Can Anyone Upset The Truck Series 2026 Chase?

Photo Credit to Brett Farmer/Getty Images

NASCAR

Who Can Mount a Cinderella Run in the 2026 Craftsman Truck Series Chase?

Twists, turns, and top-end dominance have all defined 2026 in the Craftsman Truck Series. Now reset to 10 Chase contenders, a lot of title-hopeful drivers are within striking distance. Here are the bottom five on the Chase grid, and their chances at making noise this postseason. A surprisingly veteran-heavy field has this entire group of drivers eyeing the ultimate prize in seven races.

Ty Majeski – 2,050 points

2024 Truck Series champion Ty Majeski remains winless since his title-winning drive nearly two years ago. The 43 starts for the ThorSport veteran now in the No. 88 have seen countless near-misses, however. Majeski’s best result this year has been runner-up in St. Petersburg and Dover. These results showed his wealth of experience on two very different racetracks. Majeski had a worst finish of eighth in last year’s postseason. The Wisconsin short tracker hopes to find similar elite consistency again in 2026.

“We’re certainly off,” Majeski said. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. I feel like there are areas where we need to get better. I feel like our peak is there. We’ve shown race-winning speed at a handful of tracks, but a handful of tracks isn’t good enough. We have to find that consistency. We need to have our off days be fifth to seventh. Right now our off days are more like 10th to 12th. We have to raise the bar and put ourselves in better positions to win. If you only put yourself in position to win five or six of these races, it’s hard to win one. You have to do it on a consistent basis in order to truly compete for championships and compete for wins. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

“We’ve had an up and down season. The every-other-race top-10 and then a DNF, top-10 and then a DNF. We have to clean that up or it’s obviously not gonna last very long in the new Chase format. So we’ve got to figure out a way to be consistent throughout these seven races. We’re gonna have to figure out a way to also peak at one or maybe two of them to truly have a chance heading into Homestead.”

Leading the charge for Truck Series mainstay ThorSport Racing, Majeski cannot be counted out of another title bid. 50 points may seem like a large deficit, but the short track savant did see many regular season highlights. Team 88’s weird trend of being on one week and off the next week has been a year-long oddity. If Majeski can string together a few strong days, then he should find himself contending for another title. The 88 was a poorly-timed caution away from stealing last year’s championship. If the right cards fall, Majeski could be in a similar situation this year too.

Grant Enfinger – 2,045 points

The only 2026 winner on this list, Grant Enfinger ended his drought at Lime Rock Park in July. That breakthrough victory was one of five regular season top-10s for the No. 9, ranking him seventh in The Chase. Enfinger and CR7 Motorsports alike are no strangers to deep postseason runs. This combination have made it all the way to the Championship 4 under the past playoff format. Known for quiet consistency and being a top-10 machine, Enfinger has high optimism for this seven-race run.

“I feel like the reset in general gives us a chance,” Enfinger said. “In general I feel like we’re at a deficit, but yes, this is absolutely doable for us. I feel like the beginning part of our season we didn’t have the speed. We were having a lot of issues too. Feel like we’ve continued to have some issues which we can’t during these seven races. But we have been climbing the hill. I feel like six out of the last eight races we’ve unloaded and raced with top-five pace. We have had some some good finishes too, and were able to get a win at Lime Rock in there. So yeah, we are trending the right direction. But I feel like we need to stay on that track to truly contend for a championship. I don’t think we can do it by having a solid seven races here. I think we’ve got to have a really good seven races here. And yeah, I feel like we need we need a couple wins. We need a couple things to to go our direction, but we absolutely can do this.”

“I think the past playoffs and the past pressure will help me from a mindset because I’ve kind of been there and I’ve done some of these things. But the format is different now. If you’re outside the points, I don’t think you can still be just careless or throw caution to the wind. So, I think the mindset is different. Obviously all seven of these races matter equally. So I think that’s different. That takes a different mindset, but some of the core principles of postseason racing is the same. I feel like you’ve got to be very present.”

“All of us want to win at Bristol. But I think you have to be real with yourself and you’re sitting there with a decision to make. Whether you pit or whether you take the stage points or set yourself up better for a win at the end. I feel like you got to be honest with yourself. I think that’s something that was hard for me to transition into this style format. So I think I have that as an advantage because I do have experience doing that but it is different. Like I said earlier, we have to keep progressing at the same rate that we have been for the middle third of the season. We need to keep going that way for these seven races if we truly want a shot.”

As Enfinger mentioned above, the No. 9 Chevrolet has been trending upwards as this season has wound on. Richmond a few weeks ago was a strong top-five night for Enfinger, giving great optimism for Bristol this weekend. Enfinger is tied for most all-time Truck Series postseason appearances (eight). Surely his wealth of racing intellect and knowledge will pay off in this seven-race stretch.

Daniel Hemric – 2,040 points

The second of three Chase contenders from McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Daniel Hemric trumps both teammates in age and NASCAR experience. The past O’Reilly Series champion and Cup Rookie of the Year now hopes to add Truck Series hardware to his trophy case. Ending the 2026 regular season with eight top-10s, Hemric is poised for a second-straight postseason run from the eighth seed.

“Truly just feel like, you know, racing experience is going to pay off for anybody and everyone who’s been a part of having to race under similar circumstances as this throughout parts of their career,” Hemric said. “Obviously well before the NASCAR series for myself in any of the top three series, this is a similar format to what you raced under. Trying to stack your best couple of weeks together week after week, just consistency side of things. I feel like it’s going to be crucial for everybody who’s experienced stuff like that. Which obviously the best way to do that is have the most speed and be as prepared as you can be and so on and so forth. So yeah, I know I’m not one of the only guys who’s been in those situations over the years. There’s many of them and  a lot of great racers that are part of this Chase. Thankful and grateful to be a part of it. We look forward to trying to make the best run at it we can.”

Hemric is the only man in this year’s Chase with starts across the three NASCAR National Series at all of these tracks. This experience should benefit Hemric in the immediate future moving forward. Starting this seven-race run from the eighth seed, Hemric aims to make a big splash in the Chase. Driver 19 also looks to better last year’s ninth-place postseason performance.

Ben Rhodes – 2,035 points

Two-time Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes looks to return to contention. ThorSport’s No. 99 Ford has only been as high as third this year, but hasn’t seen a top-10 since June. Having seen past playoff runs end on the championship stage, Rhodes is well aware of what he needs to do from the ninth Chase seed.

“I would say 2026 will be considerably different on the strategy we use within the Chase versus the old playoff system,” Rhodes said. “The old playoff system, it was every three races it cycled and it was a reset. It was a fresh page. The only fresh start that we have is right here, right now. Throughout the rest of 2026 and from this point forward, big picture ahead of you at all times. In the past, we would maybe be a bit more intentional at times on the way we’d run our strategy in the race. We know at this race we need this amount of points. Well, there’s a bit more of a long game at play now, which I’m totally fine with. It’s still the Chase. The intensity is still high. But I want that intensity to be just as high as it was in the past. I find when the intensity is up, it can force some mistakes or force errors and I like that. I feel like our team is experienced enough that I would like to say we won’t be baited into that too much. If we make a mistake, it’s not from nerves or pressure. It’s probably just from stupidity, so hopefully we don’t make any mistakes.”

Similar to Majeski, it’s currently a long dry spell for Ben Rhodes and winning as well. The No. 99 was last victorious in his most recent championship season over three years ago. Finding victory lane again must be priority number one for the 99 team. This is evident as Rhodes starts from the basement of the Chase grid. Consistent top-fives have delivered Rhodes both of his titles, and could carry this team back into championship contention.

Tyler Ankrum – 2,030 points

The last man in the Craftsman Truck Series Chase, 2025 Championship 4 finalist Tyler Ankrum looks to turn heads again. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s third title hopeful, Ankrum’s No. 18 has seen five top-10s so far in 2026. Narrowly edging out Stewart Friesen to get the 10th Chase seed, Ankrum gears up for a fifth postseason run amid year eight in the Trucks.

“You know, there is an aspect of the Chase that the playoffs never gave you,” Ankrum said. “And that is you’ll never be worse than 10th in points. You know, you can find yourself out of the Round of 10, like and you can still finish 11th or 12th in points. Round of 8, you can be fifth or sixth in points, and you can end up eighth in points leaving Phoenix. There are those are possibilities. That is the one nice thing about the Chase format and that is where the pressure is different. It is a pressure of attrition versus three mini series. It is a race of attrition. And that’s where the pressure comes from, because of the points and the way they always shake out. You just can’t afford a mistake, ever. You can’t afford a bad race. At least a race where you’ve wrecked out and you’re not being paid any points. You just have to execute races and rise above in ways that you hadn’t all year long. Which we always tend to do.”

“But I feel like with the Chase coming back and obviously everyone’s feeling that excitement, everyone’s feeling that pressure and that’s the reason why the first two Cup races have gone down the way they have. I feel like it’s gonna be even a bigger of a case with the Trucks, because we’re younger and we’re dumber. We just go out there and we swing for the fences.”

“And so I do in a sense think that me making it to the final four and doing it the way I did it will help me. Because I have been in that pressure situation before. Beating out trucks that had more speed, more capability than I had all year long. And we did it the hard way. And so I really feel like that will help me in that race-time situation where it’s a green-white-checkers or you need that point, you need to pass the truck in front of you. I think all that will help me, yes.”

Starting off as the last man in the running, Ankrum did give off a vibe of playing with house money. The No. 18 can only go up from here, with last year’s postseason proving that he can string together greatness. It is admittedly a far steeper mountain to climb now for Ankrum to be on the title doorstep. Despite this, the 25-year-old has more than enough knowledge and race craft to outsmart his competition over seven weeks.

The 10 Truck Series Chase contenders start their seven-race gauntlet run only separated by 70 points. While that seems like an insurmountable gap, Cup and O’Reilly have both proven that no points lead is safe. Any of these drivers can steadily climb their way up the standings beginning at Bristol, if any title favorite runs into issues. Tennessee’s green flag will fly Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  The UNOH 200 is a wildcard race to kick off the final stretch to the Truck Series title, with a lot of points up for grabs. It would be of little shock to see any of these veteran drivers make up serious ground in Thunder Valley. Should chaos ensue, they would position themselves nicely for the rest of The Chase.

Written by Peter Stratta

Be sure to follow us on Twitter/X

Be sure to follow the writer on Twitter/X

Photo Credit to Brett Farmer/Getty Images