Could a return to The Chase be what NASCAR needs? Ryan Blaney believes it will help “clean up” the racing on the track. In the last decade, the Cup Series has been defined by win-and-in, do-or-die type moves and wins. No longer will that be necessary.

Without win-and-in rules, we don’t get the Austin Dillon debacle at Richmond in 2024. We probably don’t get many of the anticlimactic, wreck-filled finishes to superspeedways, either. Winning is what matters most, but one win won’t make or break a season for most drivers now.

We also avoid another Harrison Burton upset where the 30th-place driver wins at Daytona and makes the Playoffs. A lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future.

Ryan Blaney was part of NASCAR’s panel during the press conference and announcement today. He’s all-in on The Chase. He had nothing but good things to say about it.

“I am very excited for it. I grew up … The Chase was in place, and this is what we watched as kids,” Blaney explained. “And I loved seeing it, and I love seeing close battle,s and you know, I feel like it also is going to, I sit back, and I look at this new format, sometimes, we all get grief about overaggressiveness and things like that, and sometimes you get put in these situations when it’s a win and move on type scenario.

“I think it’s going to clean up a lot of the racing side of it and kind of get back to the purity side of it, to where it is a little bit more of, not brash, and a little bit more of the beautiful art form that I grew up loving. So, I’m a huge fan of it. Like Chase said and all these guys said, I appreciate NASCAR for listening. I appreciate all these guys, Mark and Dale, for being big voices for us, and it’s just fun to be a part of it.

“I look forward to next year, and consistency is going to be a massive part of it. So, I don’t think you’re still going to get guys that get out and be like, ‘good points day.’ It’s still going to be winning is a huge product of it because of the increase in the winner’s points. So, yeah, it’s exciting. I hope everyone is as excited as we all are to be a part of it and for them to watch it on TV through the years.”

Ryan Blaney echoed many of the same sentiments of the other drivers, current and former, on the panel. Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, and Chase Briscoe were all in favor of the format. Of course, they wouldn’t be on the panel if they weren’t.

For a driver like Blaney, this new format likely benefits him. Even with a history of high DNFs in the last couple of years, Blaney has been very competitive in points. Perhaps this is the format he needs to make himself a two-time Cup Series champion.

Drivers like Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Chase Briscoe are all consistent. Briscoe had a high number of top-five finishes in 2025. Elliott is almost always the most consistent driver in the field. Blaney has become a legitimate championship threat, no matter the format.

Perhaps more than anything, the points battles that could arise will be the most interesting and fun thing about 2026. Not having to worry about win-and-in and how playoff points are lining up will make things simpler and easier to understand.