NASCAR 2026 - The Chase is back

Infoanon · 12-01-2026 09:54PM #1

The Nascar season gets under way on Feb 1st with the exhibition race,'the Clash', before the famous Daytona 500 on Sunday February 15th .

Its all change for 2026 with the format going back in time.

The top 16 drivers will now go forward to a 10 race season 'chase' (sound familiar?) to decide the champion.

Win and you are in (to the final playoffs) is gone , a win however will now get an extra 15 points.

Following the lawsuit ,there are now 36 'evergreen' charters , a maximum of 40 cars are allowed enter a race.

There is an option to take up a promoters 41st position, brought in last year ,Jimmy Johnson has taken up this 41st entry spot for Daytona.

Brad Keslowski is recovering from a broken leg and will miss the Clash (JJ Yeley subs), but hopes to return for Daytona.

TV coverage in these Isles is unconfirmed, Premier did a last minute deal in 2025.

Nowso · 13-01-2026 12:19PM

us tv apps is needed for some xfinity truck races some dodgy streams of viasat nordic or ziggo nl are also good

Infoanon · 29-01-2026 12:00AM

The Chase ,unless weather intervenes,will be shown live on Premier Sports 2 this weekend .

The '41' car field for the Daytona 500 is getting stronger by the day , with only 4 cars qualifying from the packed field, the extra cars from RFK (Corey LaJoie) ,Front Row (Chandler Smith), 23XI (Corey Heim) and Junior Motorsports(aka an Hendrick entry, Justin Algaier) should take the spots but a rumoured fourth RCR (Austin Hill) would put the cat amongst the pigeons ! And thats assuming the God's dont smile down on Casey Mears,BJ McLeod - a super speedway specialist, JJ Yelley and Anthony Alfredo.

Jimmy Johnson is locked in as starter '41'

2 of the 4 will qualify on speed ,the other 2 decided by 2 qualifying races.

Nowso · 29-01-2026 03:01AM

didnt realise it was back already - got all me us and baltic tv set ups ready

does anyone have any predictions for the year

watching Connor Zilisch is going to be good and see him beat Svg on a road race for me

Infoanon · 29-01-2026 11:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124189050#Comment_124189050

Predictions for the championship,

Larson ,Blaney and Bell have to be the favourites for me.

Hamlin losing the championship the way he did makes it hard to see him in the mix, the two potential outsiders are Reddick and Chastain.

As for Zilisch, dont underestimate the challenge of moving up to the Cup series , Ty Gibbs has not won after 4 seasons and there are others who have dominated at the lower levels only to flop at Cup. Same goes for SVG , whose mid and late season improvement on Ovals was impressive and SVG is a good bet to be in the chase (top 16) at the end of the season.

Chevrolet have a new chassis so expect them to struggle early on, Ford tend to have thr upper hand on Super Speedways so a Ford on pole at Daytona would not be a surprise.

Its contract year for a few of the front runners which will add to the fun.

Nowso · 01-02-2026 01:13AM

postponed until monday due to snow

https://www.filmogaz.com/127229

Infoanon · 01-02-2026 12:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124196812#Comment_124196812

Bit of a strange one, its been clear for a few days that the race couldn't run on Sunday, there was talk of 'local' considerations been taken into account for delaying the announcement of the inevitable.

Hopefully there will be live coverage on Monday/ Tuesday morning

Update: Further deferral, Race now scheduled for Wednesday evening

Nowso · 02-02-2026 08:57PM

wednesday nascar is a new one

eagle eye · 05-02-2026 02:14AM

I didn't see the new thread and started another one. 😁

Anyway there's been a few leaders but Zilisch started near the back and is currently 7th. he was 5th but restarted in the wrong lane.

Impressive way to start your cup career.

Nowso · 05-02-2026 03:01AM

this race has been a bit of a farce tbh

Infoanon · 05-02-2026 10:35AM

The 'Madhouse' aka Bowman Gray was farcical, between blatant wrecking and cars running out of fuel,sleet shower and then a red flag to allow all cars to refuel....

Preece was the eventual winner, what this tells up about the upcoming season...Zilch

Suarez upset a lot of drivers so expect 'payback' down the line

eagle eye · 05-02-2026 12:18PM

I thought it was great. Cars going from the front to the back and vice versa. All the yellows were a bit of a pain but the running out of fuel was interesting. Cars just putting enough in to finish the race paid for it.

Infoanon · 05-02-2026 03:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124207657#Comment_124207657

Cars just putting in enough were bailed out by Nascar, Briscoe had enough fuel to make the finish without Nascars intervention, but their intervention cost him victory.

I saw a stat earlier that basically every car/driver ran in the top 5 at some stage !

Daytona next , this time next week it will all be about the Duels

eagle eye · 05-02-2026 03:30PM

The Daytona 500 is still a big deal as a crown jewel but I wish they would go back to how it used to be, by which I mean not a restrictor plate race.

Infoanon · 12-02-2026 10:25AM

Daytona 500 qualifying sees Kyle Busch on pole with Chase Briscoe second.

The front row is locked in , tonight's duel races will decide the other 38 places (Jimmy Johnson starts 41st) , it also decides who gets the last 2 'open' grid spots , both Justin Algaeir (an Handrick prepared entry) and Corey Heim (4th 23XI entry) are in , surprisingly Corey LaJoie in the 4th RFK Ford didn't get in on speed after being 3rd fastest in practice.

In other news ,Kyle Larson has signed a 5 year contract extension to stay at Henderick.

Nowso · 16-02-2026 06:53PM

redddick from the clouds wins the 500 . i had backed elliot n thought he was up , the last lap was all you needed to watch in the end

austin hill dominates in xfinity again

eagle eye · 16-02-2026 07:14PM

The last lap was insane. Byron got to the front at one stage, thought he was going to do three-peat for a moment before getting taken out with Bubba.

Glad to see Reddick get the win after all he's been through over the last year.

I'd love to see Hill in a decent cup car for one of these.

Infoanon · 16-02-2026 08:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124241147#Comment_124241147

Happy for a Tyler Reddick victory, that it was a green flag finish and Reddick had to pass on the last laps for the win was good.

Hocevar led with a lap to go and finished outside the top 20, Riley Herbst was key to Reddicks victory with two good pushes to get Reddick ahead ,but also the catalyst in the wreck in the last lap.

Austin Hill has had a number of cup runs ,originally he was due to run a 3rd RCR at Daytona but qualifying was always going to be difficult and the entry was abandoned ,a controversial individual, I would rather see Corey Heim who performed well in a 4th 23XI entry.

Atlanta this Sunday evening on PS2, hopefully not a repeat of the fuel saving'500'

eagle eye · 16-02-2026 11:01PM

Heim would be interesting on any track except a superspeedway.

Hill has been incredible on superspeedways. I'd just like to see how he'd do against the best with a decent car.

Heim is part time with 23X1 this year. I think he should have been given a full time car.

eagle eye · 23-02-2026 05:30PM

I've a feeling Hocevar is going to hit the wall a couple of times over the next few weeks. He pissed a lot of people off last night.

Charlie-Bravo · 23-02-2026 06:14PM

It was a great watch. Hocevar got some really good runs in. Entertaining race all the way through.

Infoanon · 23-02-2026 11:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124259723#Comment_124259723

Hocevars move last night was idiotic, you could say the same about Larson but he owned his mistake and ultimately only took himself out with SVG recovering to 6th by the end.

Lesson 1 for Hocevar last night was he had no 'dancing partners ' at the end of the race ,

Lesson 2 is nudges into the wall he is going to get over the next few weeks.

Great race , Reddick had a bit of a luck on his side but 2 from 2 after a witless 2025. The last driver who went 2 from 2 was Matt Kenseth, who didnt win again for the rest of the season !

The 23X1 drivers are 1 and 2 in the standings after 2 races ,not bad for Toyotas second team.

Nowso · 23-02-2026 11:39PM

ive been impressed with briscoe - hes outdoing bell atm

ford off to there regular slow start in general

Nowso · 03-03-2026 01:07AM

reddick again - The poor car caught out svg . Zilisch showed what he can do from way back

eagle eye · 03-03-2026 04:40AM

Zilisch was robbed. Went all the way from 25th to 7th and got spun and back to 37th, then makes his way back up to 4th and gets spun again.

He's by far the best road course racer.

Nowso · 09-03-2026 12:41AM

it was phoenix so you have to go ford , if you go ford it has to be Blainey. after 2 loose wheels he comes back n grabs the win from bell.

chevvy had not a great day

Infoanon · 09-03-2026 04:32PM

A crazy race ,hard to believe JGR got it wrong again in going for 4 tyres vs Blaneys 2 tyres, it was only 18weeks since the same move caused Hamlin the championship. Cindric looked strongest until he was taken out

Nowso · 16-03-2026 03:50AM

Hamlin back to the top - fastest car wins despite a speeding penalty .

NASCAR 2026 - The Chase is back

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