The elimination-style NASCAR championship has ruffled some feathers since it was first introduced over a decade ago. While the Playoffs format adds excitement for spectators and mirrors traditional ball sports championships, many fans and motorsports insiders believe a season-long points battle is a fairer way to crown a champion than bracket-style elimination. However, nothing is set in stone, and NASCAR officials are currently evaluating their options, with potential Playoff changes on the horizon for the 2026 season.
As per a report from NASCAR.com, a panel of 25 members recently sat down to discuss the future of the points system in the three national series – that is, Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup. The panel included several active Hall of Fame drivers, series execs, manufacturer representatives, and members of the media.
“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,” NASCAR managing director of racing communications, Mike Forde, said. “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.”
But there were dissenting opinions on the panel. “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?’” Forde said. “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?”
He added, “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.”
Another change floated at the panel was the idea of a rotating venue for the championship race. Previously, the season-ending round was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but was shifted to Phoenix Raceway several seasons ago.
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is the defending series champion. In fact, it was his win last year that sparked the conversation. Logano would not have even had the chance to compete in the championship round if a competitor hadn’t been penalized, raising questions regarding the validity of the system.
Comments
Bottom line is that Ford and Team Penske have won the last three championships and GM (Hendrick) and Toyota (Gibbs) won’t stand for that much longer. Just like all other sports, pro or collegiate, money talks.
With the majority of newer drivers, the number of candidates should be increased from 16 to 20, so that 5 would come out in each round and 5 would remain in the final, that is, it would increase the chance of there being more competition for this extra driver than in the current format… and the track for the final could be itinerant, changing after 3 finals have been played on it… this could also increase the difficulty for the teams, having to adapt if they have dominance (as Penske has been doing in Phoenix)!
What would be bad is to return to the Chase format that no longer benefits the leader of the regular season… sport is a dynamic activity, it is not enough to do well only during one phase, only those who present the required performance throughout the championship deserve to be champion… the fact that the driver of 22 only got the spot due to the disqualification of 48 and both 45 and 5 (with 5 not even reaching the final) shows that these 2 were not even capable of scoring more consistently in this phase than the one of 22… in other words, he went to the final with justice because he managed to show better performance than 45 and 5!
I would argue that the playoffs do even less to benefit the regular season champ.
Nothing illegitimate or invalid as to how the 22 car got into the playoffs. Logano made it in due to other teams ( Chevy and Toyota ) cheating. In the 10 race playoffs, he won 3 out of 10.
That’s a pretty valid statement.