On Sunday (Feb. 15), the 2026 NASCAR Cup Sequence season will formally kick off with the 68th working of the Daytona 500 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
2026 will function a new championship format, a recent schedule, and loads of storylines.
Here is the place the Cup Sequence subject stacks up forward of the primary of 36 races within the 2026 marketing campaign.
1. Kyle Larson
Larson is coming off his second championship season, and with a brand new championship format in place that may reward each successful and consistency, he could possibly be primed for a repeat. He hasn’t received a race since Kansas in Might of 2025, but it surely’d be a shock if the No. 5 is not robust out of the gates.
2. Denny Hamlin
To say Hamlin had a tumultuous offseason could be an enormous understatement. From a heartbreaking championship loss, the very public highlight of 23XI Racing’s lawsuit towards NASCAR, the tragic loss of life of his father, and a re-torn shoulder, the 45-year-old driver was put by the wringer.
However the NASCAR world realized way back to not doubt Hamlin, who received six races a 12 months in the past. He must be a straightforward lock for the Chase and in title competition properly into the autumn.
3. Christopher Bell
Bell missed out on the Championship 4 in gut-wrenching style in each 2024 and 2025. He is in all probability excited to see NASCAR rid itself of the playoffs and return to the Chase – he led the Cup Sequence with a median end of 11.2 in 2025, and an analogous marketing campaign might yield his first championship.
4. Ryan Blaney
Blaney, the 2023 Cup Sequence champion, has blossomed right into a bona fide celebrity over the previous three years, and there is little purpose to consider he’ll fade from competition in 2026.
Blaney has received 10 races during the last three years, although his common end (tenth greatest within the Cup Sequence in 2025) leaves one thing to be desired.
5. William Byron
Like Blaney, Byron has develop into a star during the last three years, making the Championship 4 three straight occasions and successful 12 races – together with the final two Daytona 500s – over that span.
Byron can develop into the primary driver in historical past to win three consecutive Daytona 500s on Sunday and may simply make the Chase. What he can do as soon as he will get to the postseason might hinge on what number of races he is capable of win within the common season.
6. Chase Briscoe
Not even the largest Briscoe followers might’ve predicted the rise of the Mitchell, Ind., driver in 2025. In his first 12 months with Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe received three races, together with a second straight Southern 500, and made it to the Championship 4.
Any doubts relating to Briscoe’s means to step into the sneakers of Martin Truex Jr. have been quelled going into 2026, the place Briscoe will look to complete two spots increased within the championship than he completed a season in the past.
7. Chase Elliott
As he comes off of his first multi-win marketing campaign since 2022, there’s arguably no larger winner in NASCAR’s return to the Chase than Elliott, who has develop into one of the vital constant drivers within the sport.
Constant race-winning pace could be good to see from the No. 9 workforce, however Elliott must be in championship competition in 2026 as long as he maintains his mannequin of consistency.
8. Tyler Reddick
Reddick is in an attention-grabbing place going into the 2026 season. His 2025 season was stable – 14 top-10 finishes and a ninth-place factors end – however he did not discover victory lane and was underwhelming for a driver coming off of a Championship 4 look in 2024. 23XI Racing is taking steps in the direction of being a championship-caliber group, but when Reddick is to be the workforce’s flag-bearer, he must win once more quickly.
9. Joey Logano
In distinction to Elliott, Logano would be the largest loser from NASCAR’s championship format change. The three-time champion made a residing off of opportunistic efficiency in 2018, 2022 and 2024 en path to his three titles. He’ll want to enhance each his consistency – his common end was Eleventh-best final season – and his successful tempo if he needs a fourth crown.
10. Bubba Wallace
Wallace regarded like the most effective driver at 23XI in 2025. Not solely did he match Reddick in top-10 finishes (14), he additionally received the Brickyard 400, scoring his third profession victory. Wallace has steadily enhance over his five-year tenure with 23XI, and his sixth 12 months with the workforce appears poised to proceed that pattern.
11. Alex Bowman
Bowman’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports is up on the finish of 2026. For sure, he wants a giant season.
Bowman definitely hasn’t been dangerous throughout his eight years with HMS. He is made the postseason in seven of his eight seasons and received eight races. However Hendrick drivers are at all times beneath the microscope, and Bowman has lagged behind in comparison with his teammates lately.
A winless season – or worse, one by which he misses the Chase – might doubtlessly spell the top of his Hendrick tenure.
12. Ryan Preece
Preece did not make the postseason in 2025, however he did have the Twelfth-best common end within the Cup Sequence in his first 12 months with RFK Racing. On the heels of his win within the exhibition Conflict at Bowman Grey, there’s actual momentum behind the No. 60 workforce as Preece appears to be like for his first Cup Sequence win and a Chase berth.
13. Ross Chastain
It is troublesome to make out precisely how good Chastain and the No. 1 workforce are. Chastain received the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 and was comparatively constant, however on far too many events, the No. 1 unloaded for a race weekend woefully off the tempo.
A brand new crew chief for Chastain in former Hendrick Motorsports engineer Brandon McSwain might change that pattern. Something lower than a season that features a Chase berth could be disappointing for Chastain, who’s trying to find his first multi-win season since 2023.
14. Chris Buescher
The Chase ought to favor Buescher, who had the seventh-best common end within the Cup Sequence in 2025. However he hasn’t received since September 2024 at Watkins Glen, and in some unspecified time in the future, the No. 17 workforce might want to translate their constant top-10 pace right into a race win.
15. Shane van Gisbergen
Wins now not assure postseason eligibility in NASCAR, however that may not be as huge of an issue as many followers see it to be for street course ace Shane van Gisbergen.
After successful 5 street course races a season in the past, it would not be a shock if SVG ran the desk and received all 4 street course races in 2026. Successful three of them and persevering with to enhance on ovals could possibly be sufficient to punch his ticket to the Chase.
16. Carson Hocevar
What Hocevar lacks in outcomes, he makes up for in pace and marketability. The 23-year-old driver signed a contract extension with Spire Motorsports final week that may preserve him with the workforce into the 2030s, and that was no accident.
Spire employs a budding celebrity in Hocevar behind the wheel of the No. 77 Chevrolet, they usually comprehend it. Even when Hocevar would not make the Chase or get his first profession win, you may be listening to about him all season lengthy.
