NASCAR’s Cup Series closes out its regular season Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, where the Coke Zero Sugar 400 will decide which three of five bubble drivers join the 16-driver Chase field under the series’ revamped 2026 playoff format.
NASCAR scrapped the “win-and-you’re-in” elimination playoff structure used from 2014 through 2025, returning instead to the “Chase” format last used in 2004-2013. Under the new system, the top 16 drivers after 26 regular-season races make the postseason field, seeded on a staggered points scale from 2,100 for the No. 1 seed down to 2,000 for No. 16, with a 25-point bonus awarded to the regular-season champion. Race wins are now worth 55 points, up from 40 under the old format.
Denny Hamlin has already clinched the top seed with 1,001 points, and 13 drivers had locked up Chase berths entering Daytona. That leaves five drivers fighting for the final three spots: Bubba Wallace holds a 75-point cushion above the cutline, Austin Cindric sits 44 points clear, and Shane van Gisbergen currently occupies the 16th and final spot, 31 points ahead of Ryan Preece. Brad Keselowski trails by 66 points and effectively needs a win to have a realistic shot. Preece’s deficit is partly the result of a 25-point penalty upheld earlier this season stemming from a May incident involving Ty Gibbs. Because a win at Daytona guarantees a Chase berth regardless of points, any of the 27 already-eliminated drivers could still crash the field with a victory — a real possibility given Daytona’s reputation for unpredictable, pack-racing finishes.
Team Penske enters the weekend on a tear, having won four of the last six Cup races. Ryan Blaney claimed his third win of the season at New Hampshire last weekend, leading a race-high 115 laps; he’s also the defending winner of this exact Daytona summer race and has posted four top-10 finishes in nine Next Gen-era starts at the track. Six additional drivers were eliminated from Chase contention following New Hampshire — Zane Smith, Todd Gilliland, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones and Ross Chastain — bringing the total number eliminated so far to 17.
Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 covers 400 miles over 160 laps on Daytona’s 2.5-mile asphalt oval, broken into three stages ending on laps 35, 95 and 160. Green flag is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, broadcast on NBC with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90). The purse totals $11,233,037.
The weekend opens Friday with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola, also at Daytona, covering 250 miles over 100 laps across three stages ending on laps 30, 60 and 100. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, with a purse of $1,661,806.
Looking ahead, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action Thursday, Sept. 17, with the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway’s 0.533-mile concrete oval — a 133.25-mile, 250-lap race broadcast at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. Whoever survives Saturday night at Daytona will carry their Chase seeding into next week’s Southern 500 at Darlington, the first race of the 2026 postseason.
