CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Everyone in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase is racing with the current postseason format for the first time but some drivers have more experience with racing in the postseason than others. 

In fact, Denny Hamlin is the only driver to race for a NASCAR championship with every Modern Era points format:

He's off to a good start with the "new-age Chase" format – winning the No. 1 seed for the first time in his career – but he hasn't become a champion yet.

Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano raced in the Chase just once. Coincidentally, it was in 2013 when Hamlin didn't make it after an incident with Logano, whose team was at the center of the Spingate controversy that led to the elimination format in 2014.

NASCAR first implemented the elimination format for the Cup Series in 2014 and all other national series in 2016.  

Both Christopher Bell and William Byron began their full-time NASCAR career in 2016, racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Then, in 2017, Bell won the NCTS championship and Byron won the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship. 

Bell moved up to NOAPS in 2018 and 2019, racing against Austin Cindric in the postseason each year and Chase Briscoe in 2019. Cindric went on to win the NOAPS championship over Briscoe in 2020 -- two years before Ty Gibbs won the championship.

Carson Hocevar never had any experience racing for the NOAPS championship. However, he made the NCTS postseason from 2021 to 2023. 

Drivers who have only raced with an elimination format, by appearance:

While these Chase drivers have only ever raced with an elimination-style postseason, half of this year's Chase field raced in a time when some series didn't have a postseason at all.

Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace raced each other for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with a full season format in 2013 and 2014. 

In 2014, Chase Elliott won the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship with a full season format. The next year, Chris Buescher won the NOAPS championship with a full season format – beating Elliott, Wallace and Daniel Suarez. 

In 2015, Tyler Reddick also ran for an NCTS championship with a full season format.

Kyle Larson also ran for the NOAPS championship under a full season format in 2013, like Denny Hamlin did in 2005 and 2006.

Drivers who have raced with a full season format, by appearance:

Overall, every driver mentioned has been a part of a postseason field, whether it was with the Chase or the elimination format -- except for one driver:

The 2026 Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship will mark the first time Ryan Preece has ever made an appearance in a postseason field in any series. 

Preece first raced full-time in 2016 for JD Motorsports' NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Although he failed to make the postseason in what was his only full-time season in any lower series, he gambled on himself in 2017 when he won a NOAPS race with Joe Gibbs Racing that parlayed into a Cup ride in 2019.

Although Preece bowed of Cup in 2022, a partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing saw him return to Cup from 2023 to 2024. That led to him getting signed with RFK Racing in 2025 and eventually making his first-ever NASCAR postseason appearance this season. 

Except for Kurt Busch in 2004, a driver has never won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in their first postseason appearance. The best points finishes for a Cup postseason debutante are second -- by Greg Biffle in 2005 and Ross Chastain in 2022 -- and third by Carl Edwards in 2005, Denny Hamlin in 2006 and Clint Bowyer in 2007.

Preece's best Cup points finish is 18th in 2025, when he earned the 14th-most points of any driver in the field. He enters the Chase ranked 16th.