Jimmie Johnson has expressed support for significant changes to the NASCAR championship format, as the league announced on Monday a return to a Chase-style playoff for the 2026 season and beyond. NASCAR’s move highlights a balance between rewarding season-long consistency and keeping victories meaningful, and places Johnson—and the newly impacted Legacy Motor Club—at the center of discussion about the sport’s next evolution. The Jimmie Johnson NASCAR championship format will once again become central to how titles are decided.
NASCAR Restores Chase Playoff Model in 2026
NASCAR revealed it will abandon the much-debated win-and-in, elimination championship setup in favor of a points-driven Chase-style playoff beginning in 2026. Instead of knockout rounds and automatic postseason berths for race winners, drivers will now be judged by their performance across the season. After 26 regular season races, the top 16 drivers in overall points will enter a 10-race playoff, with the overall champion determined by total points earned during the postseason stretch. NASCAR also announced that victories will earn 55 points—up from 40—to keep race wins highly valuable. In addition, the regular season points leader will begin the Chase with a 25-point advantage to reward consistent excellence.
Jimmie Johnson, who captured six of his seven Cup Series championships under the original Chase format, endorsed NASCAR’s decision, stating,
brave and making a big decision.
—Jimmie Johnson, Cup Series Champion. He further added,
I am, of course, fond of the system I won so many championships. … As I look at it, I think there’s been a lot of thought and attention behind this, and I think it’s the next evolution of our points system,
—Jimmie Johnson, Cup Series Champion. Johnson also noted the league’s efforts to reconcile fan demands with sporting fairness, saying,
We’re trying to solve for a lot of things and it’s really tough to make everyone happy. But again, the intentionality behind this points system and bringing back a championship that does reward consistency, feels closer to home of what our sport was founded on.
Impact of Eliminating Win-and-In Berths
The outgoing win-and-in rule allowed drivers—and teams with fewer resources—a shot at the playoffs by earning just a single race victory, regardless of their standing in the points table. In 2024, Harrison Burton exemplified this path, clinching a playoff spot by winning the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway despite sitting 34th in points. Now, with the change to a consistency-focused playoff, such underdog scenarios are less likely, shifting the competitive landscape for teams and drivers across the grid.
How the Format Change Benefits Legacy Motor Club
Jimmie Johnson addressed how the new system could help Legacy Motor Club, where the emphasis now moves toward maintaining steady performances rather than focusing solely on dramatic single-race results.
“I think for us and where we are as an organization, it helps us,”
said Johnson. He elaborated:
“We’re trying to build that consistency within our team with our performance on a weekly basis and we’re putting ourselves in a position at times to stretch, especially as we got closer to the playoff, that cutoff that was coming, and we can get back to focus in an area where we think we’re the strongest and that’s locking down those top 10s and being consistent week in and week out.”
He also highlighted the developmental journey the team is on:
Young drivers, young team, lot of evolution taking place, we’re new with Toyota in a lot of respects and trying to understand, so I do feel like it’s better for us. But we’ll go racing and see where it lands.
—Jimmie Johnson, Cup Series Champion.
What Lies Ahead for NASCAR’s New Championship System
The 2026 switch to a points-based Chase playoff is expected to emphasize season-long performance, reducing one-off surprises but increasing pressure on teams to excel every week. As the format places more weight on consistent top finishes and rewards drivers who maintain form, figures like Jimmie Johnson—whose legacy was built on steady excellence—see the change as a reaffirmation of NASCAR’s roots. For fans and teams alike, the next era promises both renewed tradition and intense competition under a system seeking to unify the best aspects of past and present NASCAR championship formats.
