The NASCAR Cup Series playoff committee has concluded its meetings to discuss the championship format, but any changes won’t be announced until after the current season concludes on Nov. 2 in Phoenix.
A potential new format would come in the form of an announcement from NASCAR’s board of directors.
“The next step is NASCAR is going to get its leadership in position and really have a discussion and lock ourselves in a room and figure it out from there,” NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said on the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “Take all the feedback from the committee and come up with the best decision for the entire sport and our fans moving forward.”
While nothing formal has been reached as far as a decision, NASCAR would wait until after the season concluded to announce the new playoff format in an effort to not undermine the 2025 season.
“We don’t want to announce a format prior to Phoenix and then have everyone either devalue this year’s championship or sort of make another set of points of who would be the champion if a new format was in place,” Forde said. “So I think that would be after this year.”
Since NASCAR moved away from its championship being determined by a season-long points race in 2004, there have been five different playoff formats. The current format, in place since 2017, starts with 16 qualified drivers competing over the last 10 races. Four contenders are eliminated every three races until the final four vie for the title in the finale.
While there were differing opinions on the committee regarding whether NASCAR should return to a season-long championship or retain some version of playoffs, it sounds as if the final championship race is one thing that is likely to be going away.
“I would be very surprised if the one-race championship is still around,” Forde said. “That was a big talking point of we need a bigger sample size if we’re going to keep the playoffs, and the championship needs to be more than one race.”
With two more races left before the playoff field is trimmed to eight drivers this season, Ryan Blaney currently sits in first place after winning the Mobil 1 301 on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
