Major contenders for the 2026 NASCAR championship

Who are the NASCAR teams and drivers to beat this season? The NASCAR Cup Series season fires up Wednesday night at Bowman Gray Stadium with the Cook Out Clash exhibition race. We look at some of the major contenders for the 2026 championship after the recent announcement NASCAR is going back to the Chase format. Here are the favorites and others who could contend for the season title. Let's start with Denny Hamlin, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota who led the series with six victories last season. Hamlin was literally three laps away from his first ever series title when the caution came out at Phoenix. Hamlin, 45, hasn't slowed down with multiple wins in each of the last seven seasons. He has 60 career wins, tied for 10th place all-time with Kevin Harvick. A three-time Daytona 500 winner, the championship is the biggest thing missing from his Hall of Fame career. Christopher Bell is the second strongest in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp with four victories last season. He's good on all kinds of tracks, winner of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol last September, and commonly looked upon with Kyle Larson as the most talented drivers in the series. Bell, driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota, gets an edge over Chase Briscoe, who was incredibly fast his first season in the No. 19 Toyota. Briscoe scored three wins, but led the series with seven pole positions. Defending series champion Kyle Larson is another obvious contender. He won three races and a second series title last season. Larson went through a slump after attempting to race the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. There's no double-dip this time around with Larson focused on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. William Byron, our pick to win the championship each of the last two seasons, is still a top contender. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will try to make history next week with a third straight Daytona 500 victory. Beyond that, he was a three-time winner last season including a dominant performance at Martinsville. Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, looks to return to form. Elliott won races at his home track at Atlanta and Kansas. Like Byron, the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet did well in the traditional points system and should benefit from the new format. Ryan Blaney looks to lead the Blue Oval contingent after winning the final race of the season at Phoenix. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford won four races last season and battled Byron to the end at Martinsville to try to make the championship race. Now, his team can concentrate more on the consistency required with the Chase system. Joey Logano is a contender under any format. It was a down year in 2025 with Logano scoring just one win in the No. 22 Ford. His numbers were way off for Logano with seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in the 36 races. Look at the top 10 in last year's points for other major contenders. Tyler Reddick didn't win a race like teammate Bubba Wallace, but the driver of the No. 45 Toyota has been the more consistent of the 23XI drivers throughout his career. Ross Chastain had just one win, albeit a big one with the Coca-Cola 600 in 2025. Still, it's a good chance for the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team to bounce back this season. He should continue to learn from teammate Shane Van Gisbergen on the road courses and stay aggressive on the ovals. Other drivers from the super teams — Austin Cindric from Penske, Alex Bowman from Hendrick and Ty Gibbs from JGR — didn't make the list. These drivers need to concentrate more on winning races than trying to chase points. It will be interesting to see their progress are Richard Childress Racing and RFK Racing. Can Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon be more threats to win this season? With RFK, how will team co-owner Brad Keselowski do after a suffering broken leg in the offseason? Chris Buescher is certainly capable of getting the job done if they put good cars around him. Still, it's hard to imagine a champion coming from anyone outside the three top organizations. KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY SHOW The annual Kingsport Speedway Mall Show is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21 at The Mall at Johnson City. It's a great opportunity for fans to get up close looks at the cars and drivers that compete locally on the 3/8-mile concrete oval. It's particularly enjoyable for the younger fans with many of the drivers and teams handing out hero cards or other goodies.