage was the highest single-season mark on any track type since 1972. The big question for 2026 is whether we're in store for more of the same dominance, or if someone else, whether it be Zilisch or another driver, can bring van Gisbergen back toward the pack. Who sets the tone at The Clash? The Clash doesn't count in the standings and has long been a warmup race, with the twin purposes of getting ready for the long season and earning the teams and drivers a bit of extra money through prize bonuses. But as I found last year, performances at The Clash also tend to have a slight predictive effect on the season to come, particularly on short tracks. That doesn't always manifest itself perfectly -- last year's winner, Chase Elliott, had a much worse Driver Rating on short tracks in 2025 (83.9) than in 2024 (106.5) -- but it might be something to watch for Blaney, Byron, Larson and the rest of the top-rated short-track drivers from last season as they try to start 2026 off right. Bounce-backs and back-it-ups Last year produced its share of both disappointments and pleasant surprises, and the great thing about a new season is that we get to see who bounces back and who can keep their breakouts rolling. In the latter camp, all eyes will be on Chase Briscoe to see what he can do for an encore after last year's remarkable mid-season level-up, with some additional attention reserved in that same regard for Ryan Preece, Josh Berry and, to a lesser degree, Erik Jones, Zane Smith and John Hunter Nemechek. All had better years in 2025 than 2024. On the flip side, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch are all looking for a return to better form in 2026; for Reddick in particular, a better season could vault him back into the championship conversation. Is 2026 the calm before the 2027 storm? As much as this past offseason brought seismic off-track changes to the sport, it was relatively sedate from the perspective of Silly Season driver swaps. Amazingly, the only real game of musical drivers involved Zilisch moving full-time into Daniel Suárez's old ride at Trackhouse, leading Suárez to join Spire in place of Justin Haley, who moved to the Truck Series. But that could be the opposite of what we see next offseason, with a lot of drivers potentially on the move -- using the 2026 season as an extended free-agent audition for their next seats.