When Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 was announced official 27 laps early due to rain, it concluded the first half of the 26-race 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. Race winner Daniel Suarez continues to be one of the surprises of the year, moving up to 10th in the point standings.
Suarez is 62 markers in the clear as far as his hopes for making the Chase for the Cup are concerned. Even under the original format from the mid-2000s and early 2010s, when only 10 and then later 12 drivers made the postseason field, he would be in.
And it makes you wonder why NASCAR didn't just go back to that.
NASCAR missed a golden opportunity to return the Chase to its original field size, and fans are paying the price
Imagine how big of a storyline Suarez being in the top 10 in points would be if only 10 or 12 drivers made the Chase. It would be a weekly challenge to see whether or not he could stay there. It would feel like a true upset bid, the way it felt when Jeremy Mayfield and Elliott Sadler qualified in 2004 or when Brian Vickers did so in 2009.
Instead, though? With 16 playoff drivers, some surprises have to get in by default. Ryan Preece, who has zero top five finishes and two top 10 finishes, currently occupies the final spot. Shane van Gisbergen is in the provisional field too, which most people didn't expect unless he stockpiled winner's bonus points on road courses.
The 2014-2025 version of the playoffs had no shortage of issues, but one thing the "win and in" format successfully accomplished was it filtered out mediocrity. Anyone who won from outside the top 16 in points was an easy first- or second-round out, and "consistent" 15th place drivers usually got bumped. Good. They didn't deserve to compete for a title anyway.
For that reason, the 16-man field generally didn't feel as big as it was. But now? Instead of underdogs like Suarez, his teammate Carson Hocevar, and RFK Racing's Chris Buescher duking it out for the final spots with William Byron and Christopher Bell, it's between Preece and Austin Cindric. Yawn.
Making the postseason is supposed to feel meaningful. It felt that way in the 2000s, when even giants in their primes, such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and the late Kyle Busch, weren't immune to missing the Chase in a down year. Now, the closest thing we might get to that is a horrendously underachieving (and unlucky) Joey Logano and an equipment-handicapped Ross Chastain.
NASCAR made the right move by going back to the Chase. But the fact remains that there are more playoff spots than there are playoff-caliber teams and drivers, and it's robbing us from what could be a much more compelling battle.
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