AllRacing

NASCAR still weighing new playoff format, but one is certainly coming

NASCAR is not ready to announce a new playoff format, but one is certainly coming in the near future.

Friday at Phoenix Raceway, ahead of the season finale, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell acknowledged “a lot of work” has been done by the committee put together at the start of the season. The committee’s formation was in response to repeated industry and race fan feedback on the playoff format, especially after Joey Logano won the 2024 title despite finishing the regular season 15th in the standings with one win.

The committee consists of members from all stakeholders within the sport – manufacturers, drivers (former and current), racetracks, teams and media (independent and NASCAR partners). There were multiple meetings held throughout the season, as well as digital communication and surveys.

“We’ve kicked around a ton of ideas,” O’Donnell said. “So, while there is nothing to announce today, I think all of us agreed that it would not be fair to come in here before [we] crown champions and say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking of [doing] this.’”

The fear was that the unveiling of a new playoff format before the end of the season would not only overshadow what is currently happening but also bring comparisons of who would be the champion under a different system. NASCAR will crown three national series champions this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, as well as the ARCA Menards West Series champion.

“Steve (Phelps, NASCAR commissioner) and I have certainly heard the industry, understand the challenges that are out there, and the goal is to balance some of those moments that we’ve had with the great racing, but also deliver a little bit more of what I think the fans and the industry are asking for,” O’Donnell said. “So, more to come. We did rotate the [championship] race. … That was probably the biggest ask, was rotate the championship. We can check that box off. There will be some other things that we’re going to have as well.”

NASCAR will ultimately make a final format decision.

The committee did discuss and flesh out different options for weighing wins, points, employing eliminations vs. no eliminations, a full season without playoffs and even different round lengths. One emerging detail that many appeared to agree with is that crowning a champion under a one-race format is no longer the best way to proceed – a format introduced in 2014.

“One of the concerns is future drivers coming up through the system having multiple wins and not necessarily winning the championship,” O’Donnell said when asked why he thinks the format hasn’t resonated. “I think that’s a challenge for our sport, and where I think the light really goes on is having that driver be deemed a potential superstar. We looked at … more moments, more drivers, more drivers having the ability to go out there and win, and that maybe takes away from the one driver story. It’s probably harder to write just the one driver story over and over again, but it does create a real star, and I think that’s something that, as you look at the future of the sport, making sure that a driver who has delivered all season long has the ability to be named a champion and not have something maybe come down to one race.

“That’s really been the focal point … we want to reward winning. We’re going to continue to do that, whatever model we come up with. Winning is very important, but the one race thing … there are a lot of circumstances that can happen, and our fans, right or wrong, are different than other stick and ball sports, and that’s OK. I’ve said this before: when the Giants win the Super Bowl, because I’m a Giants fan, nobody questions it. Everyone says the Giants are Super Bowl champions. Our fans don’t do that, and that’s been a learning process for us as well.”

NASCAR ran a full season points format through 2003. The sport moved to a playoff format for the first time in 2004. It was made up of the final 10 races of the season, with the top 10 drivers in the point standings at the end of the regular season.