Ever since Joey Logano hoisted the NASCAR Cup Series trophy at Phoenix Raceway in November of last year, the discourse about the playoff format has been almost nonstop.
Now, after 10 long months, it sounds like a large portion of fans, drivers, media members and others within the industry will finally get their wish and the playoff format will change.
Logano’s third title caused an uproar for a variety of reasons due to his exploitation of nearly every flaw in the current system. He only made the playoffs because of a win in five overtimes at Nashville Superspeedway after many of the frontrunners crashed or ran out of fuel. He was added back into the playoffs after being eliminated because Alex Bowman failed post-race tech at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. He won on fuel mileage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to make the Championship 4, and then he beat the three other drivers he was against at Phoenix in the championship race to win the title.
All three drivers had arguably better seasons than the Team Penske driver. In fact, the four drivers who got eliminated after the Round of 8 also had better seasons than Logano. His 17.1 average finish was the worst ever for a driver in their championship season.
To be clear, none of this is a knock on Logano. He did what he had to do within the current system and won the title fair and square. But it was the last nail in the coffin for many with this format, as a driver who was not one of the best on the year walked away with the championship hardware.
The backlash evidently was heard loud and clear by NASCAR, because a playoff committee was formed not too long after the fact. This committee is made up of folks from all over the industry, including a former driver in Mark Martin, a media member in The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck and NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde.
After several meetings filled with deep playoff discussions by the committee, Forde revealed on his podcast, Hauler Talk, that the final one would be in the middle of next week.
“I think the plan for that meeting is to discuss the short list of potential formats and get the playoff committee’s opinion on that,” Forde said. “We’ll go through that process and then hopefully make a determination of an even shorter list, whittle it down to one final format. … We may see something as soon as 2026.”
So there you have it. This year very well may be the last time we see a winner-take-all championship race. And it honestly that needs to be the case, because the outrage toward Logano winning the title last year may pale in comparison toward what it will be like should Connor Zilisch fail to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship or Corey Heim win the Craftsman Truck Series title at Phoenix after the dominant seasons they’ve had.
Should either of those scenarios occur, NASCAR will need to quickly announce a new format to keep there from being fans with pitchforks outside the offices in Daytona Beach. Hopefully, this meeting will help find the solution so that NASCAR has a system ready to fall into place immediately after this season.
There was some confusion with what Forde said, as some took it to mean a format had already been selected, but Gluck cleared that up on X (formerly Twitter).
So it sounds like a new format is still very much up in the air.
For the playoff haters out there who want the full-season points championship back, don’t get your hopes up. I wish that’s what would come back as much as the next person, as no one would likely run away with the championship over a full year with the amount of parity in Cup now. But sadly, Martin trumpeted that type of format in some of the committee meetings, but he said that it fell on deaf ears.
So the playoffs aren’t going anywhere, but the format could change. I say could because it’s entirely possible the committee can’t decide on any one system so NASCAR keeps the status quo. I’m optimistic that won’t happen though and that we will have a new way to crown a champion come 2026.
So what could that new playoff format be? Based on what Forde said and Gluck posted, it sounds like there are several ideas on the table.
An idea that The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi seemed to be pushing on Monday’s (Sept. 9) episode of the podcast Door, Bumper, Clear is one that would make the final round four races instead of just one. I guess the way that would work is 16 drivers make the playoffs, then four get eliminated after three races and four more after the next three before eight drivers battle it out over four races to see who can score the most points.
That system would work better if it started with 12 drivers so it could get down to four for the final four races. However, we live in an era of sports where playoffs keep expanding, not shrinking, so I can’t imagine anything gets passed that starts with less than 16 playoff drivers.
Another idea I’ve heard is starting with 10 drivers and eliminating five after five races. Then, the five remaining drivers would battle for the championship over the final five weeks. Again, there’s no way the playoff field reduces that much, so maybe it would be 16 and then eight get eliminated halfway and the other eight race for the title, which is not terribly different from what Bianchi was saying.
Whether either of those options gets selected or it’s something entirely different, we’ll just have to wait and see. Both of the options mentioned above give me faith that all of the options are better than what we currently have, as the one-race Championship 4 needs to go away.
What I hate, though, is that there seems to be way more discussion about the playoff format itself than about how drivers make the playoffs. These should be equal talking points, as a driver below 30th in points should not be able to win one race and save their season.
If the playoffs must consist of 16 drivers — even though it felt like so much more of an elite accomplishment when it was just 10 — then my wish would be for the top 10 in points to make it in, followed by race winners outside of that mark. Then the remaining positions get filled by whoever is highest in points who isn’t already in.
So for example, this year, Chris Buescher would’ve made it in because he was 10th in points following the end of the regular season. Shane van Gisbergen would’ve then made it in on account of his four wins, followed by Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry. Austin Dillon would be the odd man out, as he was the lowest of the seven drivers outside the top 10 in points who won a race.
A system like this would still allow for the win-and-you’re-in moments that NASCAR and TV love, but it would also prevent a scenario like 2022, when Martin Truex Jr. missed the playoffs despite being fourth in points.
Unfortunately, the lack of talk about criteria to make the playoffs gives me the impression that nothing will change about that. But who knows? Maybe I’m wrong and the size of the playoff field does get cut down.
For now, all we know is there is a meeting next week. That does not mean a format will be chosen next week, but hopefully, it will get NASCAR pointed in the right direction to pick a better way to crown a champion ahead of the 2026 season.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
Interesting article.
Usual disclaimer to avoid getting drawn and quartered around here…I’d prefer the playoffs go away as well, though I do understand the logic behind it.
I’d love to see the playoffs change to a format of 3-4 races amongst the finalists. This would at least ensure a more deserving champion.
If you get rid of win and you’re in I could get behind this and if you want to insure a more deserving champion than you likely agree
I agree. I’ll take any step away from the maximum randomness that is the current system.
Under the current format, perfection, when it counts, wins you the championship. In the end, nobody lucks into a championship. Joey Logano is a fierce competitor and earned the championship last year. Period. And he’s not my favorite driver. Even with no playoffs, you could have two drivers battling to the last race and one gets taken out. There’s no perfect format but way more excitement under the current one. You can’t guarantee the driver you see as the best driver will win no matter what.
Whoever plays the game best is the winner. They changed the ‘game’ about 4 times to try to keep Jimmie Johnson from winning. Logano won last year…the only thing that should be said is ‘congratulations’.
Real playoffs are rife with upsets and there is no guarantee that the best from the regular season will win in real playoffs. Why should the NA$CAR farce be any different no matter how they tweak it? The NA$CAR suits have been trying for years to “simplify” the POINTS system. How has that worked out for them?
Hahaha. I agree. they got rid of the old system because people couldn’t grasp the idea of having a graduated system. So now we have layer upon layer which is even harder to follow. This form of racing is now full of reasons to “just turn the channel.” As drivers have said for years, ‘I don’t worry about points. If you race well, the points will follow.’
The championship should be based on the full season performance. I don’t know of another auto racing series that does not do it on the full season accumulation of points.
The playoff system will always be unfair.
The only reason NASCAR went to playoffs was to artificially boost the attendance at the late season races. (I think Matt Kenseth’s championship promoted the change, but his season long championship was much more legitimate that many of the playoff-based winners.
Too bad NASCAR would not listen to Mark Martin!
It hasn’t worked real well, has it? The 10 race Playoffs seems to go over well in the garage. I have been tracking data for longer than Frontstretch has. Ten drivers for 10 races seemed to play well in the garage and on TV. But TV needs to cover the races, not the Playoffs. The networks also need to find a way to better show who is following what strategy…group them on screen or color code them on the run down. This need has evolved since more passes for the lead happen in the pits than on the track.
Top ten in points, plus race winners make sense. But we want to reward and encourage winning, too. My suggestion has been 12 playoff drivers, that way those with “fluke” wins don’t sneak their way in. Four races in round 1, four races in round 2, and a 2 race run-off for the championship. We almost always have 12 winners each year, so this would encourage more winning and more consistency.
Also, if this was Joey Logano’s first championship, the nay-sayers might have a point. Like Kyle Busch’s first one after missing the first 10 races. Kyle did earn it, in my opinion, because he won 5 races that year and did not just sneak in. And thankfully he backed it up with another championship to make the first one more legitimate. Joey has won three championships, and him winning last year was more of a fluke, but it still cements his place as a great racer.
While we’re talking changes, can we also get rid of stages, stage points and playoff points? I hate awarding points for where drivers are at arbitrary points in the race.
Why? It gives drivers an incentive to race the whole race, instead of just coasting the first 3/4.