NASCAR's Next Champion Could Finish Last

Detailed summary

Kyle Larson enters the NASCAR Cup Series Championship with a 67-point lead. Here's what he needs to clinch at Homestead.

The greatest tradition in modern sports is no tradition. Since 2020, the NFL, NBA, MLB, and MLS have all revised their postseason formats. So have college football and basketball. NASCAR has taken that trend for a spin.

Ahead of the 2026 season, NASCAR replaced its four-driver, one-race title showdown with a 10-race Chase decided on accumulated points. NASCAR president Steve O'Donnell said the format was meant to "embrace the hardcore fan" and "reward consistency throughout all of the 36 races" while stressing the importance of winning. The format delivered on every stated goal, perhaps at NASCAR's expense.

The gap between winning and almost winning has quadrupled. Under the previous scoring system, race winners earned 40 points and runners-up earned 35. The new system gives 55 points to winners and 35 points to runners-up, with each Chase race carrying the same weight as the next.

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