NASCAR Season Starts Sunday After Turbulent Offseason
The NASCAR season starts Sunday when the green flag drops on the 68th Daytona 500. Everyone's hoping to move forward from everything that happeded during the offseason.
The past 100 days have been rough. NASCAR barely looks like the same sport compared to when the 2025 season ended at Phoenix in the fall.
What Changed
Back in the fall, team charters weren't permanent. Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan's 23XI were suing NASCAR over those charters in an antitrust lawsuit that had been looming for nearly two years. Most people hoped for a settlement before it crashed into the courtroom.
Then people read texts from NASCAR brass calling team owners stupid rednecks, among other unflattering remarks. The texts got leaked during the lawsuit. Not a good look for NASCAR executives talking about the people who own the teams that make the sport possible.
NASCAR had a commissioner in Steve Phelps. The decade-old postseason elimination playoff format still existed. Hamlin's father Dennis was known mostly for being his son's biggest supporter, fighting through failing health to publicly back Denny's championship run that came up short in overtime.
And Greg Biffle was still alive.
What Happened Next
Biffle died in a plane crash, along with his wife, two children, a close family friend, the pilot and his son, in December. His family and the entire garage are grieving a beloved member of the NASCAR community and the tragedy of it all. Team charters are now permanent. The settlement came, but only after a courtroom battle so vicious Phelps is out of the sport entirely.
The antitrust lawsuit exposed a lot. Those texts calling owners stupid rednecks. The power dynamics between NASCAR and the teams. How charters worked and who controlled what. Many feelings got hurt in and around that courtroom and still are.
The settlement gave teams permanent charters. But it came after weeks of legal warfare that aired a lot of NASCAR's dirty laundry. Jordan and Hamlin forced NASCAR's hand. They won. But the process left scars.
Days after the settlement, Hamlin lost his father Dennis in a house fire, while also suffering a shoulder injury that could've derailed his season before it started. But Denny Hamlin shows no signs of slowing down. He's preparing for another championship run. His upcoming campaign already feels like a revenge tour.
The Playoffs are gone. The Chase format is back, due in no small part to Hamlin's efforts and heartbreak. He's been vocal about hating the playoff format for years. Now it's gone. Whether that's directly because of him or just coincidental timing, the format he despised is dead.
Everything Else That Changed
Charlotte ditched the Roval. North Wilkesboro Speedway is hosting a regular-season Cup race for the first time since 1996. Homestead-Miami Speedway is returning to its old spot at season's end, at least temporarily.
The Xfinity Series is now the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Sponsorship change. New name. Same series.
Connor Zilisch is moving up to Cup and swapping numbers with new Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen. Daniel Suarez, who they're replacing, moves to Spire Motorsports. Roster shake-ups across multiple teams.
There's a horsepower boost at 20 of the 38 Cup races. Mostly short tracks and road courses. NASCAR's trying to make the racing more exciting with more power.
June brings a 16-turn, 3.4-mile event at San Diego's Naval Base Coronado. Racecars weaving between aircraft carrier docks and fighter jet tarmacs. New venue. New track layout. NASCAR is experimenting with unique locations.
The Generational Shift Is Coming
Another garage generational shift is approaching fast. Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano—all future NASCAR Hall of Famers—are way closer to the end of their careers than the beginning. These guys have been dominant for over a decade. That era is winding down.
Meanwhile, two-time defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron hasn't hit 30 yet. Zilisch is 19. The next generation is already here and winning races. The changeover from the old guard to the new blood is happening in real time.
It's a lot to keep track of. But thankfully, most of it involves the track itself. Not ill-advised texts. Not billable hours. Not screaming matches over gimmicky points systems or committee meetings debating whether to overhaul those systems.
What Jim France Said
Jim France, NASCAR chairman and the uncomfortable face of the sanctioning body's side of the antitrust fight, said it best in December. He stood beside Jordan, who had just beaten France in court.
France hates speaking in public. Actively avoids it. But he spoke for everyone in NASCAR when he said, "We can get back to focusing on what we really love. And that's racing."
That's what everyone wants. To focus on racing instead of lawsuits and leaked texts and courtroom drama.
The Biffle Tragedy
Greg Biffle's death, along with his wife and two children, hit the garage hard. He was a beloved figure who raced in NASCAR for years. He built relationships across the sport. His death, the loss of his family—it's still raw for everyone heading into Daytona.
The offseason should've been about charters becoming permanent and format changes and new venues. Instead it was about lawsuits and death and injury and ugly texts and executives leaving the sport.
Sunday's Reset
No one knows how good the racing will be in 2026. Honestly, as everyone heads to Daytona, it doesn't feel like anyone cares about predictions or expectations. They're just ready to try and move forward, and ready to race.
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