NASCAR is not yet ready to divulge details of its new championship format, mostly because they haven’t made the final decisions on it yet.
What is all but confirmed is that the 2025 season was ultimately the last to use the version of a playoff that culminates with a ‘final four’ chasing the championship in a one-race best finisher take all season finale.
This format was used from 2014 to 2025.
NASCAR is unlikely to revert back to a season long championship without a playoff, but it isn’t completely off the table either, but is instead looking at a return to the 10-race Chase for the Championship used from 2004 to 2013 or an elimination format that culminates with an eight-driver four-race points chase.
All sorts of ideas were volleyed around over the past year by a committee of industry notables that included drivers, owners, media, broadcasters, television executives and Hall of Famers.
An update to the process was shared by NASCAR’s managing director of racing communications Mike Forde on his Hauler Talk podcast on Tuesday.
“Where it stands right now… 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. Awesome job, by the way, from the playoff committee. … Now, it’s in NASCAR’s hands,” Forde said. “They’re going to take all the feedback they got from every walk of life and every thought on the spectrum from no playoffs whatsoever to keeping it how it is and really beating that all up. They’re announcements to come. Honestly, I don’t know where it is. It could be in two weeks, it could be in two months.
“We clearly want to make sure that we have been very thorough on this one. Obviously, it will be before Feb. 5 in The Clash, but it could be sooner than later, it could be in January. I don’t know, I don’t think anyone knows just yet. Still discussions to be had on where we are on discussion of the playoff format. I think we feel good about the directions and the possibilities here because of the playoff committee and the work that they’ve done and the feedback we got from the industry.”
Kyle Larson won his second championship on November 2 at Phoenix Raceway. It was his second in five years but also came in a season where he scored the most points of anyone in the Cup Series. However, he only won the championship in overtime, following a race that Denny Hamlin dominated, only losing the championship due a William Byron blown tire and the results of the ensuing pit stop decision and restart.
The decision to move away from this championship format was made before the weekend but this race and the fact that the format denied 10 race Xfinity Series winner Connor Zilisch the championship only cemented how the fanbase largely felt about it.
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