After 26 races throughout the spring and summer, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has now reached the Chase for the Sprint Cup - also known as NASCAR's playoffs.

Here is everything you need to entering the Chase.

Format

There are 16 spots available in the Chase. The first spots were given to drivers who won in the regular season. The remaining spots were determined by the drivers who had the most points amongst drivers who did not have a regular season win.

Each driver who made the Chase gets their points reset to 2,000. For every regular season win, a driver gets three bonus points. After the bonus points are added, drivers are seeded based on amount of points.

There are four rounds in the "playoffs." The Challenger round lasts for the first three races and the formula for advancing to the next round is simple: win and your in. At the end of each round, the four drivers with the fewest points and no wins in that round are eliminated. This process continues through the Contender round, and the Eliminator round.

The final round lasts for just one race, the finale at Homestead-Miami, and has just four drivers. The recipe to win the chase is simple, finish higher at Homestead than any other driver in the final round with no bonus points for laps led; simply just finish higher than your opponents.

Drivers

The 16 drivers who made the chase are Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer.

Of those 16 drivers, only Harvick has won the Chase under the new format, which was established before last season in an effort to get more people to watch the races and create more excitement.

Favorites

If last Saturday’s race at Richmond is any indication, the heavy favorites will be any of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, who dominated the Federated Auto Parts 400. Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who only made the Chase based on a waiver he got from NASCAR after he missed the first part of the season, are also considered favorites to win the championship.

It is solely based on performance in the Chase, which means there could be a Cinderella who steals a win and surprisingly advances to the next round.

The 2015 NASCAR Chase For The Sprint Cup begins next week at Chicagoland Speedway. Stay tuned to the NASCAR section of VAVEL USA for coverage throughout the Chase.

Stevie Larson is the head NASCAR writer for VAVEL USA. You can follow him on Twitter @littletwinsfan.