Okay , so here ' s my attempt at an easytofollow explanation . Making the ChaseThe first 26 races of the season are known as the regular season . Like in other sports , this takes place before the playoffs The Chase . You make the Chase by being in the top 16 in points at the end of the regular season . Points are awarded like in other motorsports , most points for the winner with incrementally lower points for each position after that . Now , other than being in the top 16 in points , you can also make the chase another way . You can win a race . If you place 1 st in any race in the regular season , you are automatically locked into the Chase even if you are out of the top 16 in points . These winners take precedent over nonwinning drivers , and so , if a winner comes from outside of the top 16 , some drivers without wins are booted out to keep it at 16 . The ChaseThe Chase is NASCAR ' s version of the playoffs . It consists of the final 10 races , split up into different rounds . A round of 3 races , a round of 3 races , a round of 3 races , and a final Championship Race . The points are completely reset going into the Chase . And now , despite the fact that all drivers even ones who missed the Chase will still be on the track , only the 16 drivers who made the Chase will collect points . We go through the first round of 3 races and tally up the points . The lowest 4 Chase drivers are eliminated . Mind you , not eliminated from racing , just from championship contention . This leaves us with 12 drivers headed to the next round where we , once again , reset the points for those 12 . This cycle of 3 race rounds and eliminations repeats until , after the 9 th race , we are left with only 4 drivers still in contention for the championship . Important to mentionIf a Chase driver wins a race during the Chase , they are automatically locked into the next round even if they don ' t score enough points . This works much the same way as it does in the regular season , knocking out nonwinners if they don ' t have enough points . Championship RaceOnce we ' ve gotten this far , it becomes pretty straightforward . 4 drivers , out of the 40 on the track , are left with a chance at claiming the championship . Whichever of those 4 drivers has the best finish in the Championship Race is crowned the NASCAR Series Champion .