In the first year of the new "Chase" postseason format, which is effectively an iteration of the old Chase for the Cup format that was used from 2004 to 2013, one driver has already been eliminated from championship contention.
It's not a huge surprise, but Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware is officially mathematically ineligible to win this year's title. And he certainly won't be the last driver to be eliminated even before the regular season finale rolls around at Daytona International Speedway in late August.
There are 76 points on the table for each driver in each race: 55 for the race win, 10 for the stage one win, 10 for the stage two win, and one for running the fastest lap. That means there are 304 points up for grabs for each driver over the course of the regular season's final four races.
Ware trails Team Penske's Austin Cindric by 335 points for the 16th and final spot above the playoff cut line.
Cody Ware the first NASCAR Cup driver eliminated to begin new Chase era
The Cup Series has off this coming weekend, but after next weekend's race at Iowa Speedway, there will be just 228 points on the table throughout the remainder of the regular season. Five other drivers are currently more than 228 points below the cutoff.
They include Haas Factory Team's Cole Custer (-248), Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson (-250), Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon (-252), Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry (-254), and Trackhouse Racing's Connor Zilisch (-302).
Zilisch is effectively eliminated as well, provided all full-time drivers continue to show up to each race. Drivers can only make up a maximum of 75 points on any other driver in a single race, meaning he can theoretically only make up 300 points over anybody else between now and the end of the regular season.
Even during the "win and in" era, which began in 2014, NASCAR initially required race winners to be inside the top 30 in order for their wins to actually lock them into the postseason, although that rule was scrapped from 2023 to 2025. Ware is currently 87 points behind Custer for 30th place.
Harrison Burton infamously took advantage of the removal of that rule in 2024 when he won the regular season's penultimate race at Daytona and qualified for the 16-driver postseason, despite being 34th, last among full-time drivers, in points.
Race number 23 on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule is the Iowa Corn 350, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from Iowa Speedway starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from the Newton, Iowa short track!
