One of the most exciting race weekends in NASCAR is coming up this weekend, with the summer race at Daytona International Speedway awaiting both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series.
With Daytona comes the heightened potential of an upset winner stealing the victory, and the playoff spot that would come with it.
And that’s the big thing that will be on full display: with one race to go in the Cup Series and three in Xfinity, playoff spots are almost gone. Daytona is the perfect wild card for a playoff upset to lock themselves in.
But with the playoff system drawing ire from many these days, there’s been rumblings that the system could get retooled for 2026, even with the announcement of the 2026 schedules that came this week.
So for the majority of those who want the playoffs to change (or go away altogether), they might be rooting for maximum chaos this weekend in both series.
In the Xfinity Series, you could take your pick on someone who could upend the playoff field. Perhaps Ryan Ellis, who is lowest in full-time points, or maybe someone such as Blaine Perkins or Kyle Sieg, who could absolutely shatter the postseason picture.
But in the Cup Series, there is one unlikely hero who could cause NASCAR to rethink its playoffs entirely with a victory. One driver who could completely kill the NASCAR playoffs as we know it.
Look no further than the No. 51 of Cody Ware.
A Ware victory would be surprising in and of itself, as Ware only has two top 10s in his 116 Cup starts, though both of them came in the summer Daytona race. However, the 2025 season has been absolutely abysmal for the Rick Ware Racing driver in the midst of what is technically his first full-time season in his Cup career (he missed a race in his last full-time effort in 2022 due to injury).
Ware sits 36th in points, last of all full-time drivers, and he sits last by a wide margin. He has only accumulated 168 points this season across 25 races, four of those being stage points.
For context, Ware trails 35th-place Riley Herbst by 65 points, more than a full race. Regular-season champion William Byron sits atop the standings with a whopping 839 points, 671 ahead of the No. 51. But the most telling stat is that Ware is averaging just 6.72 points per race. Without his four stage points, that number decreases to 6.56.
It doesn’t matter how you spin it, this season is the Ware group will want to forget performance-wise. That’s without mentioning the ongoing charter lawsuit RWR faces from Legacy Motor Club that cannot help the team’s morale and performance, either.
But you know what they say: a win can fix everything. A Ware upset is certainly possible, given both of his top 10s came in the summer Daytona race. Just last season, when Harrison Burton pulled off a major upset of his own, Ware came home a career-best fourth in that race.
An upset could certainly happen, and it could certainly fix a lot of things.
But could it fix the championship system?
Let me posit a question: Would NASCAR really sit around and double- and triple-down on the playoff format if a driver like Ware, who hasn’t even eclipsed 200 points this season, won his way into the playoffs? Could Mamba Smith really defend that?
Say what you want about Burton’s victory and how it didn’t change the playoff format, but everyone knew that the No. 21 had the speed to win; Josh Berry has proved that this season. While Burton’s win was a surprise, it doesn’t hold a candle to what a Ware win could do.
Especially at a time when the playoff system has been more scrutinized than ever, to the point where NASCAR execs are making it known that changes are being considered for 2026.
Which is especially relevant because of the fact that the 2026 schedules were released this week. While the schedules had the round designations next to respective tracks, Ben Kennedy has said that the championship format for 2026 has not been confirmed.
You know what would make NASCAR execs rethink the current format? A Cody Ware playoff berth.
Don’t get me wrong. Should Ware pull off the victory, it should be celebrated as a monumental upset. It would be a huge victory for Ware, and that cannot be glossed over.
But in this day and age, there is an unfortunate downturn in support for the underdogs because of the playoff implications.
This might be the one time an underdog win and playoff berth could be supported.
But at the same time, it’s worth reiterating that NASCAR didn’t change the playoffs for this season even after last-in-points Burton won Daytona last year.
But one can hope things will be different this year. For the good of the sport.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.