NASCAR listened to its fan base's complaints and has returned to a championship system that rewards consistency and point accumulation, rather than race wins. The new format gets rid of the playoff format that saw drivers eliminated after every three races and a winner-take-all championship race between four drivers. The spot has opted to return to the “Chase for the Championship” format it used between 2004 and 2013. The sixteen drivers who accumulate the most points during the first 26 races of the season will contend for the championship over the season’s final 10 races, with the driver scoring the most points during those 10 races being crowned champion.

Here are the 16 drivers I’m predicting to make the new Chase for the Championship:

1. Denny Hamlin
At 45, Denny Hamlin is the oldest driver in NASCAR’s premier series. This championship format will be his best, and possibly final, chance to win a championship that has eluded him his entire career. He’s the greatest driver in the sport’s history to have never won a title. He narrowly missed last year in the old winner-take-all format due to a late caution. This could be his year.

2. Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell should be a major threat under this Chase for the Champion format. He would’ve been second last year and only seven points behind the champion under this system. In fact, in three of the last four years, he would’ve finished in the top-3.

3. Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson excels at any championship format. He won in 2025 under the playoff system; he would’ve still won it under the current system, and he would’ve even won it under the old Winston Cup season-long points system. He’ll be a threat for sure.

4. Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney is a measure of consistency, so much in fact that under this current championship format, he would’ve finished exactly the same (fourth in the standings) in the last four years consecutively. Might as well predict him there to begin the season.

5. William Byron
William Byron wins a decent amount of races but always seems to start off hot in the season and then fade. He’ll need to stop that fade if he wants to succeed under this format. He would’ve been the regular-season points leader last year and found a way to fall all the way to fifth in the final 10 races.

6. Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott feels like a driver who’s great at accumulating points throughout the full season, especially as his win totals have dropped drastically in the last few years. But he would only have finished seventh in this format last year and hasn’t done better than third in it since 2020.

7. Joey Logano
Joey Logano was the greatest NASCAR driver of the playoff, winner-take-all playoff. He and his No. 22 Penske Racing team knew how to work the system better than anyone else, just making it through each round, winning races when it mattered most, and showing up at Phoenix Raceway (where the championship ended most years under that format) and coming out on top. Logano and the team will have to get more consistent for this format. Logano would’ve placed eighth last year.

8. Tyler Reddick
Tyler Reddick would’ve finished eighth in the last two seasons under this format, which is a good place to predict him at the start of the season. He’s going to have to find his winning ways again to be more of a threat, especially with first place now offering 50 points.

9. Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe is coming off his best season yet in the Cup Series, unsurprisingly, as 2025 was his first year with the powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing team. Briscoe had his first multi-win season in 2025 and nearly doubled his previous high in top-10s. Briscoe would’ve finished third in the standings last season under this format, so I’m potentially underrating him at ninth place.

10. Chris Buescher
Chris Buescher could be the driver who benefits the most from the loss of the “win-and-you’re-in” playoff format. Buescher, who missed the playoffs the last two seasons, would’ve finished in the top-12 the last two seasons under this format. He would’ve been 12th last season and 11th the previous season. He probably does need to contend for more wins, though, to have a championship shot.

11. Bubba Wallace
Bubba Wallace and his No. 23 23XI Toyota team have to figure out ways to cut down on the number of did-not-finish results in 2026 if they want to make the Chase for the Championship. Wallace’s nine DNFs last season were second to only Cody Ware’s 11 in the Cup Series. He would’ve finished 11th in points last year under this format. Imagine how much higher that could’ve been had he had half as many DNFs.

12. Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain needs to figure out a way to win more races to truly have a championship shot. He’s only won one race in each of the last two seasons. Under this format, he would’ve placed 10th in the standings last season, and only 14th the season before that.

13. Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman is another driver who probably doesn’t win enough races to truly contend for a championship. He’s only won two races in the last four seasons, but with his good Hendrick Motorsports equipment, he should accumulate enough points to at least make the Chase portion of the season. He would’ve finished 14th in points last season under this format.

14. Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski would not have qualified for the Chase for the Championship last season under this format. But he does strike me as the kind of driver who would be good at accumulating points over a season-long format. He doesn’t win much anymore, only once in the last four seasons, but I’ll give him one of the final spots in the Chase.

15. Kyle Busch
Some NASCAR fans think Kyle Busch is washed. I’m not one of them. I just don’t think Richard Childress Racing is good enough to do much with. Busch hasn’t won a race in the last two seasons, which must be miserable for a competitor of his status. Maybe I’m being nostalgic, because he would not have made the Chase in either of the last two seasons, but I’ll put him in the top-16 this season. 

16. Ty Gibbs
​Ty Gibbs was the last driver into the NASCAR playoffs last season – making it in on points. He would not have made it had they been under the current season. He’s frankly been the biggest disappointment in NASCAR since he entered the Cup Series, having been such a success in the Xfinity (now O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series and driving in the sport’s best equipment for Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s time for Gibbs to show he belongs. He may not lose his ride because of Grandpop owning it, but if he had any other last name, he would be done.

​It has never been easier to watch the Olympics than in today’s modern world.

That’s a fact.

There was a time when you only got to see whatever Olympic events NBC (and ABC before it) deemed important enough to show in primetime, almost always time- and tape-delayed due to differing time zones around the globe.

Today, you can watch any and every Olympic event, either live or replay, on Peacock. And, for those who don’t want to pay the $10.99/month subscription fee, you may still have access to multiple events – both live and tape-delayed across the NBC family of networks, which include USA Network and CNBC.

But in some ways, it has never been more of a bitch to watch the Olympics than it today’s modern world. Yes, I have access to every event via Peacock and what I’ve DVR’d via YouTube TV. But I also have a full-time job and need a normal amount of sleep, so I have a small window of time to fit as many Olympic events in as possible.

People have always had full-time jobs and a need for sleep throughout the history of televised Olympic events. So, what’s the big deal?

The Internet. And, more so, social media.

It’s the job of journalists to relay news, which includes the results of sporting events. And journalists have always done this, but it used to be done through newspapers and the nightly news, which were either out the next day or could be easily avoided.

I can easily avoid news and sports websites like ESPN. No problem! But I still find myself constantly spoiled by the results of Olympic events, and the reason is social media sites like Facebook and Threads.

Of all of the things that can be spoiled, the worst are sporting events, because the whole point of watching a sporting event is to find out who won, or, in the case of the Olympics, who placed in the medals.

Yes, we choose what to follow on social media. And, back when that was the only way you saw anything on social media, you could easily unfollow or mute pages or profiles that might spoil you. But now the algorithm is key to social media. Social media no longer gives you what you have asked to see; it gives you what it believes you want to see. And, if you are a sports fan, or have an interest in the Olympics – based on prior usage or posts – it’ll show you sports and Olympic content. Thus, there is literally no way to use social media – or at least from what I know about it – without being spoiled during the Olympic Games. The only way to completely avoid being spoiled would be to go on a social media fast for the duration of the Games, which might honestly do us all a bit of good (social media is a societal cancer, after all), but how many of us are capable of breaking the habit of scrolling or opening our apps during moments of boredom throughout the day. I don’t want to be spoiled but still find myself struggling to avoid using social media.

I fully realize this is the biggest “first-world problem,” but it’s proven to be a major issue for my enjoyment of the Olympics over the past few Winter and Summer games. I wonder how many others experience this.     

Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8 will see the AFC champion New England Patriots play the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
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The big game will be a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX from 2015, which the Patriots one on game-saving interception by defensive back Malcolm Butler on a goal-line stand, which many thought should’ve been a run play instead of a pass. That game was ranked as eight greatest NFL game ever (and third highest Super Bowl) on NFL.com’s list of the 100 Greatest Games.

The Seahawks are 16-3 this season (including the playoffs) and the Patriots are 17-3, so on paper it might be an evenly matched Super Bowl. Let’s figure out which team has the advantages where…

Quarterback: Sam Darnold (Seahawks) vs. Drake Maye (Patriots)
Darnold: 4,048 yards (5th), 25 TD (9th), 14 INT (34th), 55.7 (19th)
Maye: 4,394 (4th), 31 (3rd), 8 (17th), 77.1 (1st)

Drake Maye is one of the NFL’s five MVP finalists, so you know he had a great season. He was fourth in the league in passing yards with nearly 4,400, he was third in the league with 31 touchdown passes and first in the league with a quarterback ratings of 77.1. The only knocks against Maye are that he’s young, he’s only in his second season, and it’s his first playoffs, let along Super Bowl appearance, and his play in the postseason hasn’t been what it was in the regular season. Maye has fumbled the ball six times in three postseason games and thrown two interceptions (he only had eight all regular season). Those knocks could prove huge in the Super Bowl.

Sam Darnold wasn’t as good as Maye in the regular season. He threw for fewer yards (though not many), threw six fewer touchdown passes, threw six more interceptions and his QBR was quite a bit worse, at only 19th best in the league. At 28, Darnold is more of a veteran, having been in the league for eight seasons, albeit only the last two at an above-average level. He’s been better than Maye this postseason, having zero turnovers and four touchdown passes in one fewer game (as the Seahawks had a Wild Card round bye). 

It’s hard to pick which team has the edge here, as Maye might well be named league MVP (probably not) by the team this game is played. But I don’t like what I’ve seen from Maye this postseason and turnovers can be killer in the Super Bowl, especially with the Seahawks averaging 36 points per game this postseason. I have to trust what my eyes have seen lately, not the complete season’s body of work. I’m giving the edge to the Seahawks here.

Advantage: Seahawks

Running Back: Kenneth Walker III (Seahawks) vs. TreVeyon Henderson & Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots)

Walker III: 1,027 yards (16th), 5 rush touchdowns
Henderson: 911 yards (21st), 9 rush touchdowns
Stevenson: 603 yards, 7 rush touchdowns

Both the Seahawks and Patriots used tandem running corps this season, but the Seahawks lost half of their combo when Zach Charbonnet went down with a season-ending knee injury in the divisional round of the playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers. Charbonnet led the team during the regular season with 12 touchdowns. Walker has stepped up in a massive way without Charbonnet, with 116 rushing yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns against the 49ers and then 111 yards on 23 touches and a touchdown in the NFC  title game against the Los Angeles Rams. Henderson, a rookie, was the Pats' leading rusher during the regular season, but Stevenson has had the bulk of the carries in the postseason. Stevenson has 194 rushing yards on 51 carries during the Patriots' three playoff games, compared to just 57 yards on 24 carries for Henderson. The Pats have had a great defense this postseason, but Walker has looked mighty good over his two games.

Advantage: Seahawks

Wide Receivers & Tight End: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Rashid Shaheed and A.J. Barner (Seahawks) vs. Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, Hunter Henry & Austin Hooper (Patriots)

Smith-Njigba:1,793 yards (1st), 10 touchdowns (6th), 119 receptions (4th)
Kupp: 593 yards, 2 touchdowns, 47 receptions
Diggs: 1,013 yards (16th), 4 touchdowns, 85 receptions (12th)
Boutte: 551 yards, 6 touchdowns, 33 receptions

The Patriots have more receivers capable of doing big things in the Super Bowl, with four receivers with at least 400 receiving yards during the regular season, compared to just two for the Seahawks. The Pats also had two tight ends combine for 81 catches, more than 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns in Henry and Hooper. It’s pretty much just Smith-Njigba, Kupp and Barner for Sam Darnold in the passing game. However, Smith-Njigba was arguably the best receiver in the game this season, and Kupp has extensive playoff experience and was the Rams' No. 1 receiving option when they won Super Bowl LVI four years ago, a game in which Kupp was the MVP. It might be one of those situations where more options for Drake Maye prove to be big in the Super Bowl, but I’ve got to go with the best receiver and a proven playoff receiver in Smith-Njigba and Kupp.

Advantage: Seahawks

Defense:
The Patriots and Seahawks were the two best defenses in the league this season, with the lowest points allowed per game to opponents. The Seahawks allowed 17.1 ppg to opponents, and the Pats allowed 17.3, so the teams were basically even in that regard. The Seahawks allowed the fewest yards per play to opponents this season at 4.6 per play. The Pats allowed 5.2 yards per play – again fairly even. The Patriots' defense during the postseason has been the best of the two. The Pats defense is the only reason they’ve made it this far, with how poorly the offense has played at times. The Patriots have allowed 209.7 yards per game through their first three playoff games. The Seahawks have allowed 357.5 over their two games. The Patriots have 12 sacks this postseason, whereas the Seahawks have 3 in one fewer game. What the Seahawks have excelled at defensively in the postseason is in turnovers, where they have a postseason-leading 4-plus differential, despite one fewer game than the Pats and other playoff teams. Both teams are very close when it comes to advantage on defense, so I’m going to go with the more impressive D over the postseason, and that has been New England’s.

Advantage: Patriots

Kickers: Jason Meyers (Seahawks) vs. Andy Borregales (Patriots)
We’ve seen in the past Super Bowls come down to a kicker making a field goal as time expires – the Patriots are no strangers to winning Super Bowls in that fashion. But can you trust a rookie kicker in such a situation? That might be where the Patriots find themselves with rookie kicker Andy Borregales, who missed two field goals during the AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos, though the weather was atrocious in the second half of that game. Borregales was 27-for-32 (84.5%) on field goals during the regular season and is 4-for-6 in the postseason. Seahawks kicker Jason Meyers, a veteran who has been with the team since 2019 and in the league since 2015, was 41-for-48 (85.4%) on field goals this season. Meyers’ 171 total points were the most in the league this season and are the most in league history for a player without a touchdown. I’ve got to go with the vet here.

Advantage: Seahawks

Coaching: Mike Macdonald (Seahawks) vs. Mike Vrabel (Patriots)
Both of these coaches are making their Super Bowl debuts as NFL head coaches, but Mike Vrabel had plenty of playing time in four Super Bowls with the Patriots, winning three of them. I wouldn’t expect any big game jitters from Vrabel, who was just honored as NFL Coach of the Year on Thursday (February 5). It’s amazing what Vrabel has done in his first year as coach of the Patriots, leading them to a 14-3 record and the Super Bowl after the team had gone 4-13 in each of the previous two seasons. At 38, Mike Macdonald is one of the youngest coaches in the NFL. It’s his second year as Seahawks head coach, and he’s done a remarkable job leading the Seahawks to a 24-10 combined record (26-10 if you include the postseason) during that tenure. I have to give Vrabel the edge here simply because he knows how Super Bowls go, and he has more overall coaching experience, which might come in handy in a tight game.

Advantage: Patriots

Prediction: Seattle Seahawks win Super Bowl LX

Why: This could be a truly close game, and the winner could come down to which team makes the bigger plays in key moments. I have the Seahawks with the offensive advantage, the Patriots with the defensive advantage (albeit just slightly) and the coaching advantage. But the Patriots' turnovers throughout the postseason, and the difference in Drake Maye’s play in the postseason compared to the regular season (he lost the MVP by one vote to Rams QB Matthew Stafford), have me concerned the Patriots might not be ready to regain the throne.  

Lindsey Vonn (Alpine Skier)
Lindsey Vonn qualified for her fifth and final Winter Olympics after returning from multiple retirements that spanned nearly five years and a successful partial knee replacement in 2024. The 41-year-old alpine skier, who won the gold medal in the Downhill event at the 2010 Vancouver Games and two bronze medals (2010 in Super-G and 2018 in Downhill), is targeting the Downhill and Super-G events in Italy. The Downhill event is scheduled for Sunday, February 8 and the Super-G event is scheduled for Thursday, February 12. It’s possible Vonn could also compete in the team combined event, which means she might compete with the next athlete on this list. If she does, that event will be on Tuesday, February 10.

*Lindsey Vonn injured herself in a pre-Olympic training session. Among her injuries is a ruptured ACL in her left knee. She is still going to attempt her Olympic events.  

Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine Skier)
Mikaela Shiffrin has had a hit-and-miss relationship with the Winter Olympics. Her highlights include becoming the youngest gold medalist in the Slalom event at 18 years old during the 2014 Sochi Games. She also took gold in the Giant Slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. One of the biggest stories of the 2022 Beijing Games was her failure to finish in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. The 30-year-old looks to rebound at Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Slalom (Wednesday, February 18) and Giant Slalom (Sunday, February 15) and could potentially team up with Lindsey Vonn in the team combined event.  

Chloe Kim (Snowboarder)
There was perhaps no bigger American Winter Olympics star at the 2022 Beijing Games than snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won a gold medal in the snowboarding halfpipe event to defend the gold she won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. The 25-year-old comes to Italy looking to make it a three-peat in the event, though she is recovering from a shoulder dislocation in early January. The women’s halfpipe event will be on Thursday, February 12.

Ilia Malinin (Figure Skater)
American figure skater Ilia Malinin, known as the “Quad God” for being the only person to have ever landed a fully rotated quadruple axel in competition (once thought impossible), is the favorite to win the gold medal in men’s figure skating. Malinin, who has won the last four U.S. National Championships, will compete in his first Winter Olympics in Italy. Malinin is looking to make it two Winter Games in a row for an American to win the gold, following Nathan Chen’s victory in Beijing. It would be the first time Americans have won gold in back-to-back games since Scott Hamilton (1984 Sarajevo) and Brian Boitano (1988 Calgary).  

Amber Glenn & Alysa Liu (Figure Skater)
The Americans have two women's figure skaters with a chance of winning gold in Italy: Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu. Glenn is the first skater to win three consecutive U.S. national titles in more than 20 years, at will become the first openly queer figure skater in U.S. team history. At 26, Glenn is also the oldest American figure skater to qualify for the Olympics in nearly 100 years. Alysa Liu was the 2025 World Champion and has finished second in the last two U.S. Championships to Glenn. The 20-year-old makes her Olympic debut in Italy, and the competition between Glenn and Liu should be one of the most fun intra-American duels of the Games.

Erin Jackson (Speedskater)
Speedskater Erin Jackson made Team USA history at the 2022 Beijing Games when she became the first African American woman to win a gold medal in an individual Winter Olympic event when she won the 500-meter speedskating event. Jackson looks to defend her title in Italy on Sunday, February 15. She will also compete in the 1000-meter event on Monday, February 9.

Kaillie Humphries (Bobsledder)
Kaillie Humphries, one of the greatest women’s bobsledders in Winter Olympics history, returns for her fifth Winter Games. The 41-year-old has won three gold medals, two in the two-woman race at the 2010 Vancouver Games and 2014 Sochi Games, while representing her home country of Canada, and the first-ever monobob event at the 2022 Beijing Games, representing Team USA. Humphries aims to defend her monobob gold at Cortina d’Ampezzo (Monday, February 16) and will join Jasmine Jones in the two-woman event (Saturday, February 21).

Jessie Diggins (Cross-Country Skier)
The 2026 Winter Games will be the fourth for American Cross-Country Skier Jessie Diggins, who won a gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in the team sprint event, a silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Games in the 30 km mass start event and a bronze medal in Beijing in the sprint. Diggins, who has announced this will be her final Olympics, is expected to compete in all six women’s cross-country skiing events in Italy and is a potential medal contender in the 10 km freestyle (Thursday, February 12) and skiathlon (Saturday, February 7).

Connor Hellebuyck & Auston Matthews (Hockey)
The United States men’s hockey team may not be the favorites to take gold at the 2026 Games, but it does feature a talented squad filled with National Hockey League (NHL) stars, including the league’s most recent M.V.P. in Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, who was the league’s M.V.P. in 2022. Hellebuyck and Matthews look to lead Team USA to its first ice hockey gold medal since the 1980 Miracle on Ice squad. Team USA hasn’t medaled since winning silver at the 2010 Vancouver Games. The men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament begins on Wednesday, February 11, and the gold medal game will take place on Sunday, February 22.

Hilary Knight (Hockey)
The U.S. women’s hockey team has had more success than its male counterparts since the women’s game was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998. Team USA has taken gold twice, most recently at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and has medaled in all seven games. Hilary Knight was on that 2018 gold-medal-winning team and, at age 36, returns to the Olympics for her fifth time, her first as captain. Knight has 12 goals in 22 career Olympic games and is looking to add a second gold medal to go along with her three silver medals. The women’s Olympic ice hockey tournament begins Thursday, February 5, and the gold medal game will take place on Thursday, February 19.