NASCAR Confirms 2025 Playoff Format After Intense 2024 Backlash

NASCAR has officially confirmed that its playoff format will remain unchanged for the 2025 season, despite considerable backlash from the 2024 season.

NASCAR has revealed its interest in potentially adjusting the format for 2026 in light of the raising concerns from some of those within the sport as well as fans.

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The current NASCAR Cup Series playoff format was introduced in 2014. It includes 16 drivers competing over a 10-race championship. The drivers get eliminated in clusters after each round, leaving the Championship 4 to battle it out in the final race.

William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, and Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Interstate Batteries/DEWALT Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 10, 2024 in Avondale,…

James Gilbert/Getty Images

This winner-takes-all approach has undoubtedly added a layer of excitement, but not without its critics. Before this setup, the points system dictated the winner through a season-long accumulation.

The most recent major change came in 2017 with the introduction of stage racing and playoff points to balance competition. The same playoff model also applies to the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

NASCAR Executive Vice President John Probst confirmed that there would be no tweaks for the 2025 playoffs but noted the importance of comprehensive evaluations moving forward.

The goal for NASCAR officials is to understand the public’s perceptions and criticisms thoroughly. They have pledged to form a working group of media members, drivers, OEMs, and tire supplier Goodyear. This aims to gather insights from different perspectives within the NASCAR community.

Probst commented:

“I don’t think we want to get in the habit of making small little tweaks every season to the playoffs.

“Where we landed was for 2025 not making any changes to the playoffs. Throughout the course of this year, we will get a working group together with some media folks, OEMs, Goodyear, drivers. … We probably talked to most of the folks one-on-one about, where are we at? What are we thinking?

“Basically, we look at that as a workstream for a group of our stakeholders this year, to look at it holistically.”

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He added:

“The playoffs were meant to create those moments, which I feel like they did.

“And on the other hand, there’s the fan feedback — which we hear loud and clear — on this particular driver should have been here, or that particular driver won this many races, so he should have been automatically in and all of that.

The 2024 champion, Joey Logano, clinched the title despite his controversial 17th place in overall season points. His success sparked discussions over fairness in playoff qualifications.

NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell responded to these concerns:

“We’re not going to go away from playoffs.

“We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason. You always learn. … But playoffs in and of itself, as Steve said, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered. You can talk about the format if we do some different things, but absolutely we’re going to stick with it.”

NASCAR President Steve Phelps also commented:

“We are always looking if there are opportunities for us to tweak something.”

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