At long last, NASCAR has announced a new championship format this past offseason, bringing an end to the 12-year run of the four-round, 10-race postseason. The playoff field size remains the same at 16, but there is no longer a "win and in" element to the regular season.
The 16 playoff spots are set to be awarded on points and points alone, and there is also only a single 10-race postseason round, much like there was from 2004 to 2013, rather than four knockout rounds.
Points are set to be reset after the 26-race regular season for the 16 "Chase" drivers, but the bonus points added to start the postseason are strictly based on regular season points, rather than wins (or stage wins). Playoff points no longer exist.
Except for race wins, points are awarded the same way as they've been in recent years, and this includes stage points. To make up for the lack of "win and in", and to prevent drivers from simply hiding out mid-pack collecting points, NASCAR has increased the value of race victories from 40 points to 55 points.
With that in mind, there are two drivers who qualified for the 2025 playoffs who would not have qualified, had the 2026 format been in place a year ago.
Who would have missed the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs?
Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry finished the regular season 21st in the standings, despite winning the March race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon finished 26th, despite winning the August race at Richmond Raceway.
Even by awarding another 15 points to each driver for their wins, Berry would have only jumped up to 20th with 519, and Dillon would have only jumped up to 25th with 488.
Contrary to popular belief, Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen actually still would have qualified, despite his 25th place finish in the regular season standings. Because he won four races, his 485-point tally would have been boosted to 545, vaulting him all the way up to 16th.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs, who missed the playoffs despite a 16th place finish in the regular season standings with 543 points, would have dropped to 17th due to SVG's jump up the order and therefore still missed out.
RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece would have made the playoffs in 11th and 14th place, respectively, despite missing out in reality.
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's seventh race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 29 at Martinsville Speedway, and nobody has locked up a playoff spot yet. Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage of the Cook Out 400 starting at 3:30 p.m. ET, so start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!