Winners and losers from NASCAR's new championship format

NASCAR's "Chase" format that will be used to decide the sport's champions for 2026 and beyond is a move that will likely be met with much enthusiasm from fans. But the format change will drastically impact how drivers race, and for some, could dramatically change their championship prospects going into 2026 as well. 

The format will feature 16 drivers in a 10-race postseason with no eliminations or points resets. During the 26-race regular season, a race win is no longer an automatic qualifier for the postseason.

Here are drivers who won and lost with the introduction of the new format. 

Winner: Chase Elliott

NASCAR's most popular driver is also one of its most consistent. 

Elliott, who won the 2020 Cup Series championship, has only recorded one season in his Cup Series career with an average finish worse than 15th. In 10 seasons, he has seven of an average finish better than 13th and seven where he's collected at least 19 top-10 finishes. 

The No. 9 team hasn't had as much winning speed as it used to of late — Elliott only has three wins over the last three seasons compared to 18 from 2018-22 — but Elliott's consistency has kept him in the mix even in a format where it wasn't always fully rewarded. In a system where consistently finishing races will be better rewarded, Elliott's title hopes should improve. 

Winner: Christopher Bell

Bell tied eventual 2025 champion Kyle Larson for the most top-10 finishes last season with 22. He won four races, including three in a row early in the season, but missed out on the Championship 4. 

Bell is yet to win a Cup Series title, yet the Norman, Okla., native is fast on a weekly basis. He has never had fewer than 16 top-10 finishes in five seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing and has had at least 19 over the past four seasons. If he can keep bringing top-10 speed to the racetrack and maintain a pace of three to four wins a year, he's guaranteed to be in the title hunt. 

Loser: Joey Logano

Logano is a three-time Cup Series champion, a 37-time Cup Series winner and is guaranteed to one day be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. But without the playoffs, he wouldn't have won the title in 2018, 2022 or 2024. 

Logano has made a living by being opportunistic and winning consequential races, a trait that won't be nearly as valuable in the new format. 

Logano hasn't eclipsed 20 top-10s since 2020 and hasn't had an average finish better than 13.5 in the Next-Gen era. He's still a great driver, but he'll need to find the kind of consistency he had in 2015 (six wins, 22 top-fives, 28 top 10s) if he wants to keep contending for championships. 

Loser: Small Cup Series teams

Without a win guaranteeing a playoff berth, the days of a small organization winning a superspeedway race and making the postseason are over. It will now take 26 weeks of solid performances for the likes of LEGACY Motor Club, Front Row Motorsports, Spire Motorsports and others to make the Chase. 

In 2025, the non-Hendrick, Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated team with the most top-10 finishes was RFK Racing, with Chris Buescher scoring 16. But RFK and Toyota's 23XI Racing are also teams that shouldn't have much of an issue in putting together enough solid results to make the Chase. 

Smaller teams will no longer get to be a part, albeit a very small one, of the championship conversation in NASCAR based on one win.