Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series teams that tackle the Cook Out Southern 500 this weekend will have the same Goodyear tire set-up from their last visit to Darlington Raceway, just with more of them.

The allotment grows to 15 total sets for Sunday’s opener to The Chase presented by Mobil 1 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the rugged 1.366-mile South Carolina track, which is known for its treacherous layout and abrasive racing surface. Teams will have an additional set of tires for the extended practice, plus two more sets to accommodate the 100 miles of extra distance compared to the track’s Goodyear 400 in March.

RELATED: Darlington weekend schedule | Entry lists

“Darlington’s rough surface and egg-shaped layout make it a demanding track on tires,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear’s Director of Racing for the Americas. “To account for the longer race distance, teams will have two additional sets of tires compared to the spring race, as well as the extra set for the new practice format. As we enter The Chase, giving teams a trusted tire package is even more important as they put everything on the line.”

The Cup Series tire configuration has been in action multiple times since the springtime trip to Darlington, most recently in July for the circuit’s return to Chicagoland Speedway.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series also opens The Chase at Darlington with Saturday’s Fleetio 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That series’ teams will have a right-side tire that’s making its Darlington Raceway debut, but was previously used at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. The left-side tire is a familiar one, with its most recent usage at Iowa Speedway last month.

Tire allotment for each team competing this weekend:

Cup Series: 15 total sets — 12 new for the race, 2 for practice, 1 for qualifying, which transfers to the race.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: 7 total sets — 4 new for the race, 2 for practice, 1 for qualifying, which transfers to the race.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the 16 NASCAR Cup Series drivers in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 after Ryan Preece’s win at Daytona International Speedway and before Sunday’s 2026 Chase opener at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Cup Series Chase schedule | Cup Series standings

Seed: No. 1

Postseason appearance: 20th

Regular-season stats: 4 wins, 14 top fives, 17 top 10s, 4 poles, 880 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Darlington, Bristol, Martinsville, Kansas, Homestead

Analysis: The Chase resets the field, but it does not erase the fact that Hamlin and the No. 11 team spent the regular season looking more complete than anybody else. He starts with the maximum 2,100 points and a 25-point head start on Blaney, while ranking first in season-long speed, third in defense and fifth on pit road. Daytona was largely immaterial for Chase purposes — P11 after already clinching the top seed at Loudon — and now the schedule immediately tilts toward one of his strongest venues, with five career Cup wins at Darlington. There is no shortage of interesting championship storylines among the field, but Hamlin’s is the biggest: the long-elusive title, the top seed and a Chase schedule loaded with several of his best tracks. If there was ever a “now or never” feel to one of his championship runs — and there certainly have been — this might be the biggest one yet.

Seed: No. 2

Postseason appearance: 10th

Regular-season stats: 3 wins, 6 top fives, 17 top 10s, 4 poles, 828 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Bristol, Talladega, Martinsville, Phoenix

Analysis: Blaney enters The Chase with the second seed, the second-best season-long speed rating and probably the strongest combination of current form and organizational momentum outside Hamlin. Daytona ended in a wreck and 33rd-place run, but only after the No. 12 won Stage 2; the reset still leaves Blaney second, 10 points clear of Reddick. Darlington has historically been more nuisance than playground for Blaney, but third there this spring is a compelling recent data point on top of his strong summer. The glaring weakness remains the No. 12 pit crew, ranked 32nd for the season. If Penske cleans that up, Blaney has very few championship-profile holes to poke.

Seed: No. 3

Postseason appearance: 6th

Regular-season stats: 5 wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s, 5 poles, 449 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Darlington, Kansas, Homestead, Talladega, Las Vegas

Analysis: If Reddick needed a reset in every sense of the word, he got one. The five-win juggernaut No. 45 team from spring spent much of the summer fighting itself, but finishes of 11th, eighth and third in the final three regular-season races suggest the freefall may finally be leveling out and perhaps Reddick can sleep soundly for now. Daytona in particular looked much more like the old No. 45, which led late and was still attacking for the win on the final lap. Better still, The Chase opens where Reddick delivered perhaps his most impressive performance all year, winning at Darlington in March. He starts just 35 points behind Hamlin and still ranks third in both speed and passing — the early-season monster may have picked an awfully convenient time to wake back up.

Seed: No. 5

Postseason appearance: 4th

Regular-season stats: 1 win, 10 top fives, 13 top 10s, 359 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Darlington, Phoenix, Bristol, Las Vegas

Analysis: There might not be a driver in the field happier to see the Southern 500 sitting at the front door of The Chase. Briscoe enters just 45 points behind his JGR teammate Hamlin after a summer in which the No. 19 evolved from fringe contender when it started into one of the most consistently dangerous cars in the garage at the turn of autumn. His season profile backs up the eye test: first in defense, first on restarts and fourth in pit-crew performance. Then there is Darlington itself. Briscoe has won the last two Southern 500s, doing it with two different organizations. Forget dark horse. That label no longer fits, especially where Briscoe was title-eligible down to the wire last year, too.

Seed: No. 6

Postseason appearance: 6th

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 11 top fives, 13 top 10s, 1 pole, 559 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Bristol, Kansas, Phoenix, Martinsville, Homestead

Analysis: Bell enters The Chase in one of the strangest positions imaginable: fifth in these rankings, sixth in the reset and still winless despite spending chunks of the year looking as fast as anybody. Seven runner-up finishes will do that to a season, yet the championship case remains obvious — Bell ranks fourth in speed, fifth on restarts and carries the seventh-ranked pit crew into the postseason. Darlington is less straightforward after a 19th there this spring, though Bell has plenty of strength scattered throughout the remaining nine tracks. The guy spent months knocking on the door to get here, but The Chase is where “almost” stops carrying much, if any, value.

Seed: No. 4

Postseason appearance: 2nd

Regular-season stats: 2 wins, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s, 1 pole, 280 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Bristol, Darlington, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Kansas

Analysis: Gibbs took a nasty Daytona hit at exactly the wrong moment, collecting damage in Hocevar’s Lap 155 crash and even more in the final-lap melee to finish 34th, but the reset does him a considerable favor. He starts fourth in the standings, only 40 points behind Hamlin and five behind Reddick, after a regular season that produced two wins and one of the most balanced underlying statistical profiles in the field. Darlington is quietly encouraging, too: Gibbs finished sixth there in March, and Bristol already delivered his breakthrough Cup victory this season, so he could get off to a quick start. There is still somewhat of an “upstart” quality to the championship conversation around him, but the statistics stopped indicating him as one a while ago.

Seed: No. 9

Postseason appearance: 13th

Regular-season stats: 2 wins, 5 top fives, 9 top 10s, 1 pole, 536 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Talladega, Bristol, Martinsville

Analysis: Here we go again. Logano spent much of the regular season looking like an afterthought, then won twice in a four-race stretch and suddenly arrives at The Chase with the same annoying-for-everyone-else profile that has preceded three championships. The reset leaves him 65 points behind Hamlin, a real hole but hardly insurmountable over 10 races. His season-long metrics remain surprisingly pedestrian — 12th in speed, 16th in passing, 14th in defense — which is why this ranking stops at seventh rather than following the championship hardware all the way toward the top. Nobody should be shocked if he disappears for a week. Nobody should be shocked if he is still standing at Homestead, either.

Seed: No. 7

Postseason appearance: 10th

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 9 top fives, 13 top 10s, 659 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Las Vegas, Kansas, Darlington, Bristol, Homestead

Analysis: The reset might be exactly what Larson needs because judging the No. 5 strictly by regular-season results became a maddening exercise months ago. The speed never disappeared — Larson still ranks fifth there, while being second in defense and second on restarts, paired with the No. 1 pit crew in the series — but too many Sundays ended nowhere near where the car showed it belonged. Darlington captures the contradiction perfectly: Larson owns a Southern 500 win there, yet his recent results have been wildly uneven. He starts 55 points behind Hamlin as part of a Hendrick group that, remarkably, doesn’t feel like the championship favorite it usually does. That said, Larson is still the Hendrick driver most capable of changing that perception in a hurry, and perhaps as soon as Sunday.

Seed: No. 8

Postseason appearance: 10th

Regular-season stats: 2 wins, 6 top fives, 9 top 10s, 317 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Talladega, Martinsville, Phoenix, Kansas

Analysis: Elliott enters The Chase in a much healthier place than he appeared headed a month ago, but he remains one of the harder champions to peg. The two wins remain banked, and Hendrick showed signs of life again late in the regular season, yet Elliott’s underlying numbers — 11th in speed, 11th in defense and 14th on restarts — are not exactly the profile of a driver poised to steamroll 10 races. He starts 60 points behind Hamlin, and Darlington was similarly middling in March. Hendrick going an entire Chase without seriously threatening for the title would qualify as a major development, as unlikely as it seemed in February, but Elliott has 10 races to make sure that conversation never gets there.

Seed: No. 15

Postseason appearance: 4th

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 2 top fives, 6 top 10s, 51 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Gateway, Talladega, Darlington

Analysis: This is where the board starts getting interesting. Cindric is only the 15th seed, a whopping 95 points behind Hamlin, but he enters The Chase on easily the strongest footing of the lower-seeded group. Third at Richmond Raceway, 12th at Loudon and sixth at Daytona, while Penske is picking up steam, make for a sturdy closing stretch, and the No. 2 also ranks fifth in defense for the season. More important for Sunday: Cindric finished fifth at Darlington in March, his best Cup result there, while World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is already a Cup victory site. He has a mountain to climb in points, but there are considerably shakier profiles starting ahead of him. A sleeper fits.

Seed: No. 14

Postseason appearance: 3rd

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 4 top fives, 11 top 10s, 214 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Kansas, Talladega, Las Vegas, Homestead

Analysis: Wallace made it through a full regular season without needing a last-gasp miracle, but now comes the harder assignment: proving he can stay relevant for 10 straight weeks. He starts 14th, 90 points behind Hamlin, though his broader performance profile is much stronger than that seed suggests — seventh in passing, ninth in speed and eighth in restarts, defense and pit crew. Darlington was a disaster this spring, but there are friendlier venues ahead, particularly Kansas Speedway and Talladega, where Wallace has already won in Cup. The No. 23 has enough speed to make noise in this Chase. The larger question is whether it can stop turning good cars into avoidable, self-induced problems.

Seed: No. 11

Postseason appearance: 3rd

Regular-season stats: 1 win, 3 top fives, 7 top 10s, 40 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Darlington, Las Vegas, Kansas, Gateway, Charlotte

Analysis: Suárez could hardly have drawn up a better bridge into The Chase after a quiet summer than his Daytona runner-up. Starting 23rd, he avoided the late carnage and finished second for the second consecutive year in the summer Daytona race; a nice jolt for a team whose underlying season metrics remain much less flattering than its standings position. He starts 75 points behind Hamlin and ranks only 18th in speed, 20th in passing and 21st in defense. Darlington offers a reason to believe the result column can keep outrunning the spreadsheets after Suárez finished seventh there in March. This may not look like a championship profile on paper, but The Chase has 10 races to make paper irrelevant, and being the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner is notable given Charlotte is returning to its oval format for the fall race.

Seed: No. 10

Postseason appearance: 3rd

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 2 top fives, 10 top 10s, 81 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Bristol, Darlington, Kansas

Analysis: Buescher enters The Chase with one of the better Darlington profiles in the lower half of the field — but one of the murkier overall championship cases. Daytona was a wash after Larson’s push sent the No. 17 spinning from the lead at the Stage 1 finish, eventually leaving Buescher 40th. The reset places him 70 points behind Hamlin, while the broader season says “solid” much more loudly than “champion” — 10th in speed, 19th in passing, but backed by the third-ranked pit crew. Darlington is where the argument gets better, as Buescher finished ninth there this spring, and Bristol remains the site of one of his signature Cup victories. If he is going to announce himself as more than Chase afterthought, Sunday is an excellent place to do it, and RFK Racing is already riding a high.

Seed: No. 13

Postseason appearance: 8th

Regular-season stats: 0 wins, 4 top fives, 11 top 10s, 176 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Martinsville, Las Vegas, Darlington, Phoenix, Homestead

Analysis: Byron has spent three straight years reaching the Championship 4, yet begins this revamped Chase as one of its strangest wild cards. He starts 13th and 85 points behind Hamlin after a winless, uneven regular season, but still owns the second-ranked pit crew and eighth-best speed profile. Darlington should be an obvious get-right venue: Byron won there in 2023 and finished eighth this March, with several more historically strong tracks waiting for him later in The Chase to help prod him along. Still, the broader Hendrick question hangs over him as much as anyone. Three straight championship-round appearances built a reputation that this year’s results have not yet matched, but indicate what he’s capable of.

Seed: No. 12

Postseason appearance: 1st

Regular-season stats: 1 win, 5 top fives, 9 top 10s, 2 poles, 157 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Talladega, Darlington, Bristol, Gateway

Analysis: Hocevar’s regular season contained enough brilliance to make The Chase comfortably — and enough late carnage to make you wonder what might be left of the momentum. Daytona followed a P31 at Iowa Speedway and 37th-place showing at Richmond with another ugly box score — 38th after losing control while battling Preece for second and collecting Jones before the race went to overtime. That leaves him 80 points behind Hamlin after the reset, paired with the 27th-ranked pit crew and only the 14th-best season-long speed. And yet Darlington offers a very real counterpoint: Hocevar finished fourth there in March after starting 16th. The talent is not the question; it’s whether the unevenness can stop wobbling long enough for Hocevar to weaponize it in this 10-race run.

Seed: No. 16

Postseason appearance: 1st

Regular-season stats: 1 win, 1 top five, 7 top 10s, 55 laps led

Best Chase tracks: Bristol, Martinsville, Kansas, Darlington

Analysis: Nobody arrives at Darlington feeling better about how Saturday night ended, and nobody arrives with a steeper championship hill. Preece entered Daytona 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final Chase spot, meaning even a runner-up finish would not have gotten the job done. He had to win — and, after getting collected in the Stage 1-ending crash and surviving a chaotic final lap, did exactly that for his first career Cup victory. The reward is the No. 16 seed and a reset, exactly 100 points behind Hamlin. While Darlington produced a respectable 13th-place finish in March, his season-long speed ranks only 15th, so there is no pretending this suddenly looks like an obvious title run. But Preece already faced one must-win scenario this year and answered it about as emphatically as possible. At this point, it’s anybody’s ballgame.

Posted on by Staff Report

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase kicks off Sunday in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The race will be the 27th points-paying event of the 2026 Cup Series season. Chase Briscoe is the defending winner of the crown-jewel race at the 1.366-mile South Carolina track.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

For the next 10 weeks, 16 drivers will battle for the Cup Series championship, with Denny Hamlin entering the “Lady in Black” as the top seed in The Chase.

Two non-chartered entries are set to compete with Garage 66 driver Chad Finchum in the No. 66 Ford and 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim in the No. 67 Toyota.

Thirty-eight cars are entered into this weekend’s postseason opener.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on NBC, USA Network

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase gets underway this weekend at Darlington Raceway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Saturday’s Fleetio 200 will be the 25th points-paying race of the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Twelve drivers will battle the next nine races, in hopes of becoming the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion. JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier begins The Chase as the top seed and won the Darlington spring race earlier this year.

Jake Finch is set to make his second start of the 2026 season in JRM’s No. 9 Chevrolet.

Thirty-eight cars are entered into this weekend’s Chase opener.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on the CW

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

The battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship heads to Central New York this Saturday night as Oswego Speedway welcomes NASCAR’s oldest division for the running of the Toyota Mod Classic 150 (8 p.m. ET on FloRacing).

With just three races left in the 2026 season, the championship lead belongs to Patrick Emerling after a top-five finish last Friday at Stafford Speedway. Defending series champion Austin Beers sits second, 10 points behind Emerling ahead of Saturday’s 150-lap test of skill at the track known as “The Steel Palace.”

The historic 0.625-mile oval has hosted the Modified Tour 18 times dating back to 1988. The first two Modified Tour events held at Oswego were won by New York native Brian Ross. Other notable Oswego winners include Mike McLaughlin, Tony Hirschman, Mike Stefanik, Doug Coby, Ryan Preece, Matt Hirschman, Justin Bonsignore, Ron Silk and Emerling, among others.

Tickets to Saturday’s Toyota Mod Classic 150 are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the 14th race of the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Oswego Speedway
Oswego Speedway will welcome the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the 19th time this Saturday night. (Photo: Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)

Toyota Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway

With only three races remaining in the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, the championship chase remains incredibly tight.

Patrick Emerling has reassumed sole possession of first in the series standings after entering last Friday’s GAF 150 at Stafford Speedway tied at the top of the standings with Austin Beers. However, a fifth-place finish by Emerling has allowed him to regain command of the championship chase entering Saturday’s Toyota Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway.

Emerling enters Saturday’s Oswego event with statistical advantage on Beers at the 0.625-mile asphalt oval. Emerling is a previous Oswego Speedway winner, having conquered The Steel Palace during the 2024 season when he led a race-high 81 laps. Beers, who is now 10 points behind Emerling in the title hunt, has finished in the top five at Oswego in each of the last three seasons.

Both drivers should be among the contenders Saturday night, but they’ll be far from the only drivers to watch.

Another will be Teddy Hodgdon, who stunned Modified Tour teams and fans by winning the Tour’s return to Stafford Speedway one weekend ago. The driver he beat last Friday night, Matt Hirschman, is a previous Oswego victor and should be another driver to watch this weekend.

Jon McKennedy and Stephen Kopcik are still in the hunt for the Modified Tour championship, but both need a win at Oswego to keep pace with Emerling and Beers. Tyler Rypkema, aboard the Ole Blue No. 3, will make his 100th Modified Tour start during Saturday’s Oswego Speedway event.

Additional entries for Saturday’s event include Mike Christopher Jr., Tommy Catalano, Eric Goodale, Andrew Molleur and Trevor Catalano, among others.

The full entry list for Saturday’s Toyota Mod Classic 150 is available here.

Oswego Speedway’s 0.625-mile asphalt oval is among the most challenging race tracks NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams will face this year. (Photo: Susan Wong/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race Toyota Mod Classic 150
Date Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026
Track Oswego Speedway
Layout 0.625-mile asphalt oval
Location Oswego, New York
Start time 8 p.m. ET
Laps 150
Posted Awards $109,132
Tickets Here
How to Watch FloRacing

SCHEDULE: Saturday, Sept. 5: Practice from 3:05 to 3:45 p.m. ET … Final practice from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. ET … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 5:40 p.m. ET … Start of the Toyota Mod Classic 150 (150 Laps / 93.75 Miles) at 8 p.m. ET.

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Toyota Mod Classic 150 is limited to 24 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. The same four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. A maximum of three (3) tires of the allotment may be used for change tires. The tire change rule is two (2) tires per stop. This includes “swapping” tires front to back.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Jan. 12, 2026. 

MORE: Who’s in, out? 2026 Cup Series Chase field set 

NASCAR has announced a return to The Chase championship format for all three national series beginning in 2026, with a modified structure from the previous iteration designed to reward performance throughout the season and provide a larger sample size to determine the championship.

Below is a breakdown of how the new format works.

HOW MANY DRIVERS MAKE THE POSTSEASON?

The number of postseason drivers remains the same from the previous elimination-style format, but the manner in which drivers qualify changes (more on that below). For the NASCAR Cup Series, 16 drivers advance to The Chase. The number of drivers for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is 12 and for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 10.

HOW DO DRIVERS QUALIFY FOR THE CHASE?

The top 16 drivers following the regular-season finale for the NASCAR Cup Series advance to the postseason. It’s the top 12 drivers for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and top 10 for the Craftsman Truck Series.

CAN DRIVERS QUALIFY FOR THE CHASE VIA ‘WIN AND IN’?

No, “win and in” is no longer a means to advance to the postseason. It is strictly based on points standings for each national series.

HOW MANY POSTSEASON RACES ARE THERE?

Like the previous elimination-style format, there are 10 Chase races for the Cup Series following a 26-race regular season. There are nine Chase races for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and seven for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

ARE THERE ANY CHANGES TO THE POINTS STRUCTURE?

Yes. Wins are now worth 55 points, which is a notable increase from the previous structure of 40 points for a win. The remaining positions pay the same points (35 for second, 34 for third, 33 for fourth, etc.) and stage points are also the same (10 points for first, nine points for second, eight points for third, etc.). The goal is to reward drivers who go for wins, not just strong points days, and ensure aggressive racing and strong team performance remain central to each weekend.

ONCE THE CHASE BEGINS, ARE THERE ANY ELIMINATIONS?

No, The Chase does not have eliminations.

ARE POINTS RESEEDED FOR THE CHASE?

Yes, points are re-seeded just once for The Chase — following the end of the regular season and based on where drivers finish in the standings for the regular season.

Here is what reseeded points look like for the NASCAR Cup Series. (The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seedings will be the same, except cut off at 12 and 10, respectively.)

1st: 2,100

2nd: 2,075

3rd: 2,065

4th: 2,060

5th: 2,055

6th: 2,050

7th: 2,045

8th: 2,040

9th: 2,035

10th: 2,030

11th: 2,025

12th: 2,020

13th: 2,015

14th: 2,010

15th: 2,005

16th: 2,000

SO THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPION HAS AN ADVANTAGE?

Yes. As recognition for sustained excellence, the top driver at the end of the regular season will earn a 25-point cushion over the second seed. The entirety of the regular season is valued with the descending points structure.

HOW IS THE CHAMPION DETERMINED?

Whichever driver in The Chase has the most points following the season finale is the champion.

HOW WAS THE CHASE FORMAT DECIDED?

The changes come after an extensive review that included collaboration between owners, drivers, OEMs, tracks, broadcast partners and — most importantly — the fans. The enhanced format follows an exhaustive Playoff Committee and fan-feedback review that put forward three key recommendations:

  • A larger sample size for a championship
  • Bolster the importance of each race
  • Rewarding consistency while maintaining the importance of winning
Posted on by Nathan Solomon

Shane van Gisbergen won twice this season. Brad Keselowski hoisted the championship trophy in 2012. Ross Chastain finished second in points just four years ago.

It’s hard to fathom these stars out of title contention. Yet, all three wound up on the outside looking in of The Chase following the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, headlining a group of key drivers who won’t battle for the Bill France Cup over the next 10 weeks.

Three NASCAR Cup Series Chase spots remained up for grabs heading into Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric punched their tickets with relative ease, and Ryan Preece scored a dramatic victory — the first points-paying win of his career — to solidify the final Chase spot.

RELATED: Daytona results | Cup Series standings

But on the other side of the coin, several drivers left Daytona scratching their heads about what went wrong over the first 26 races of the season, and why they fell short of the postseason. Some of these prominent drivers had teammates qualify for The Chase, perhaps worsening the sting of elimination.

Here are five notable drivers who missed The Chase — analyzing what they could’ve done differently and what their immediate futures look like.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN (out by 17 points)

Season performance and key results: In his second Cup Series season, SVG made significant strides on ovals — particularly at short and drafting tracks. He finished sixth in both EchoPark Speedway races, while earning top fives at Nashville Superspeedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway. Of course, the former Australian Supercars ace thrived on road courses — winning Watkins Glen International and Sonoma Raceway — but those alone wouldn’t be enough to earn a postseason spot.

Why he fell short: Recognizing SVG’s road-racing dominance, it’s hard not to view Naval Base Coronado — where he crashed with Austin Hill and teammate Connor Zilisch racing for the lead in Stage 2 — as his greatest missed opportunity. But in total, the Kiwi finished 30th or worse eight times this season, three of which he scored a single point. Van Gisbergen failed to record a top 10 in each of the final five regular-season races, and a P20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway set him back 19 points — even though he remained 31 markers above the cutline heading to Florida.

What needs to change: Results on larger ovals. This might be the low-hanging fruit. While van Gisbergen has improved at bigger tracks, it wasn’t enough as a Cup Series sophomore. But with a limited oval background before coming to the United States, a learning curve was certainly expected. He’s generally qualifying better, and when he starts up front, he’s likely to earn strong results. Missing The Chase is certainly a disappointment after placing 16th or better in points following 20 of the first 25 races, but it isn’t earth-shattering — although expectations continue to grow going into 2027.

Quotable: “I haven’t done a good enough job throughout the year; we’ve lost points at various places. We didn’t just lose it tonight. It is what it is … Obviously, I want to do better as a team. As a team, we’re not quite there, but I think we’ve made good improvement on the ovals compared to my teammates.” — van Gisbergen on Saturday at Daytona.

Shane van Gisbergen at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

BRAD KESELOWSKI (out by 79 points)

Season performance and key results: Nursing a broken right femur suffered in the offseason, Keselowski jumped out to arguably his strongest start since joining the RFK Racing team and ownership group. His second-place effort in March at Darlington Raceway launched him to eighth in points, the highest he’d climb the rest of the season. Keselowski’s three best finishes came in the opening nine races.

Why he fell short: The 42-year-old driver hit a late-spring swoon that swung well into the summer. A crash in April at Talladega Superspeedway started a stretch of five finishes outside the top 30 in seven races, including three DNFs and a measly seven-point effort at Watkins Glen on pure pace. Though he turned up the wick late with top-seven results at North Wilkesboro and Indianapolis, it proved too little, too late as sub-20th-place efforts at Iowa Speedway and Richmond Raceway all but sealed his postseason fate.

What needs to change: Sustained consistency. These types of stretches aren’t uncommon for Keselowski since pivoting to RFK in 2022. Last season, he spent 14 of the first 16 weeks outside the top 30 in points. In 2024, he finished 22nd or worse in five of 10 playoff races. Qualifying for The Chase rewards consistency — which Keselowski failed to accomplish. He’s the only RFK driver to miss The Chase — which is certainly a spot of concern.

Quotable: “It’s an interesting inversion that we had from the start of the year where I felt like the 6 was the best of the three teams at the start of the year. I think it was up to [eighth] in points. Knocking on the door with a win at Darlington. Then just completely fell flat through the months of May, June and July. Pushed itself to where it’s now, I think 18th or 19th in points, which is very frustrating. We’re not where we want to be. We can’t hide from that.” — Keselowski on Saturday at Daytona.

brad keselowski at richmond
David Jensen | Getty Images

ROSS CHASTAIN (out by 104 points)

Season performance and key results: From nearly the get-go, Chastain began treading water in 2026, starting with a wheel that fell off his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet at Circuit of The Americas, resulting in a 35th-place finish in March. He earned just two top-10 finishes in the first 15 races — both coming at drafting tracks. His statistics are tracking toward career worsts since joining the organization in 2022.

Why he fell short: Chastain found some of his best results during the summer months, earning back-to-back top 10s at Pocono Raceway and Naval Base Coronado in June, followed by a key seventh-place effort at Iowa and a P12 a week later at Richmond. Those results gave him a fighting chance entering New Hampshire, but an early engine issue officially eliminated him from The Chase. Ultimately, a four-race stretch from Texas Motor Speedway to Nashville where he finished no better than 26th sealed his fate. That included Watkins Glen, where he qualified fourth but quickly plummeted out of contention.

What needs to change: Speed. Chastain has shown in years past that he’s plenty capable behind the wheel of a Cup Series car, and this Chase exclusion should be a one-time occurrence. His talent — as evidenced by taking Trackhouse Racing to the Championship 4 during the organization’s sophomore campaign — does not evaporate in one subpar season. If the organization can make strides down the stretch, that would be a crucial first step toward returning the Alva, Florida, native to the postseason.

Quotable: “Points are the points, and that comes with going fast and finishing up front in stages and races. We just haven’t done it. That’s why it feels insurmountable … You can go grab 76 points in a single race if you are the best. Definitely, it feels insurmountable because of the speed, is what I meant.” — Chastain at Iowa in August.

ross chastain sits on pit road
David Jensen | Getty Images

MICHAEL MCDOWELL (out by 105 points)

Season performance and key results: McDowell scored a bulk of his points this season at road courses. He finished top 10 in all four events turning left and right, including a key runner-up to SVG in May at Watkins Glen. Other than a ninth-place finish at hometown Phoenix Raceway and a top five at Daytona on Saturday, his oval results left plenty to be desired.

Why he fell short: Beginning in the spring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McDowell had a 12-race stretch where he finished inside the top 10 just once. That included finishes outside the top 30 at Kansas Speedway and Talladega in consecutive weeks, scoring a combined eight points. Top 10s at Naval Base Coronado and Sonoma got him headed back in the right direction, but McDowell never strung together consistent results the rest of the way to seriously contend for a Chase spot.

What needs to change: Narrowing the gap. McDowell hasn’t always been in situations over his career where he’s driving premier equipment, but Spire as a whole is rapidly improving. He’s the bar at road courses for the organization, but otherwise, his results tend to fall far behind Daniel Suárez and Carson Hocevar, both of whom made The Chase and won races in 2026. So the goal is simple moving forward: run closer to his teammates — although that’s much easier said than done — as McDowell searches for his first postseason spot since 2023.

Quotable: “I feel like everything’s there for us to do our jobs. We just have to go do it. Is there extra pressure? Yeah, there’s always extra pressure, but I feel like that comes from myself, too, right? Like nobody likes to suck. Nobody likes to run bad, and when you do it a few weeks consecutively, it hurts, and you’re ready to make it better.” — McDowell before Watkins Glen in May.

Michael McDowell of Spire Motorsports
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

ERIK JONES (out by 124 points)

Season performance and key results: Sitting 25th in points through the first 10 races, Jones and his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club team caught fire, stringing together a strong stretch of races from May to early July. He went the next 10 races with just one finish worse than 20th, including a runner-up at his hometown Michigan International Speedway and another top five at EchoPark. The rest of the season, however, lacked needle-moving finishes.

Why he fell short: Jones finished EchoPark above the provisional cutline by eight points over Joey Logano, but his fortunes began to turn a week later at North Wilkesboro. Logano won, rocketing up the standings while Jones finished 21st, three laps down and losing 41 points to the cut. At Iowa in early August, Jones was an innocent bystander when Tyler Reddick washed up the track on Lap 4 and crashed, ending his race prematurely after qualifying 10th. That DNF set Jones back to 20th in points.

What needs to change: Better Saturdays. Jones qualified inside the top 10 just four times this season, and two of those resulted in top-10 race finishes. He has the second-fewest stage points among the top 23 drivers in points — and it often takes him time to drive up front when he’s fast. As evidenced by a slew of new investors and a third full-time car for the organization next season, Legacy Motor Club is growing and seemingly headed in the right direction. But it could take some time for the results to bear fruit.

Quotable: “It’s gonna be a long shot from here. I mean, we’re gonna be deep after today … we needed three really good weeks — and it had to start today.” — Jones after crashing at Iowa.

erik jones drives during a race in his No. 43 legacy motor club toyota
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Even with a new points system, a new postseason format and a new structure for advancing to The Chase in place this season, Ryan Preece gave the NASCAR Cup Series field one last blast of win and you’re in.

Against the pressure-packed odds and with a race car that spent one almost-fateful moment Saturday night sliding through the well-manicured trioval grass, Preece upended the playoff order with a long-awaited first points-paying win in NASCAR’s big leagues. The 35-year-old journeyman overcame a 31-point prerace deficit to snatch the last Chase berth from Shane van Gisbergen, converting a clutch last-lap move at Daytona International Speedway and giving RFK Racing two entrants into the 10-race championship pursuit.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona

Characteristic of Preece’s hardscrabble short-track roots, the No. 60 Ford team persevered in a regular-season finale when max tenacity was a prerequisite. Turns out, that gritty style that’s been sharpened by years of tearing up the Modified Tour’s bullrings seems to apply to Daytona’s high banks just as well.

“If I was in a street fight, my knuckles would be pretty tore up right now,” Preece said, noting how the race nearly turned when his spin coincided with an SVG stage win. “It was much like what I told you, it was going to be a heavyweight fight. That was the first round. Lucky for me there was two more. I answered that call. I went and we got second in the next stage with damage. Then we put ourselves in position to win the race, and we did.

“It just comes down, no different than my career a lot of times where one door shuts and we break down the next door, even if it’s locked. I’m going to kick through it.”

Preece’s history with the 2.5-mile speedway has been a star-crossed one. He finished this year’s Daytona 500 in reverse after a last-lap incident, wound up on his roof in the previous year’s edition of the “Great American Race,” and his violent flip during the 2023 running of the summertime Coke Zero Sugar 400 left him bruised, but with a renewed resolve to come back stronger. “That’s called redemption at this place, man,” his No. 60 team told him on Saturday’s cool-down lap.

When reminded of that crash three years ago, Preece produced a photo on his cellphone of himself with his daughter, Rebecca, the next day after that melee. He said the image was a point of reflection through the week as the circuit returned to the World Center of Speed.

“To me, that showed me how lucky I am, but how bad I want it, how bad my family wants it,” Preece said. “Yeah, I mean, every day I’m very thankful to be racing in the Cup Series. It’s not easy. Some people have an easier path than others. Every day I’d wake up and say, yeah, I wish I had it easy as well, but I am thankful to hell that I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve worked for and everything that I’ve won and everything.”

Preece & Co. stuck to their straightforward prerace game plan — stay on offense — but the road to Daytona salvation nearly took a dire detour at the end of the opening stage. Within sight of the green-checkered flag, Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet nudged Preece’s RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher from the lead on the 35th lap and their contact collected the No. 60 Ford, knocking it from third position into the infield.

Preece righted the car and was scored eighth at the stage end, but the three-car fracas cleared the way for van Gisbergen to secure a stage victory and the 10 points that came with it. After relaying to crew chief Derrick Finley that the damage seemed minimal, Preece offered some assurance: “Well, that wasn’t ideal. … We’ll be all right. Give me the ball there, Derrick, and we’ll get her back.”

Preece was mired back in 38th for the Stage 2 start, but the team’s efforts were redoubled.

“The one thing our 60 team has from top to bottom is a lot of grit,” Finley said. “I mean, we don’t give up. We fight until the bitter end. We don’t care if we’re running 30th, we’re going to run and fight and get a 10th place out of the car. We fight. That’s just the way we are. I played sports my whole life, played football through college. Obviously as soon as I was out of college, I came out here. I’ve competed my whole life. It’s in my nature. The guys around me are the same way, every one of ’em. Ryan is, too, obviously. Ryan has a lot of fight. That’s a good thing.”

That resilience came through in a midrace drive back to the front. After Finley calculated the team’s fuel-management strategy, Preece did the rest with a second-place finish in Stage 2, offsetting the net loss from the opening segment. “All right boys, let’s fight,” Preece said with emphasis on the team’s radio.

MORE: Chase field is set | Updated Cup Series standings

A split in pit strategies jumbled the final stage, but Preece emerged among the front-runners, providing a big bump and boost forward to fellow Ford driver Zane Smith, then sidestepping him to grab the No. 1 spot with 10 laps left in regulation. When Carson Hocevar’s crash moments later knocked him from contention and sent the event to overtime, it was Smith who seemed poised to break through and take the role of Chase spoiler. Van Gisbergen’s late dive to pit road for fuel provided Preece an extra points buffer, and his momentum on the last lap of OT kept the No. 60 clear of the backstretch calamity that erupted behind him.

Preece took no chances when the caution flag came out nearly a half-lap before the checkers, steaming to the start/finish line. He relished every moment that came after, from the jubilant radio exclamations, the smoky burnout and the drive to Victory Lane for the first time at Daytona. Brad Keselowski, co-owner of his RFK Racing team, was there to greet him.

“He’s kept his drive, kept his fire. He’s putting the work in. That persistence I think has come to fruition with just a terrific night for him,” Keselowski said. “It’s such a clutch moment for Ryan, to come in and be however many points behind the playoff, Chase thing here. To just drive a great race, go get him a win, with everything on the line, those are nights that you remember, and those are nights that are really special for him but really special for everyone on this team.”

Preece made use of his phone in two other instances in his post-race press conference. One was to acknowledge the dizzying amount of texts from well-wishers that he’d yet to fully digest, but the other was to herald his arrival to the track’s media center.

Preece walked in with the Coke bottle-shaped winner’s trophy cradled in one hand, and his phone in the other. From the tinny speaker played a slice of AM radio gold, Elton John’s “Rocket Man” — a tune he’s adopted as his walk-out music during driver introductions. Preece admitted his stewardship of the song was a nod to another Ryan — Newman — who also shares Roush team roots. Saturday night, the nickname seemed to fit its current keeper.

“I did say that Derrick and RFK gave me a rocket,” Preece said. “We took it to the moon.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Following Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, the 16-driver field for The Chase is officially set.

Denny Hamlin will lead the field into the postseason as the No. 1 seed after a dominant summer stretch that included three consecutive victories at Nashville Superspeedway, Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway. Hamlin clinched the top seed following the penultimate regular-season race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Ryan Blaney earned the No. 2 seed behind regular-season victories at Phoenix Raceway, EchoPark Speedway and New Hampshire. Blaney finished 33rd at Daytona after being collected in a final-lap wreck.

Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe will start The Chase seeded third through fifth, respectively. Christopher Bell is sixth, followed by Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher to round out the top 10.

Daniel Suárez secured the No. 11 seed after one of the strongest regular seasons of his Cup career, highlighted by a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 victory. Carson Hocevar will enter The Chase 12th, with William Byron — winless during the regular season — seeded 13th.

Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric claimed the Nos. 14 and 15 seeds, leaving the final spot to be decided Saturday night at Daytona. Ryan Preece delivered in dramatic fashion, winning the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to vault past Shane van Gisbergen and secure the 16th and final postseason berth.

The 10-race pursuit of the Cup Series championship begins next Sunday with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Dustin Albino

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Only twice in the opening 25 regular-season races of 2026 did Ryan Preece outscore Shane van Gisbergen by 31 points in a single race. At Daytona International Speedway, he made it a hat trick.

Van Gisbergen entered the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a 31-point cushion over Preece for the final transfer spot. Despite earning his first stage win on an oval and 10 points in the opening stanza while Preece went sliding through the grass, the battle came down to the wire, with Preece in position to potentially snag the victory as the No. 60 team attempted to stretch its fuel mileage.

When a caution flew on Lap 155 for a three-car pileup, Stephen Doran, crew chief of the No. 97 Chevrolet, called an audible to bring van Gisbergen down pit road to ensure he could make it to the finish on gas. It was an easy decision, though it would set his driver deep in the field.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“We tried to stay on [Preece’s] strategy, and we would have been fine if it ran green — we were going to make it to the end fine,” Doran told NASCAR.com, admitting it was going to take every last drop of fuel to make it to the checkered. “Getting that caution with a long cleanup put us in a bad spot where we just don’t get as good of mileage as the Fords do.

“We were going to be in a spot where, more than likely, we were going to run out than make it, so we chose to pit and be on offense and try to drive back up through there and got taken out on the last lap.”

Van Gisbergen lined up 27th for the restart while Preece was alongside Zane Smith on the front row. On the final lap, six circuits deep into overtime, Preece drove by Smith with a caution flying for multiple lap melees down the backstretch that included van Gisbergen. The Kiwi ended the evening with a 28th-place effort.

Preece left Daytona with 67 points earned to van Gisbergen’s 19, putting him clear of the bubble by 17 markers.

“They obviously have more information on how much fuel we had left, and maybe I didn’t do a good enough job early,” van Gisbergen said, admitting he didn’t have any emotions after climbing out of the car. “I was trying, but yeah, conservative at that point. It is what it is.

“I don’t get emotional about that stuff. Just trust what they say and pit because they told me to.”

Knowing they were likely to come up short on fuel after a long green-flag run, most of van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet counterparts pitted in separate stints. That included his Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch on Lap 121. Three Hendrick Motorsports entries led the field and picked up the pace on Lap 129 before pitting on Lap 142. Trying to keep pace with the Hendrick cars burned more fuel than anticipated, pushing van Gisbergen’s tank to the brink.

Knowing how tight the points battle was with Preece and Austin Cindric, the only decision was to stay out had the race gone green to the end.

“We wanted to stay on the same strategy as the 60 and the 2,” Doran added. “At the time, we were in a good spot on fuel. When that second group went tight, that’s when it put us tight on fuel. We were still going to be fine (in regulation).”

Van Gisbergen doesn’t attribute missing The Chase solely to Daytona. Instead, he views it as the culmination of all 26 races, including eight finishes of 30th or worse.

“I don’t put down [Preece] winning tonight, it’s not a one-night loss,” he stated. “I haven’t done a good enough job throughout the year; we’ve lost points at various places. We didn’t just lose it tonight. It is what it is.”

And amid the smiles and celebrations, Preece had plenty of respect for his counterpart on the wrong side of the bubble.

“He’s a hell of a race car driver. He’s a hell of a road course racer, but he’s a hell of a race car driver,” Preece said in his winner’s press conference. “He knew that I had my knee on the throat or my thumb on the pressure point, and he answered that in Stage 1. When he threw that right hook, metaphorically, in a metaphor, I felt like I answered that back in Stage 2.

“I’m proud of the racer I am. I’m proud of competing against him. The bar he sets on road courses, because he’s a true talent that we’re lucky to have here in the United States.”

The New Zealander ended the regular season with a pair of victories and five top-five finishes, including a pair of fifth-place efforts on ovals at Nashville Superspeedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway. His seven top-10s match his total from his rookie campaign.

Progress was made, but there is still plenty to grow as all three Trackhouse drivers missed The Chase.

“I’m proud that I’m closer to my teammates on ovals and managed to have a pretty good year,” van Gisbergen noted. “Obviously, I want to do better as a team. As a team, we’re not quite there, but I think we’ve made good improvement on the ovals compared to my teammates.”

Doran added: “I still say it’s been a solid year. This was one of the main goals was to get into The Chase. We just need to keep getting our cars better. We’ve got 10 races to keep pushing these cars to be better. I think we’ve made some ground over the last couple of months. We just have to keep gaining, especially on intermediates is the biggest deficit right now to the field.”