The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series plans to return to a season-long points format in 2026, abandoning the four-driver Big River Steel Chase for the Championship playoffs used during the previous three seasons.

Series director Rick Schwallie revealed the change in concluding remarks at Friday’s postseason banquet at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. The national tour’s points fund will remain the same at more than $1.2 million with additional bonus programs planned for late-season events.

“For the 2026 season, we are going to return to a traditional points format next year and go away from the Chase format,” Schwallie said just after 9 p.m. “We tried something. We wanted to elevate our program. We more than doubled our points fund in that time. In those three years, we had clients like Big River Steel and ARP that helped us doing that, and really we wouldn’t be here — over $1.2 million today (for the points fund) — if it wasn’t for that.”

“So I don’t look back on that as any sort of failure by any stretch of the imagination. I really think it was a success. It took us to new places, and a place that’s more lucrative for our race teams. But I also think that we’re at a place where we tried different formats, different tweaks to that format. Here we are, three years later, we’re going to just return to a traditional format for next year and the points fund will remain the same.”

Details about the program, including late-season bonuses that will "place a big spotlight on our spot,” will be announced before Christmas.

The move is the first major change on the circuit since Thursday morning’s announcement before the weekend's Performance Racing Industry Trade Show that FloSports, which streams series events, has acquired the series after 21 years of Lucas Oil ownership.

The initial playoff in 2023 featured a final-race, winner-take-all championship among four competing drivers at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, for the Dirt Track World Championship. In 2024-25, all but four drivers were eliminated from the title chase with a handful of races remaining with the top points earner taking the title.

Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, the 2025 champion, earned a record $250,000 for winning the title.