“I don’t think the playoff committee is going to meet again. I think we have gotten all the feedback that we needed from them. Now, it’s in NASCAR’s hands,” NASCAR’s managing director of racing communications, Mike Forde, said a month ago. And, well, that pretty much sums up the uneasy pause hovering over the sport.

All through the 2025 season, the championship format has been the elephant in the room. Drivers, fans, and insiders have all had their share of opinions. Even if a change comes, it’s expected to be some tweak in the playoffs, as that’s expected to stay. But while NASCAR weighs its options, another major motorsports series has already made a bold, decisive move to go back to its roots.

Late Model Dirt Series returns to its traditions

“For the 2026 season, we’re gonna return to a traditional points format for next year and go away from the Chase format. So we’ve tried something. We wanted to elevate our program,” Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series director Rick Schwallie announced recently and confirmed a major philosophical shift for one of dirt racing’s premier tours.

If you’ve been following the series, then you might be aware that since 2023, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has operated under a Chase-style playoff system, which mirrors the elimination-style drama seen in NASCAR. Drivers, throughout the regular season, accumulate points to qualify for the Late Model Dirt Series Chase.

Once the field is set, points are reset, and championship contenders battle through the final stretch of the schedule with stage-like emphasis on wins and consistency during the closing races. The idea was simple: inject urgency, create must-win moments, and keep the title fight alive deep into the season. Just like how NASCAR does!

And ultimately, with the same format, it also brought in the same criticism for them, like NASCAR. A full season’s worth of consistency could be minimized by a single bad night during the Chase. Mechanical failures, bad luck, or unavoidable incidents late in the year carried outsized consequences. Now, this is something that the dirt racing purists (and even the NASCAR community) have long pushed back against.

On the contrary, in the traditional points format, every race matters equally. It rewards grinding reliability throughout the season over short bursts. This perfectly mirrors dirt racing’s roots, where mechanical endurance and adaptability matter most. That’s why the return to a traditional season-long points format for 2026 feels like a reset rather than a retreat.

As NASCAR continues debating how much “playoff drama” is too much amid growing community hate and declining viewership, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is choosing clarity. It is now betting that authenticity wins.

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FloSports ushers in a new era for Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

“Lucas Oil has been at the forefront of grassroots racing since Forrest Lucas launched the Lucas Oil Series, and this partnership with FloSports opens a new chapter for the Series,” FloSports CEO and co-founder Mark Floreani said. “We entered into this partnership to expand on the legacy of Dirt Late Model racing, and to deliver the best possible product to its fans across our platform for many years to come.”

With that statement, FloSports officially confirmed it has acquired ownership of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series from Lucas Oil Products. Now, this marks one of the most significant shifts in dirt racing’s modern era. While Lucas Oil steps away from day-to-day operations after running the series since 2005, it isn’t disappearing.

Instead, the company will remain deeply involved through a multi-year exclusive title sponsorship agreement, preserving the Lucas Oil name and legacy within the championship. For FloSports, this move represents far more than a branding exercise. Having served as the exclusive media rights holder for the national tour since 2022, FloSports now gains full operational control.

This allows FloSports to integrate live event production, marketing, content creation, advertising sales, and business operations under one roof. The goal is simple: increase exposure, streamline operations, and push the series into its next growth phase. Continuity remains a priority.

Series director Rick Schwallie and the entire LOLMDS staff will stay in place, with longtime announcer James Essex continuing as the voice of the tour. FloRacing’s broadcast booth will also feature Dustin Jarrett at select events, with Ben Shelton reporting from pit road.

The timing aligns with an ambitious 2026 calendar. The series will feature 58 races at 26 tracks across 15 states, beginning with the traditional Georgia-Florida Speedweeks offering more than $650,000 in purse money. The season will conclude with Carl Short’s Dirt Track World Championship, where a $100,000 winner’s prize awaits.

This acquisition builds on FloSports’ growing dirt racing portfolio. After taking a minority stake in High Limit Racing in 2023, FloRacing delivered massive engagement in 2025, including over 30 million video views from the Kubota Gateway Dirt National alone. In total, dirt racing content generated more than 220 million video views and 1.2 billion live minutes streamed.

Now, these are numbers that explain exactly why FloSports is betting big on dirt.