Twenty-six races are in the books. The points have been reset. And now the real fight begins.
NASCAR’s 16-driver Chase field opens its 10-race championship run Sunday night with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. But the regular season left behind more than race winners and a postseason field.
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There were run-ins, rivalries, manufacturer battles and even a legal fight away from the track.
Before the green flag falls on NASCAR’s first Chase since the championship format was overhauled, here are six of the biggest feuds, clashes and tension points that helped shape the 2026 regular season.
1. Bubba Wallace vs. Carson Hocevar
One of the season’s wildest confrontations came at Martinsville.
During a late restart in March, Wallace made repeated contact with Hocevar before the No. 77 Chevrolet spun and a 12-car incident erupted behind them. Wallace’s own car suffered the worst consequences, leaving him 36th while Hocevar recovered to finish 17th.
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The bad blood didn’t linger. Wallace later acknowledged Hocevar had done nothing wrong, texted him to apologize and explained that frustration from an already difficult afternoon had boiled over. Hocevar accepted it, and both moved on.
The feud was brief. The Martinsville fireworks were not.
2. Carson Hocevar vs. Corey Heim
If Wallace-Hocevar fizzled quickly, Hocevar-Heim has done anything but.
Their history stretches back to the Truck Series, and it erupted again at Indianapolis. Hocevar flashed his middle finger at Heim during the Brickyard 400 after becoming frustrated while racing him.
Heim responded in the most effective way possible: He won the race.
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“Handed him a big fat L,” Heim said afterward.
Hocevar didn’t pretend the relationship was friendly, either.
“We don’t like each other, but we race really hard,” he said.
With Heim moving into a full-time Cup ride for 2027, NASCAR may be watching this one for a while.
3. Carson Hocevar vs. … Everybody?
There’s a reason Hocevar appears twice already.
The 23-year-old has spent much of 2026 as one of NASCAR’s biggest lightning rods, with his aggressive style creating friction throughout the garage.
Hocevar hasn’t exactly run from that reputation.
“They can all stand up to the plate and bring it on,” he said during the summer. “I don’t know if anyone wants that war.”
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Love him or hate him, Hocevar has been nearly impossible to ignore. Now comes the bigger test: He enters the Chase as the No. 12 seed with a championship suddenly at stake.
4. Toyota vs. Everybody Else
Not every NASCAR rivalry requires two angry drivers.
Toyota spent much of the regular season setting the competitive standard. By the halfway point, Toyota teams had won 11 of the first 18 races, prompting Brad Keselowski to publicly praise the manufacturer’s collaboration while discussing what Ford and RFK Racing needed to improve.
That strength has been particularly evident at the site of Sunday’s Chase opener. Toyota has won the past three Cup races at Darlington, including Tyler Reddick’s victory there this spring.
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The manufacturer battle now gets 10 more races to play out with a championship attached.
5. Joe Gibbs Racing vs. Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports
The most serious fight of the regular season didn’t happen on a racetrack.
Joe Gibbs Racing filed a federal lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports in February. The case involves allegations surrounding trade secrets and confidential information following Gabehart’s departure from JGR for Spire.
Gabehart and Spire have denied wrongdoing and filed counterclaims against JGR. The litigation remained active through the summer, with both sides demanding jury trials.
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Whatever ultimately happens in court, it turned an already significant personnel move between Cup organizations into one of the biggest off-track NASCAR stories of 2026.
6. Denny Hamlin vs. Joey Logano
Some NASCAR rivalries never completely disappear.
Hamlin and Logano have been trading blows, words and memorable moments for more than a decade. This summer at North Wilkesboro, the two once again found themselves fighting at the front.
This time, however, there was no post-race explosion.
Logano held off Hamlin to win, and Hamlin sought him out afterward for a handshake before praising his longtime rival’s performance as “wildly impressive.”
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It was less a feud reignited than a reminder of how much history exists between two drivers who are now both chasing another championship.
And that might be the most interesting part of where NASCAR stands entering Darlington.
Some of the regular season’s battles have been settled. Others clearly haven’t. Now 10 races remain, the championship is on the line, and the drivers who spent six months racing one another for wins suddenly have considerably more to lose.
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