Steve Phelps explains process for NASCAR considering changes to playoff format

The major talking point as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season wrapped up last month centered around the current playoff format and its long-term future.

The current playoff format came under fire following Joey Logano’s victory in the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix, in which the Team Penske driver captured his third title. Logano had an average finish this past 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 sanctioning body left the door open for tweaks to be made to the format this offseason, and NASCAR President Steve Phelps provided an update on where things stand while speaking recently with Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic. Phelps said they will look at any possible tweaks. He did not, however, guarantee any would be made.

“We are going to look at it. And that will be an industry-wide decision, just like the existing format is,” Phelps said. “So, we’ll get a cross-functional team consisting of drivers, teams, NASCAR folks and sit in a room and see if there’s something better. Because for everyone that wants to make a change, you have some on the other side that doesn’t want to make a change. And I heard that all last weekend [during the NASCAR awards ceremony], ‘Please don’t change the format, the playoff system works really well.’ And others were like, ‘Please change the playoff format.’

“A lot of it is just personal preference, and I think it’s easy to put your own lens on it. What would be good for my driver? Or what is best for my team? Self-interest is a very powerful thing. With that said, are we going to make a tweak to it? I’m not sure. But, again, it’ll be getting input from a lot of different places and then from there we will make what we believe is the best decision for the sport overall.”

NASCAR sticking with controversial playoff system

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.

One thing is certain: NASCAR will not move away from a playoff system. COO Steve O’Donnell confirmed such in the “State of the Sport” address two days before the championship race.

“Playoffs, we’re not going to go away from playoffs,” O’Donnell said. “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.”