After years of justifiable grumbling from fans about the playoff system as it has existed in recent years, with multiple resets and cutoff rounds, and cries that the champions crowned in recent years weren’t truly deserving due to the one-race finale, change has come to NASCAR in a big way.

Starting with the 2026 season set to launch in a few weeks, the sport is returning to its (recent) past. No, we’re not getting a full season championship with no points resets, like we had from 1975 through 2003, but we got as close we were ever going to get — a return to a (slightly altered) version of the 10-race Chase that launched back in 2004 (and similar setups in the O’Reilly and Truck series as well).

In the Cup Series, 16 drivers will qualify for a 10-race Chase based on the points scored during the 26-race regular season. For the O’Reilly series, 12 drivers will qualify for a 9-race Chase; and in Trucks, 10 drivers will qualify for a 7-race Chase.

Each series points leader will start the Chase with a 25-point lead over 2nd place, and 35 points more than the 3rd place driver; while the final Chase driver in Cup will be 100 points back. From that point, it’s a battle between the 16 drivers with no further resets. Most points at the end wins.

Read on for my thoughts on the 6 biggest upsides of this new era for NASCAR, which alongside the recent 23XI/Front Row court settlement brings much-needed healing to the sport after a tumultuous 2025.