NASCAR Ditches Cheap Playoff Gimmicks In Favor Of Real Racing

After years of gimmicks that have seen mixed success, stock car racing has decided to go back to something closer to its roots. In announcing major changes to its playoff format, NASCAR signaled that it is shifting stock car racing away from the model of stick-and-ball sports, where a single game (for example, the Super Bowl, March Madness) often decides a championship. In this case, the new system appears likely to win plaudits with traditional racing fans.

Reprise of Prior Format

The changes largely return NASCAR to the format it had from 2004 to 2013, when the sport first introduced a playoff concept. Over the season’s first 26 (of 36) races, Cup teams will compete based solely on points to become one of 16 playoff teams. After 26 races, the points will reset for the 16 playoff teams, with drivers ranked based on their points accumulated to date. (Non-playoff teams will still compete in the remaining races, but won’t be eligible to win the championship.) Of the 16 playoff drivers, the one with the most points in the final 10 races will take home the championship trophy.

The changes eliminate three elements of the playoffs NASCAR had incorporated since 2014: the “cut races” within the playoffs, where the playoff field got whittled from 16 teams down to 12, eight, and then four; the “win-and-advance” system, whereby any victory equaled an automatic “golden ticket” to make the playoffs (if in the regular season) or advance to the next round of the playoffs once there; and the winner-take-all final race, which saw an entire year come down to a one-race outcome, with the highest-ranking finisher of the “Championship Four” taking home the season trophy.

Reward Consistency

From a fan perspective, the changes have two sizable upsides. First, they reward consistency in a way that the old format often did not. Last season provided a cautionary tale about how a one-race, winner-take-all format can mean the “best” driver over the course of the season doesn’t take home the championship.

In NASCAR’s prime feeder series (that is, one step below Cup) in 2025, young driver Connor Zilisch had a season that can only be described as phenomenal. He won ten races (one of which came via a relief driver, after Zilisch suffered a freak injury in a post-race celebration). He scored 20 top-five finishes, a record 18 of them consecutively — meaning he didn’t win one week, then crash out the next.

Yet Zilisch finished second in the standings because Jesse Love — who had fewer than half (9) as many top-fives as Zilisch (20) — won the championship race. Zilisch had one of the most dominating seasons ever in any NASCAR series, yet the results from only one of the season’s 33 races kept him from the championship.

Reduce Wreck-Fests

Moving away from a winner-take-all format also lessens the pressure on drivers in a good way, because the “win-and-in” system can lead them to engage in reckless conduct to obtain a victory. In August 2024, Austin Dillon wrecked not one but two separate drivers in the last corner to capture a win that Dillon thought would advance him into the Cup playoffs. NASCAR officials thought otherwise, however, later penalizing him for rough driving by stating that his win did not qualify him for the playoffs, and suspending his radio spotter for three races for telling Dillon to “wreck” his opponents.

Two years previously, driver Ross Chastain engaged in his famous — but dangerous — “Hail Melon” move. In the final turn in a race at Martinsville Speedway, Chastain sped up instead of slowing down, putting his foot to the floor and literally “riding the wall,” passing cars while doing so to qualify for the championship race:

As surreal as the move looks, Chastain admitted that it was “not pleasant” and “it hurt a lot.” The move could have easily injured him or his competitors had the car moved away from the wall. (NASCAR later banned the move in any future race.)

Moving away from the one-race championship format will reduce (but hopefully not eliminate) the pressure to win and the aggressive moves that can come with it. Because drivers can’t advance in the playoffs, or capture the championship, just by winning a single race, they won’t have an incentive to wreck their way to “victory.”

Minor Downsides

The playoff changes come with two apparent drawbacks: First, a dominant driver and team could clinch the championship before the final race, a problem that happens in other motorsports series like Formula One (albeit not this past season). Second, because the new playoff/points system emphasizes consistency, drivers may feel more tempted not to skip races if injured, a problem NASCAR will have to police closely.

With those two caveats, most motorsports fans will find something to like in a “new” format that echoes one from two decades ago. Keeping the focus on the racing, rather than schlocky gimmicks designed to attract television eyeballs, may paradoxically do more to attract lapsed fans.