Insider reveals details, timeline for changes to NASCAR Playoff format

NASCAR will conduct a review of its playoff format this offseason to determine if any changes should be made for the 2025 season, per Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal.

Stern noted that a “larger overhaul may need to wait until 2026 if it ends up being pursued.”

The current playoff format has come under fire following Joey Logano’s victory in the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix this past Sunday, in which the Team Penske driver captured his third title. Logano had an average finish this season of 17.1, the worst for a driver in a championship-winning season.

But in the playoff format, adopted in 2004 and tweaked along the way, winning is everything. NASCAR switched to an elimination style format in 2014, where 16 drivers make up the field. Winning at least one regular season race grants entry into the postseason, as Logano did at Nashville.

The playoffs take part across 10 races with four drivers eliminated after every three races until four remain. The season finale at Phoenix is a winner-take-all championship race. Logano has mastered the format, winning all three of his championships since 2018.

Ratings, meanwhile, went up 1% from last year. NASCAR averaged 2.892 million viewers over 36 events, with 2.895 million tuning into the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix. Playoff viewership was up 6% in 2024 from 2023.

NASCAR executive addresses future of playoff format, responds to criticism

Stern reported that several topics that could be examined include “whether a win should automatically qualify a driver for the playoffs, as is the case now, and possible changes like whether the regular season champion should get locked into one of the latter rounds of the playoffs, whether the final round should have more than four drivers, and whether the final round should be contested over multiple races instead of just one.”

While changes to the playoff format could ultimately be made, NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell said Friday that the playoffs itself won’t go away. A return to the season-long points format to crown a champion is not on the table.

“The format is one thing,” O’Donnell said. “But playoffs, we’re not going to go away from playoffs. We read fans [reactions] and everything. So, we will as we always do, absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason.

“You always learn, but playoffs in and of itself, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered. You can talk about the format and if we do some different things. But absolutely we’re going to stick with it.”