Watch The Chase NASCAR Playoffs with DISH

Key art for NASCAR Cup Series racing on USA Network

Published on: September 2, 2026

Author: Mark Schiff

If you have ever wished stock car racing would ditch artificial gimmicks and get back to pure, high-octane grit, the 2026 NASCAR season is putting fuel in your tank. For the 2026 postseason, the sanctioning body is reviving the Chase for the Championship. This format delivers a brutal, 10-race cumulative points sprint among 16 elite drivers where none of the competitors face elimination along the way. Every single lap, stage, and position across 10 weeks counts toward crowning a true champion, setting up the most intense autumn of racing we have seen in decades.

Here is a preview of NASCAR’s 2026 Chase for the Championship. Watch all the remaining NASCAR races on USA Network and your local NBC station by subscribing to the DISH America's Top 120 package. Not a DISH subscriber? Follow this link to find the best offer and subscribe to DISH today!

 

NASCAR Chase schedule and qualification

All remaining 2026 NASCAR races air on either USA Network or NBC. Here is a full look at the remaining schedule.

  • Sunday, Sept. 6 – 5PM ET – Cook Out Southern 500 (Darlington Raceway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Sept. 13 – 3PM ET – Enjoy Illinois 300 (World Wide Technology Raceway) – USA Network

  • Saturday, Sept. 19 – 7PM ET – Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Bristol Motor Speedway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Sept. 27 – 3PM ET – Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas Speedway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Oct. 4 – 5:30PM ET – South Point 400 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Oct. 11 – 3PM ET – Bank of America Roval 400 (Charlotte Motor Speedway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Oct. 18 – 3PM ET – Freeway Insurance 500 (Phoenix Raceway) – USA Network

  • Sunday, Oct. 25 – 2PM ET – Yellawood 500 (Talladega Superspeedway) – NBC

  • Sunday, Nov. 1 – 2PM ET – Xfinity 500 (Martinsville Speedway) – NBC

  • Sunday, Nov. 8 – 3PM ET – NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (Homestead-Miami Speedway) – NBC

With the Hopper 3 DVR, you can record up to 16 channels at once and store up to 500 hours of HD content, so you never miss a green flag.

Under the revised 2026 system, NASCAR scrapped the win-and-you're-in qualification rule. A victory during the 26-race regular season no longer guarantees a postseason ticket. Instead, the top 16 drivers in the regular-season points standings strictly determine the grid. Drivers had to grind for points in every single stage, knowing a single victory would not bail out an inconsistent year. The battle reached its climax at Daytona, where Ryan Preece executed a dramatic walk-off win in overtime to catapult himself into the 16th and final spot. He joined Austin Cindric and Bubba Wallace, who both clinched their berths on points.

 

Points architecture and the 16-driver field

The 2026 postseason represents a return to NASCAR's purest championship test. Unlike the knockout-style elimination playoffs used for the last dozen years, the revived Chase is a 10-race cumulative points battle with zero eliminations. NASCAR resets the 16-driver field to baseline point totals with small performance gaps separating them based on their regular-season finishes. From that moment on, all 16 contenders run the entire 10-race stretch. The driver sitting atop the points table at the conclusion of the season finale takes the Cup Series champion crown.

NASCAR introduced a redesigned points scale structured to place an enormous premium on winning races and winning stages.

  • Race winner's points: The Cup Series race winner receives 55 points. Second place receives 35 points, third place gets 34, and points decrease in single-digit increments down to 40th place. Every starting driver earns at least 1 point.

  • Stage points: Stage 1 and Stage 2 continue to reward the top 10 finishers with points on a 10-to-1 descending scale. NASCAR awards a single bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race, making the maximum single-race output 76 points.
  • The baseline reset: NASCAR completely resets the points standings upon entering the Chase. Regular-season champion Denny Hamlin starts with 2,100 points. Second place Ryan Blaney starts with 2,075 points, establishing a 25-point gap. Third place Tyler Reddick starts with 2,065 points, and each subsequent seed drops by 5-point increments down to the 16th seed.
  • No playoff points carrying over: Drivers carry zero playoff points or stage-win credits from the regular season to the Chase.

NASCAR officially scrapped the Championship 4 concept. There is no knockout round to determine a final four, nor is there a single-race shootout for the title. Instead, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway serves as the 10th and final points-paying race of the Chase.

 

Meet the drivers in contention

Exactly 16 drivers make up the 2026 Chase field. All 16 of these drivers remain championship-eligible through all 10 postseason races.

  1. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 2,100 points

  2. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) — 2,075 points

  3. Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing) — 2,065 points

  4. Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 2,060 points

  5. Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 2,055 points

  6. Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 2,050 points

  7. Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) — 2,045 points

  8. Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) — 2,040 points

  9. Joey Logano (Team Penske) — 2,035 points

  10. Chris Buescher (RFK Racing) — 2,030 points

  11. Daniel Suárez (Spire Motorsports) — 2,025 points

  12. Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports) — 2,020 points

  13. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports) — 2,015 points

  14. Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing) — 2,010 points

  15. Austin Cindric (Team Penske) — 2,005 points

  16. Ryan Preece (RFK Racing) — 2,000 points

As the green flag prepares to wave at Darlington, the battle lines are clearly drawn. Denny Hamlin enters as the number one seed after a phenomenal regular season where he led a series-high 880 laps and secured four victories. At age 45, the oldest driver in the field is hunting for his first Cup championship. Tyler Reddick leads the series with five victories and serves as the premier challenger. Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe both enter as genuine dark horses following massive breakout performances. Defending champion Kyle Larson starts as the seventh seed, knowing he must minimize bad days to overcome his DNF rate under the cumulative points system.

 

Origins and the return to the cumulative format

NASCAR originally established the 10-race cumulative points Chase format in 2004 as a way to guarantee late-season drama and create more championship possibilities heading into the season finale. Over time, this evolved into the highly volatile knockout-style elimination playoffs that defined the sport's postseason from 2014 to 2025.

The return to the 10-race Chase in 2026 bridges the gap between both eras. It preserves postseason drama by resetting the field and grouping the top 16 together, but it removes the artificial single-race shootout finale. If a driver suffers a wreck at Darlington, they still have nine races to claw their way back, placing the ultimate emphasis on long-term execution, driver resilience, and complete team performance.

The Chase begins when the green flag drops on the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday, Sept. 6. Speak into your DISH Voice Remote with Google Assistant built-in to jump straight to the race, and enjoy the rest of the NASCAR postseason backed by our 2-Year TV Price Guarantee.