NASCAR Canada enjoys record grid at Mosport, as big as Cup at Darlington

Just to put it out there, a bigger grid does not guarantee better racing. Just because Formula 3 can draw 30 cars a race doesn’t mean people are going to prioritise that over Formula 1’s 22, much like how the 75 cars that took part in the inaugural Southern 500 in 1950 weren’t as good as the 38 that ran Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500.

Having said that, it does feel a bit weird when the highest level of stock car racing can’t draw 40 cars a race. NASCAR’s glory years were often filled with 43-car fields, consisting of the usual 42 drivers plus a 43rd spot reserved for the most recent champion who was unable to qualify. 43 was the magic number during the sport’s height, both because that 43rd slot was so coveted by teams desperate to make the race and since #43 was used by the legendary Richard Petty, for whom the past champion’s provisional was created. The Pixar film Cars, celebrated its 20th anniversary this year by having Lightning McQueen as an honourary safety car for the Italian Grand Prix, even begins with the protagonist’s monologue: “One winner, 42 losers. I eat losers for breakfast.”

However, things changed in 2016. The introduction of the charter system, which is reserved for just 36 cars, prompted NASCAR to reduce the field to just 40 maximum. This meant only four non-chartered cars can participate in a given race rather than seven, which the sanctioning body and Race Team Alliance—the latter of whom was responsible for the charters—justified as increasing the individual value of those grid slots and charters. Of course, the reduced field consequently meant pushing out smaller teams who can’t take as many chances in trying to qualify for races. This became apparent during the 2025 season when there were six full-time cars without a charter because 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were in the midst of a lawsuit against NASCAR, and some feared NASCAR could give their charters elsewhere and force the six open cars to fight amongst themselves. The fact that NASCAR simply shrugged and had 30 chartered cars in a race rather than 36 almost feels like an act of goodwill.

Outside of major rounds like the Daytona 500, the typical Cup race will only feature the 36 chartered cars. In fact, NASCAR even actively declares a race as a “full field” if it has those 36 while the remaining four are basically treated as a bonus. Occasionally, the field will grow to 41 for special guest drivers, but those are rare. Even though charters are Cup-only, the field shrinkage occurred at the lower levels too as O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events have a max of 38 cars, also a reduction from 43 and 40.

Alongside the 36, Chad Finchum’s #66 and Corey Heim’s #67 competed at Darlington Raceway as open cars. While 38 is slightly higher than usual, it isn’t the biggest grid of the day. Across the border at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the NASCAR Canada Series also boasted 38 cars in a series high.

The Canada Series is one of four international NASCAR-sanctioned championships alongside those in Europe, Brazil, and Mexico. Whereas the Euro and Brasil Series are primarily road racing divisions, Mexico and Canada pride themselves in being a mix of those and ovals not unlike what’s in the United States.

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Mosport has been an annual stop for the Canada Series since 2007, and is considered perhaps the most popular track on the calendar. You might think a NASCAR road race would draw fewer entrants than an oval, but that is certainly not the case; much like road courses stateside, the required skillset makes Mosport an attractive place for road racers to try their hand at the discipline. The 2026 season began at the Mosport in May and featured a whopping 32 cars; Circuit Trois-Rivières is the only other race so far to hit the 30-car mark so far this year.

The 38 cars that ran Sunday’s WeatherTech 200 surpassed the previous Canada Series record of 37 who showed up to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2011. While Montreal is better known as the host of the Canadian Grand Prix, its NASCAR weekend was immensely popular as it featured both the local series and O’Reilly; the inaugural race in 2007 drew 31 drivers followed by 33 (2008) and 34 (2009, 2010, and 2012). Only Mosport and Trois-Rivières have been able to get into the same range, with the first Mosport round in 2013 garnering 36 drivers including current Cup Series driver Ty Dillon. However, Montreal 2011 was almost solely homegrown Canadian talent save for Jason Bowles while Mosport included some Americans wanting to get experience before the feature Truck Series event.

Like that Montreal day, the WeatherTech 200 was one for the Canucks. Former NFL player Jared Odrick was originally entered to make it 39, but withdrew after crashing in practice. Those who did take the green included 2016 champion Cayden Lapcevich in his first race since 2024 and 2006 champ J.R. Fitzpatrick who last competed in 2014. Nicolas Barrette, the son of actor Michel Barrette and star in the now-defunct Nissan Sentra Cup, made his NASCAR début.

Despite not having done a road course race since Mosport in 2017, Lapcevich battled with Andrew Ranger and Marc-Antoine Camirand for the win. A late caution set up overtime, where Ranger held off the other two for the victory. He had also won that Montreal race in 2011. While coming up short of the win, Camirand secured his fourth title and third straight, the latter of which has never been achieved before in the Canada Series. The four crowns also tie Scott Steckly for the most in series history.

“To win that third championship in a row, fourth in five years, that means a lot for the Paillé #96 team,” said Camirand. “This year, we’ve have a great season, seven wins so far. We’re going to try to go for eight at Delaware, but we didn’t have much success over there so we’ll see what we can do. Definitely, we’re going to go there with less pressure and we’ll see what we can do at Delaware. We’re going to look forward to beating Steckly next year for the most championship in the NASCAR Canada Series.”

While one title was wrapped up, the hunt for the Cup Series‘ was on in Darlington…

The Chase begins, Bell ends drought

After a controversial 12-year run with the playoffs, the Chase was brought back for the 2026 season. Darlington Raceway was also on the slate during the Chase’s run as the penultimate round for the format’s inaugural season in 2004 before the fall date got axed. This time, as it had been for the playoffs since 2020 (save for 2024, when it was the regular season finale), the historic oval served as the first race.

While a single bad race in the Chase isn’t as damaging as in the playoff era, the margin for error is still low. Denny Hamlin could attest to this, having entered the Chase as the regular season champion only to finish 18th because of contact with Michael McDowell. Even a strong finish could still not be enough, as was the case when Ryan Blaney finished fourth yet fell from second to third in the standings. Ty Gibbs was the runner-up, yet had the biggest drop in points from fourth to sixth.

This weirdness wasn’t a thing during the original Chase era because stage points weren’t introduced until 2017, three years after the playoffs replaced the Chase. Stage points, of course, make running well all day more important as a driver with a lower finish can still rack up as much points as someone with a good day as long as they were accumulating points across the first two segments. This was how Hamlin was able to maintain the top spot in the standings, having finished third in Stages 1 and 2 before falling out of the picture in Stage 3; Gibbs, on the other hand, only had one stage point from being tenth in Stage 1. As a result, Hamlin ended the day with 35 points despite finishing 18th while Gibbs had 36.

Conversely, Christopher Bell had a smashing run on Sunday night that propelled him from sixth to second in points. He finished fourth instage 1, won Stage 2, set the fastest lap, then passed Kyle Larson in the closing stretch for the victory. Besides getting into the championship hunt, the victory finally ends a painful 33-race winless streeak dating back to Bristol last year. For someone who would’ve been happy to just visit Victory Lane for much of 2026, he and the #20 team now have dreams of a Bill France Cup.

“It would be a disappointment (if we don’t win the title),” said crew chief Adam Stevens. “We need to capitalise on points. Stage points obviously is huge. It showed up tonight.

“I didn’t think we were ever going to go through this year, prior to the start of the year or even the start of this weekend, without winning a race. That being said, I didn’t have Darlington on my schedule circled as one that was at the top of the list. Historically for us, we haven’t been the best. We’ve been competitive on occasion and we’ve missed it big on occasion.

“To come out of here, first race of the playoffs, with a win and run as good as we did all night feels really good. I know that we’re going to be one of the cars to beat in the next handful of weeks.”

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