So the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is going to have a mid-season tournament. Thirty-two drivers are going to be eligible, each racing their way in based on finishes in the three previous races. Obviously this will be the majority of the charter teams and predominantly the charter teams who are not having catastrophically bad seasons.
The winner of this race will win a million dollars. As our own Brad Harrison pointed out this week in Five Points to Ponder, $1 million isn’t exactly what it used to be.
If this race was for Late Models or Super Late Models, a million dollars might be a really big story. For modern Cup Series drivers, the vast majority are making millions per year. Winning a single million isn’t going to move their needle very much.
Now, if you want to move anyone’s needle, hit their own wallet. Thirty-two drivers, let’s put up $500,000 per driver of their own money. Secondly, make the tournament winner-take-all. You’ll have people making very aggressive moves to advance rounds in order to keep their shot at the big pay day alive.
Another nice perk would be a guaranteed playoff spot. The odds are that the driver who wins the tournament is probably already going to have a win before the final 10 races, but it would give a very big incentive to someone who doesn’t have a win and is in the final four of the tourney.
If you really want to make something a very big carrot, let’s make the tourney champion an automatic member of the Championship 4. Many people will say that is a little too much of a reward for a tourney winner in the middle of the year, but it is also a very nice reward for someone who proved they were the best in the series at the season’s mid-point.
One final extra bonus that would seem like an obvious benefit for the winner is a guaranteed spot in the 2026 tournament. Knowing that the winner is probably going to qualify already for the next year, it isn’t a huge gamble for the series to offer it, but it does draw attention and gives the talking heads something else to talk about.
The strategy involved in this five-race tournament and what extent teams are willing to go to in order to advance and/or prevent others from advancing is a discussion that could last from now until the start of the tournament next year. The bottom line is that drivers very well can ruin someone’s chance of winning the tournament, or even advancing rounds, whether they are competing directly against another driver, his teammate or someone in another bracket. A driver winning his pairing could take out a hot driver in another bracket so that a less formidable opponent advances.
One thing’s for sure, this tournament is going to be a very cool addition to the heat of the dog days of summer. A couple of tweaks that would add incentives and pressure to winning the whole event would make it even more exciting. If fans put the pressure on now, and keep it on until the final rules are announced, we just might end up with a storyline that has the entire sports world buzzing — and not just the auto racing portion of it.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.