Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks forward to 2026, addresses playoff format changes for O'Reilly Series

As the team owner of the No. 88 car, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his heart broken last weekend at Phoenix Raceway as well. Connor Zilisch lost out on the championship, but Dale Jr. is looking forward to the 2026 NASCAR season already.

JR Motorsports is putting together one heck of a program. They are going to have Zilisch return for part-time starts. Carson Kvapil will be full-time but in multiple cars. Rajah Caruth is going to race part-time with JRM and possibly another team to fill out his full-time season. Of course, Justin Allgaier returns along with Sammy Smith.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is already looking ahead to 2026. Things are going to continue regardless of what happened a week ago.

“I’m excited about next year,” Earnhardt said on the Dale Jr. Download. “We got a lot of things, we’re going to kind of move the furniture around in the room and change some of the pieces on the chessboard, so to speak, to try to be in a better spot and get everybody happy. Through some things that we’re going to do, we’re going to have four drivers, hopefully, driving for a championship next year.”

Dale Jr. also gave a little insight into what next year holds for the now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series in 2026. Whatever change goes on with the Cup Series format is coming to the lower series.

“We’ll have to see what the format is,” Dale Jr. continued. “I had an opportunity just by chance to exit the race track Saturday night with [Steve] O’Donnell, walking through the Cup garage as the 2 team were celebrating their championship.

“I said, ‘Hey, Steve, a lot of people talking about the Cup stuff, we know that’s probably coming in terms of a change to the format, but nobody ever says a thing about the Xfinity or Truck, and I guess we’re all just assuming that whatever happens to Cup, something similar will happen.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, something similar will happen.'”

So, good news for NASCAR fans. There have been a lot of emotions and reactions to Phoenix. Despite the very valid concerns, there is a silver lining. The fact that we don’t have to do that format again is a blessing.

Right now, it appears there are a few options out there for NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has spoken with folks at NASCAR. But we won’t know the next format until it is announced. Would fans even accept the old Chase format? Or is it full-season points or bust?