We're just two months from kicking off the Chase, and Dale Jr., a veteran of the format, has weighed in on the debate, pointing out what can make the races even more unpredictable!

While recapping the Eero 400 race at Chicagoland, Dale Jr was questioned by Travis Rockhold whether the drivers having bad seasons could get aggressive to get into the Chase, which could lead to more conflicts on the race tracks. 

"I feel like that, we made the points change, the system change, and we made it for good reasons, and that those were obvious, but there's also going to be some additional benefits that we didn't expect, or we didn't recall about what this system created and produced in the past," he said. 

Before this year, the format emphasized a "win and in" format, which meant that a driver from outside the top 20 could secure a win and would be locked into the postseason. However, for 2026, NASCAR changed the format. Under the new system, after 26 regular-season races, only the top 16 drivers are allowed to head into the Chase playoffs. 

The NASCAR Hall of Famer also explained how the drivers who know that they won’t make it to the Chase have a different mentality. He said,

"The guy that's 20th in points or probably further back than that. The guy that's 25th in points knows that his a** ain't gonna make the chase, and he's just like grinding through these weeks. He's not the one to mess with," Junior added.

Earnhardt Jr’s comments come after the incident between Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill at Chicagoland. The clash sparked fresh debate if drivers in contrasting positions approach racing differently, with Gisbergen sitting 30 points above the Chase cutoff line while Hill has nothing to lose. 

When Dale Earnhardt opened up about disliking the 2025 Chase format 

The old Chase format that was followed by NASCAR from 2014-2025 received a lot of backlash from fans, as the system did not reward consistency. 

Dale Jr was also one of the people who disliked the old Chase format. During an episode of Dale Jr Download, he had opened up about how he was slowly losing interest in the sport. 

"What we had become was so far removed and so gimmicky and contrived and complex, and hard to follow," said Earnhardt. "I was not looking forward -- I had gotten to the point where it was like, man, I don't want to watch this because they're just going to go all the way to Phoenix and four guys are going to go and see who wins it. It's too much happenstance, too much luck. I need to truly watch this person build this body of work." 

However, fast forward to the present day, Dale Earnhardt Jr seems to have found his interest in the sport back under the new Chase format introduced earlier this year. 

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar