Following Ryan Preece’s dramatic, walk-off-like additional time win on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Daytona, the sphere is formally set for NASCAR’s postseason.
This yr, the format is a bit totally different. After 12 years of the win-and-in, elimination-style playoffs, the Chase has returned. This postseason system is designed to award consistency and drivers who’ve achieved success over the stretch of a protracted season — that started all the way in which again in February on the Daytona 500 — reasonably than drivers who merely received one race amid an in any other case mediocre season.
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“It is extraordinarily necessary to maintain rolling the issues that your workforce does effectively from the season into the Chase. With the previous playoffs, it was like three races at a time and then you definitely begin over once more. There might be no beginning over within the Chase,” Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing, lately informed USA TODAY Sports activities. “I believe your mindset, your method, goes to be totally different. There’s going to be errors made alongside the way in which, however do not let these errors tear down your complete Chase.”
The highest 16 drivers within the level standings make the Chase, a 10-race postseason that begins on Sunday, Sept. 6 in Darlington, South Carolina, at certainly one of NASCAR’s crown jewel competitions, the Southern 500.
Getting into this previous weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, simply three open spots remained. Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric clinched the 14th and fifteenth spots with robust factors days, and Preece — who entered the race outdoors the cutline — leapfrogged Shane van Gisbergen for the sixteenth and closing spot with the inconceivable victory, the primary of his Cup Collection profession.
“We put ourselves in place to win the race, and we did,” Preece stated. “It simply comes all the way down to — it is no totally different than my profession lots of occasions the place one door shuts and we break down the following door, even when it is locked. I will kick by means of it. I had a quick race automobile to do this.”
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates successful the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Photos)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates successful the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Photos)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 1: Tyler Reddick celebrates successful the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
(Logan Riely, Getty Photos)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
Feb. 22: Tyler Reddick celebrates successful the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
(Mady Mertens, Imagn Photos)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
Feb. 15: Tyler Reddick celebrates together with his household and crew after successful the 68th working of the Daytona 500 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
(Mike Watters, Imagn Photos)
Denny Hamlin, the oldest energetic full-time driver within the Cup Collection at 45, continues to be chasing his first championship and is seen as the favourite to win all of it. The veteran driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing has received 4 races this season and has 14 top-five finishes. He wrapped up the common season. With a seventh-place end at New Hampshire on Aug. 23, Hamlin secured the regular-season championship and the highest seed within the Chase.
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“That is the time although that you have to step up and discover the following stage and subsequent gear. So, it is on us to go on the market and carry out,” Hamlin stated after the Daytona race. “We have got a fantastic closing 10 weeks forward of us. That is the grind of the season, however you have gotta go give just a little extra now.”
Here is all the pieces it is advisable to find out about NASCAR’s postseason:
Which drivers are within the Chase?
So as, the highest 16 drivers within the postseason are:
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 — Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 — Ford, Workforce Penske
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 — Toyota, 23XI Racing
Ty Gibbs, No. 54 — Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Chase Briscoe, No. 19 — Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Christopher Bell, No. 20 — Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
Chase Elliott, No. 9 — Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Kyle Larson, No. 5 — Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Joey Logano, No. 22 — Ford, Workforce Penske
Christopher Buescher, No. 17 — Ford, RFK Racing
Daniel Suarez, No. 7 — Chevrolet, Spire Motorsports
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 — Chevrolet, Spire Motorsports
William Byron, No. 24 — Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 — Toyota, 23XI Racing
Austin Cindric, No. 2 — Ford, Workforce Penske
Ryan Preece, No. 60 — Ford, RFK Racing
The Chase options six Toyotas, 5 Fords and 5 Chevrolets. All 4 drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing made the postseason subject, as did all three drivers for Workforce Penske.
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Trackhouse Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Kaulig Racing, Entrance Row Motorsports, Legacy Motor Membership are the multi-car groups that did not put a automobile within the Chase.
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
2. David Pearson, 105 profession wins.
(DAYTONA RACING ARCHIVES)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
2. David Pearson, 105 profession wins.
(DAYTONA RACING ARCHIVES)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
3. Jeff Gordon, 93 profession wins.
(MATTHEW O’HAREN, USA TODAY SPORTS)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
6. (tie) Jimmie Johnson, 83 profession wins
(USA TODAY Sports activities)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
8. Dale Earnhardt, 76 profession wins.
(GETTY IMAGES)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
9. (tie) Kyle Busch, 63 profession wins
(Jim Dedmon, USA TODAY Sports activities)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
9. (tie) Denny Hamlin, 63 profession wins (by means of June 7, 2026).
(Peter Casey, USA TODAY Sports activities)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
11. Kevin Harvick, 60 profession wins.
(Mike Dinovo, USA TODAY Sports activities)
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Drivers with essentially the most NASCAR Cup Collection wins all time
12. Rusty Wallace, 55 profession wins.
(Dozier Mobley, Getty Photos)Are factors reset?
Sure, drivers could have benefits based mostly on how they fared within the first 26 races of the season.
Factors might be reset this manner, with Hamlin, the regular-season chief getting a 25-point cushion over second place.
Then reducing by five-point increments every spot by means of sixteenth, the place Preece sits with 2,000 factors.
What’s the NASCAR Chase schedule?
Sept. 6 — Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway
Sept. 13 — Take pleasure in Illinois 300 at World Large Expertise Raceway in Illinois
Sept. 19 — Bass Professional Retailers Evening Race at Bristol Motor Speedway
Sept. 27 — Hollywood On line casino 400 at Kansas Speedway
Oct. 4 — South Level 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Oct. 11 — Financial institution of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Oct. 18 — Freeway Insurance coverage 500 at Phoenix Raceway
Oct. 25 — YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
Nov. 1 — Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway
Nov. 8 — Cup Collection Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway
The Chase options three brief tracks, one superspeedway and nil highway programs. Subsequent yr, the highway course at Watkins Glen might be a part of the Chase.
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watch the NASCAR Chase
The primary seven races of the Chase will air reside on USA Community, whereas NBC will carry protection of the ultimate three races at Talladega, Martinsville and Homestead.
Subscribers to YouTube TV, Hulu + Reside TV and Sling TV can watch by means of these companies as effectively, whereas HBO Max will carry reside streams of in-car cameras for drivers.
