After years and years of complaints from fans, NASCAR finally ditched the old "win and in", knockout-style playoff format after the 2025 season and went back to an iteration of the "Chase" postseason setup that was used from 2004 to 2013.
This year, points and points alone determined the 16-driver postseason field, regardless of whether those drivers, or any others, found victory lane during the 26-race regular season.
Up until the final week of the regular season, there were no race winners (aside from Corey Heim, who isn't a full-time driver) outside of the top 16 in the point standings, meaning that the postseason field was in line to look exactly the same as it would have under the old format anyway.
But that changed in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Entering the 166-lap Coke Zero Sugar 400 around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, 31 points separated Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen in 16th and RFK Racing's Ryan Preece in 17th.
SVG won at Watkins Glen International and Sonoma Raceway earlier this year and has been the lowest winner in the standings for much of the season.
He won the first stage at Daytona to bolster his lead over Preece at the cut line, but Preece bounced back and won the race, while van Gisbergen could only finish 28th. As a result, the 16th spot went to Preece, and van Gisbergen was knocked out by 17 points.
Van Gisbergen ended up being the only regular season race winner, among full-time, championship-eligible drivers, to miss the playoffs. Six drivers who did not win a regular season race qualified instead of him, including Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and Austin Cindric.
SVG did make significant progress on ovals this season, although it simply wasn't enough. Many believed he wouldn't even be a factor to contend for a playoff spot after NASCAR removed two tracks from the regular season schedule where he won a year ago. He was four-for-five on non-oval races during the 2025 regular season.
But despite the fact that there were only four non-oval races on this year's regular season calendar, plus the fact that SVG only won two and even scored a DNF in one of the other two, he was still in contention until the very end and actually spent 20 of 26 races above the cut line. Additionally, his overall average finish improved by 2.6 from the 2025 regular season.
The Cook Out Southern 500 is scheduled to get the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason underway this Sunday, September 6, with live coverage set to be provided by USA Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.
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