What Is the NASCAR Cup Series?
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top tier of American stock car racing — the premier national championship that sits at the summit of the NASCAR ladder, above the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. It is where the sport's biggest names, deepest-funded teams, and most-watched races live.
A Cup season runs from February to November and is built around a regular season followed by a playoff, with the championship decided at the season-ending finale. Three manufacturers field cars — Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota — and the marquee organizations spend the year chasing both individual race wins and the season-long title.
For the live, always-current order of the championship, see the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series standings — updated after every race.
The 2026 Championship Picture
Through the Pocono Great American Getaway 400 (June 14), Tyler Reddick still leads the championship — but the runaway has tightened. The 23XI Racing driver holds 704 points, now just 19 ahead of Denny Hamlin, after Hamlin reeled off three straight wins to close the gap.
The top of the standings, as of the latest board:
- Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing) — 704 points, the points leader and a five-win season.
- Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 685 points, 19 back, and the hottest driver in the sport: four wins on the year and a career-first three-race win streak at Nashville, Michigan, and Pocono.
- Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) — 539 points, third.
- Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) — 509 points and the most popular driver in the sport.
- Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) — 506 points, fifth.
- Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) — 494 points, a top-six driver carrying a lengthy Cup winless streak, the most-watched slump in the garage.
Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse's Shane van Gisbergen, and RFK's Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski round out the contenders. The full, live board is on the standings page.
Teams and Manufacturers
The Cup garage is defined by a handful of powerhouse organizations:
- Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) — the winningest team in series history; Elliott, Larson, William Byron.
- Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) — Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe.
- Team Penske (Ford) — Blaney, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric.
- 23XI Racing (Toyota) — co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan; home of points leader Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.
- Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) — Shane van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain.
- RFK Racing (Ford), Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet), Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet), Kaulig Racing, and Legacy Motor Club fill out the field.
2026 Storylines
Reddick leads, Hamlin charges. Tyler Reddick built a commanding early lead with a five-win season, but Denny Hamlin's three-race win streak has cut the margin to 19 points heading into the summer — turning a runaway into a fight.
Remembering Kyle Busch. The 2026 season was marked by the death of two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch on May 21, 2026. The loss reverberated across every national series in the days that followed, with tributes throughout the Memorial Day race weekend at Charlotte. Richard Childress Racing renumbered his Cup entry from the No. 8 to the No. 33 in the aftermath. Busch's final victory had come just days earlier in the Truck Series at Dover.
Larson's winless streak. Kyle Larson, one of the sport's most talented drivers, has carried a long Cup winless run deep into 2026 — a storyline that follows him to every track.
Hamlin's hot streak. Denny Hamlin won three straight Cup points races at Nashville, Michigan, and Pocono — the first three-race win streak of his career — to pull within 19 points of the championship lead. His Pocono win was his fourth of the season and a record eighth at the track. Earlier in the year he also won the first-ever Dover All-Star Race from the pole.
The Hall calls. The NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 — Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Larry Phillips — will be inducted in Charlotte in January 2027.
Crown Jewels and Notable 2026 Races
- Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte Motor Speedway) — NASCAR's longest race at 600 miles, run Memorial Day weekend under a "250 Years of America" theme and the Mission 600 military-honor program.
- NASCAR San Diego Weekend — Anduril 250 "Race the Base" (Naval Base Coronado) — the Cup Series' first-ever race weekend at a U.S. naval installation, run June 21, 2026 and won by Corey Heim, his first career Cup victory in a one-off cross-entry from the Truck Series.
The complete calendar is on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
How to Watch
Cup races are carried across NASCAR's broadcast partners, including FOX, FS1, and streaming on Amazon Prime Video (the Coca-Cola 600 aired on Prime Video). Radio coverage is on the Performance Racing Network (PRN), the Motor Racing Network (MRN), and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Check the schedule for the broadcast window of each race.
Why It Matters
The Cup Series is the summit of stock car racing — the championship every driver in the CARS Tour, the Craftsman Truck Series, and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is climbing toward. For Grand National Today, the Cup Series is the top of the ladder we cover end to end: the same drivers, teams, and tracks that shape regional racing all point here. Every Cup weekend sets the agenda for the entire sport.