For many in the NASCAR community, a return to the Chase format is a welcomed change for the better. Kyle Busch doesn’t seem to be among that group. An old-school racer, Busch is likely a full-season points kind of guy.
Kyle Busch raced under the old Chase format and has competed in the Championship 4 format as well. He won two championships in the Champ 4 era. He has also been a vocal critic of the sport in regards to the championship format and other issues like horsepower.
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On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Busch was asked about the Chase format. He did not have the warm and kind response that so many other drivers have had so far.
Kyle Busch during practice at Pocono Raceway.Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
(Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
“I thought we got away from it for a reason in the past, so I’m not real sure why we went back to it,” Busch said. “The reason why we sorta went away from it was obviously, Jimmie Johnson’s dominance, number one, but I feel like number two, is there were times where guys like myself who would have one bad race or two that would then knock them out of the championship, basically. Like, I finished 3rd one year, I finished 5th another year just from you know, having a wreck in one race, like Talladega.
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“You get caught up in a wreck and boom, you can’t make up enough points to get back to the championship but you’re going to finish 3rd in points. I got wrecked at Kansas one year and that put me 5th in the championship. So, it’s just stuff like that, that I don’t really agree with it. But with the racing, the way that it is today, and everybody running over everybody all the time, you might see, everybody, that all 16 of us have a bad race.
“So, you know, if all of us have a bad race, then that can sort of be construed as your throw away and you’ve gotta be good in the other nine. But you know, who’s to say, we don’t know. We’ll see how it plays out, but obviously everybody’s going to look toward the regular season and maximizing all the stage points, things like that. Points racing, basically.”
Kyle Busch isn’t exactly wrong. The Chase was done away with for a variety of reasons. While this version is different than what we have seen in the past, it is largely the same as the old system. So, do those changes help affect the perception of the format for the better? We’ll have to wait and see.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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