NASCAR introduced the elimination-style Playoffs championship format to its three national series over a decade ago, and it has sparked mixed reactions ever since. While some fans enjoy the high-stakes feel of the Playoffs, others insist that champions crowned this way aren’t legitimate and would rather have a season-long points system in play. Either way, the Playoffs format is on track for an overhaul ahead of the 2026 racing season.
A panel of 25 motorsports insiders, manufacturer representatives, and members of the media recently met to discuss potential Playoffs changes, according to a report from NASCAR.com. The committee floated a number of ideas, including overhauling the Playoffs while keeping a similar system in place, while other members argued that the season-long points championship is the way to go.
“You’re looking at about 25 people on the panel from all walks of life, and I was kind of interested to see how it would start,” said NASCAR managing director of racing communications, Mike Forde. “The first to speak was a retired NASCAR Hall of Famer who had a bunch of very well-prepared research, and his idea or pitch was to go back to the 36-race season championship.”
He added, “Others went the opposite direction and said, ‘Well, I like the playoffs. I think that it is important to have eliminations, but how will we do it a little bit differently? Is it a seven-race lead-in to a three-race championship?’ That was one idea that was kicked off. And do we reduce the field from 16 drivers to 12 or 10, as we did in prior iterations of the Chase and playoffs?”
Additionally, the committee suggested a rotating championship venue instead of holding it at a single track. Previously, Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the championship race, but in recent years, it was moved to Phoenix Raceway.
“So there was a lot discussed,” Forde said. “Step one of the meeting was to really just throw ideas out there good or bad. The goal is a playoff system, whether it’s keeping it or changing it, that crowns a deserving champion, but also maintains or elevates fan engagement, whether from a digital or social perspective, or butts in the seats and eyeballs on the television. We want the competition for sure, but we want fans to be really engaged as well.”
Comments
They need to do something. I once was a huge NASCAR fan but haven’t watched a single race in a decade. It just became boring.
Lost interest as well roughly around their “Car of Tomorrow” era.
They intended to make themselves as big as the NFL, but became roller derby instead. Too many rules, pit politics, and bull# now. Also hard to keep interest over such a long season.
Drop it now while season is young. They can do it.
Could -vs- should. Along with stage racing.
Drop the play off system and STAGR RACING now and get back to racing. Drop the KIT CARS ALSO, Teams need to engineer their Cars.
Your local short track still does that. Go support them before they all die out.
Agree: support your local tracks!
But I Disagree if you’re saying ‘just go to the local short tracks’. If you like ‘Stock’ car racing (*IF*), NASCAR is the top tier. Going to a short track, a minor league venue, isn’t the same as going to Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium and seeing the major leaguers. And how many racers at the local short track can win? Two? Three? At least in the Major League/NASCAR, there are 15-20 cars that can win (25-30 in super-speedway FAKE racing).
I agree wholeheartedly. But everyone who wants “real stock car racing” seems to be talking about exactly the type of racing that happens at small short tracks, not Cup. They seem to forget that most cars didn’t finish on the lead lap during those times in NASCAR.
Drop it. In every other sport, when a team is eliminated from the playoffs, they are eliminated from playing, not just the championship. How fair is it that a championship contender can be taken out of a race by a backmarker who blows a tire? But since NASCAR will never drop it, then the “contenders” should have their own points battle among themselves. For example, if you’re racing in the “round of 16”, the worst you can finish, points wise, is 16th, regardless of where you finish on the track. Just my .02 worth.
Hey Mike, I like your idea. A points battle for the playoff contenders.
NASCAR (Nothing About Stock CAR) is so screwed up I doubt they can fix it!!!!
I went to NASCAR races around the country for over 35 years and had Campbell box seats for the Daytona 500 for 30 years. No more, between staged racing and the parity of the cars it’s unwatchable. Imagine if they stopped the 24 hours of LeMans every 8 hours.
“Stages in NAPCAR has to be the all-time, idiotic, kitchen-league rules bunk ever tried. How many other race sanctioning organizations have, or have ever had, “stages”….none ! Silliest thing the NAPCAR brass hats ever did !
The way things are going, it may not matter how they do the play off contenders as I tried to watch the Xfinity race today and it was on a stream channel only. So I looked at the TV schedule and most of the Xfinity series will not be on a regular TV channel. Won’t be long before the cup series will follow, and that will depend on how many viewers are lost. As for me, I will not pay extra to watch NASCAR.
Good! And eliminate the asinine “stages” baloney too. Might get some renewed interest back.
“Playoff” – poof! stupid as well as:
1. You want stages? OK, but no yellow after a stage. keep racing!
2. No pit stops during yellow. Green only without penalty.
3. Wait just a few seconds before throwing a yellow. A solo spin and recovery should not draw a yellow.
4. When a yellow does occur, get restarted. Quit fooling around waiting for what? Get it going.
5. Reduce the championship points to 37 of the 40 races. Before the season starts, the teams declare what crappy tracks they prefer not to race. They can run the race they’ve decided to not get points, but that’s their choice.