So, you're looking for the name of the guy who took the green-and-white checkered flag for Stage 1 today. Honestly, I have to give it to you straight: nobody won a NASCAR Cup Series stage today, January 18, 2026.
Wait. Don't close the tab yet.
If you're checking your phone and seeing a bunch of racing news, there is a very specific reason for the confusion. We are currently in the heart of the "off-season," but for NASCAR fans, the engines never actually stop. They just move to different tracks and different types of cars.
The Search for the Stage 1 Winner Explained
The reason you won’t find a Stage 1 winner for the Cup Series today is simply that the 2026 season hasn't officially kicked off its points-paying schedule. We are in that weird limbo between the New Year and the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, which is set for February 1.
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If you saw highlights of Emerson Axsom or Christopher Bell winning something "today" or late last night, you're likely looking at the Chili Bowl Nationals results.
The Chili Bowl isn't a NASCAR race, technically. It’s a Midget car race in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But because guys like Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs spend their "vacation" flipping dirt cars there, the NASCAR world treats it like a home game. Emerson Axsom actually took the big trophy home yesterday (Saturday, January 17), and Christopher Bell had a wild week running his own equipment.
When Does the Real Racing Start?
If you are itching for actual stage points and the frantic radio chatter of the Cup Series, you have a couple of weeks to wait. The 2026 schedule is a bit of a throwback and a bit of a project.
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- February 1, 2026: The Busch Light Clash. This year, it's at Bowman Gray Stadium. If you know anything about "The Madhouse," you know stage wins won't even matter as much as just surviving the bumper-to-bumper carnage.
- February 15, 2026: The Daytona 500. This is the big one. This is where the first "real" Stage 1 winner of the 2026 season will be crowned.
Why Stage 1 Wins Matter So Much Now
NASCAR recently shook things up for the 2026 season by bringing back a revised version of "The Chase." While the specifics of the points reset have changed, one thing has stayed the same: Stage points are king.
Drivers like Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott have basically built their careers on being "Stage 1 Warriors." They don't always win the race, but they bank those points early. It’s a strategy. Kinda like eating your vegetables so you can have dessert later, except the vegetables are high-speed left turns and the dessert is a championship trophy in Homestead-Miami this November.
Common Misconceptions About Today’s "Winner"
Often, when people search for "who won stage 1 in NASCAR today" during the off-season, they might be seeing:
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- Re-runs: Networks love showing the 2025 playoffs right about now to get people hyped.
- iRacing: The Pro Invitational series sometimes runs during the winter.
- Late Model Racing: Kevin Harvick just won a CARS Tour West race in Tucson yesterday. His son, Keelan, was even on the pole.
It’s easy to get turned around. The news cycle for racing is 24/7 now.
What You Should Actually Watch For
Keep an eye on the testing sessions at Daytona and the entry lists for the Clash. The move to Bowman Gray is a massive deal for the sport—it's a tiny quarter-mile track that's going to produce some of the most aggressive racing we've seen in a decade.
If you want to be ready for the actual first Stage 1 winner of 2026, mark your calendar for the Daytona 500 on February 15. That’s when the points actually start counting toward the season-long grind.
For now, the best thing you can do to stay ahead of the curve is to check out the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule. Start planning those Sunday afternoons, because once February hits, the "who won Stage 1" question becomes the most important part of the afternoon.
Keep an eye on the Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing social feeds over the next week. They usually drop their new paint schemes around now, and honestly, that’s almost as exciting as the racing itself.