CONCORD, N.C. - With NASCAR announcing it will be returning to 'The Chase' format in 2026 in the Cup Series, O'Reilly Series and the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, it was tough not to immediately ask a couple of questions:
- Who the change could benefit moving forward?
- Who it would've benefitted in the recent past.
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The latter is a fairly easy answer to find thanks to our friends at Racing Insights. And it would've been good news for Hendrick Motorsports.
First, a quick refresher of Monday's news.
The Chase certainly presents a departure from the playoff system used over the last decade-plus. Instead of eliminations and three-race rounds, The Chase will include a 10-race postseason with the top 16 drivers in points over the first 26 races qualifying. From there, a champion will be crowned based on total points over the final 10 events. Also in the rule changes: race winners will now receive 55 points instead of 40 and the win-and-you're-in rule is now gone.
While Hendrick Motorsports had its share of success in the playoff era, winning championships in 2016 (Jimmie Johnson), 2020 (Chase Elliott), 2021 (Kyle Larson and 2025 (Larson), The Chase could've led to even more success. Especially lately.
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For starters, Hendrick Motorsports would be entering 2026 with three straight championships and Larson would be a two-time defending champ, adding a title in 2024. Prior to that, William Byron's 2023 would've been good enough to earn a title as well with Larson finishing as the runner up that season and in 2022 as well. Byron would have been second in 2024.
So, all of that should mean big things moving forward, right?
Well, perhaps. Elliott was on hand at Monday's announcement and spoke to just that:
"I think if you based off historical performance, sure," Elliott said. "But as we all know, performance and the way you performed last year might not play out the same way this year. If you're judging off last year and the year before, yes, you could make that argument. But me, personally, if you looked back at last season, kind of the way we finished the year, I felt like we were getting into a place where I felt confident.
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"But I do feel like you have a bigger sample set and more opportunities to string together more races and it not be so choppy."
Certainly, the era of The Chase was a good one for Hendrick Motorsports and specifically, Johnson, who won championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013. From 2004-2013, Johnson claimed 60 of his 83 career victories and scored 24 of Hendrick Motorsports' 32 wins during The Chase. Spearheaded by Johnson, the organization led all of NASCAR in championships (six), wins, top fives (128), top 10s (200) and laps led (9,044) in postseason races.
While Elliott is himself a former champion, as well as the son of another champion, Bill Elliott, he's also part of a generation at age 30 that was largely shaped by The Chase in terms of racing fandom.
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"My jaw was on the floor, the fact that (Johnson) could win five straight championships and I think a lot of people pointed to the format being the reason for that," Elliott said. "But to me, as time went on, you realized how good that format was and how much we wished we just had that back."
And theoretically, there may be nobody in the garage the format shift benefits more than Elliott, whose knack for consistency and reliability has been right at the top of the sport in recent years. His average finish of 12.4 is the best in the Next Gen era (2022-present) where he also ranks third in top 10s (73), first in top 20s (115) and best in DNFs (10) among drivers who were full time in all four seasons.
"I liked my odds before, but I like my odds now for sure," he admitted.
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Aside from personal preferences or how advantageous one system might be compared to another for his team and Hendrick Motorsports; Elliott also cited several other positives from NASCAR's decision. First, it brings an end to the playoff era, a system that brought with it exciting moments in elimination races but arguably, may not have fit a 36-week racing season as well as other sports.
Second, with elimination races now a thing of the past, Elliott believes it could signal a shift to more respectful racing with last lap divebombs and crazy late moves in the interest of advancing now likely coming up less frequently.
"One mistake we've made ... is trying to be like every other mainstream sport that's out there and I think it's super important to remember we're not and that we're not, and that's OK," Elliott said. "What we have can be really, really entertaining and really fun to watch.
"There is such an art to what we do and it's not throwing haymakers all day. There's a lot of finesse and craft, just being a little bit better than the next guy and just these tiny little feels you have with the race car and with your hands and with your feet and, not just bulldozing somebody out of the way to get a spot in the last race or whatever. I hope this is more of a directional change.
"I think it preserves the long-term integrity of what we do. I think the champion should be very, very proud of what we have here, and I think our fans should also be proud too and also be excited for it and let's enjoy it."