NASCAR Quietly Ends Long-Standing Championship Honor, and Not Everyone Will Like It

NASCAR In-Season Challenge finals are set. GettyNASCAR has made a major change to the way it describes its championship race heading into the final weeks of the 2026 season. The sanctioning body will no longer use the term “regular season champion” and will instead refer to the points leader as the “No. 1 seed” entering the postseason. The update was confirmed by NASCAR Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde during the latest episode of the official “