NASCAR may change its playoff system

After introducing the Chase in 2004, which allowed ten and then twelve drivers to play for the title in the last ten races of the season, the NASCAR had decided to completely revolutionize the genre ten years later, by dividing its final phase into three distinct segments. From sixteen drivers in the running, they go down to 12 after three races, 8 after six races and 4 after nine races. The championship finale is played out simply on a format where among the four title contenders, the first to cross the finish line is champion.

Rather exciting at its beginnings, with Kevin Harvick's title in 2014, the system encountered its first controversy the following year, when Kyle Busch won the title despite missing the first eleven rounds of the season due to an injury at Daytona. Over the years, more and more voices were raised against this playoff system, until reaching its peak at the end of the 2024 season. Joey Logano triumphed, with statistics making him the worst champion of the modern era of NASCAR. Narrowly qualified for the playoffs by winning economically in Nashville, he took advantage of a disqualification from Alex Bowman to qualify for the penultimate phase, win economically in Las Vegas and clinch the title in Phoenix.

Why is Joey Logano unloved?

A series that, on paper, had something to enchant NASCAR, which wanted to use this new system to create "Game 7 moments." These refer to sports like the NBA, where the playoffs are played over four best-of-three games, with the seventh game being decisive to decide the two teams. A last-second basket in a Game 7 can shock a crowd and create moments forever etched in history. By trying to fabricate them from scratch, NASCAR has trivialized them, and now fans have had enough.

The organizers even went so far as to create a playoff committee, bringing together current drivers, former stars of the sport, journalists, and other personalities, to try to see if changes should be made. According to journalist Jeff Gluck (The Athletic), a member of this committee, while discussions initially led towards the status quo, more and more voices are being raised in favor of an old-style championship, over thirty-six races. The driver with the most points would simply be the champion.

While such a reversal seems impossible, it's almost certain that the single-race format is set to see its final days. Instead, NASCAR is considering a system where the final two rounds would be combined, resulting in four races to determine the champion. Would there still be four competing for the title, or eight? Or something in between? Discussions continue.

"I think the purpose of these meetings is to discuss the shortlist of potential formats and get the playoff committee's opinion on that.", said Mike Forde, NASCAR's communications director, on his podcast. "We'll go through that process and then hopefully we can narrow that list down further to a final format. We could see something in place as early as 2026."

So all that's left is to wait! A change of format could in any case prove essential during a season where the playoff audiences are dropping week by week, to the point of becoming worrying and placing NASCAR under direct threat of Formula 1.

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