By Michael Pedro
The 2026 NASCAR season officially commences in Daytona, FL, on Valentine’s Day weekend when the touring series holds its opening races. A quiet offseason marked by few team shakeups means that NASCAR lineups return largely intact from last year, but a slew of new variables has NASCAR fans eagerly anticipating the new season, some with caution and some with unreserved excitement.
The season got off to a soft start on with an exhibition event at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. The Cook Out Clash had been scheduled for the weekend of January 30, but 8”-10” of snow in North Carolina forced organizers to postpone the event to Wednesday, February 4. Ryan Preece won the race, which was held in near-freezing temperatures.
Unfortunately, this season’s exciting news was balanced out by several tragedies over the offseason. In December, the NASCAR community mourned the loss of ARCA driver Nick Joanides, former O’Reilly Auto Parts Series veteran Michael Annett, and Cup Series legend Greg Biffle. All three passed within two weeks of each other, with Biffle’s death hitting the community the hardest due to his involvement in various charity works during Hurricane Helene. On top of that, veteran driver Denny Hamlin’s terminally ill father passed away following a house fire, something that made Hamlin’s championship loss last season hurt even more.
On the positive end of the spectrum, the most notable change taking place as the new season rolls around is the overhaul of the points system. The controversial Playoffs system is gone, and in its place is the Chase format, which ran strictly in the NASCAR Cup Series until the end of the 2013 season. For those who don’t know much about the Chase or are just getting into NASCAR as a whole, the Chase format encompasses the final stretch of races in the season. Much like other sports, only a select number of drivers will be rendered eligible for the championship. Though, contrary to other sports’ postseason formats, every driver is still involved in the races, and the format simultaneously rewards consistency and winning. Wins over the course of the season now grant you 55 points apiece, up from 40, and making the Chase as the top seed grants you a 25-point buffer over second.
This year, the top three touring divisions of NASCAR will run the Chase format, while their fourth-tier development series, the ARCA Menards Series, will maintain its full-season points format due to its significantly shorter schedule. In the Cup Series, the top 16 drivers in points will make the Chase. In the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the second-tier series, only the top 12 drivers will make it. And, lastly, in the Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR’s third-tier series, only the top ten in points will be a part of the Chase.
Another notable change is the return of Dodge, or rather, RAM, to the Craftsman Truck Series. Following Dodge’s disappearance from the sport in 2012, the Stellantis-owned manufacturer is once again dipping its toes into the world of America’s top motorsport, starting at the third national touring series and working its way upwards. Partnering with Kaulig Racing, a Chevrolet team in the Cup Series, RAM will field five trucks in the Truck Series. Their performance remains to be seen, but with a fleet of experienced drivers in Justin Haley, Daniel Dye, and various part-time drivers, including three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, there’s a wealth of resources on which to build a successful season.
Smaller changes coming to all of NASCAR’s touring series are the changing of manufacturers, the additions of surprising drivers, and the expansions of several teams. This happens every year, and it adds a pinch of unpredictability to what the on-track product will be. On the Cup Series end, teams like Haas Factory Team and Rick Ware Racing are jumping ship from Ford to the far more popular Chevrolet. On the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series side, Haas’ operation is also swapping the blue oval for a bowtie, alongside their affiliate RSS Racing. Teams like Viking Motorsports and Young’s Motorsports are among those investing in what’s left of Kaulig’s former O’Reilly Auto Parts Series operation, buying enough equipment to secure a second car. New teams to the series, like Hettinger Racing and SPS Racing, are joining as Ford teams, giving the manufacturer a small but vital presence in the series. As for the Craftsman Truck Series, drivers like motorsports legend Travis Pastrana, four-time IndyCar Champion Dario Franchitti, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, and the aforementioned Tony Stewart will all be making one-off starts, making for an impressive lineup of veterans to race against the slew of young guns in the series.
Overall, there’s a lot of excitement to be had in the NASCAR world, and with all of these new changes, the season is as unpredictable as ever. Who will win the championship when the checkered flag flies at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November? We’ll just have to wait and see.
