NASCAR has lastly reached a consensus on the championship format. The sanctioning physique is ready to disclose the title-decider on Monday, January 12.
The playoff system has irked drivers and followers alike. The elimination-style playoffs had been launched in 2014, and Kevin Harvick gained his maiden title that 12 months. Nevertheless, he’d go on to witness the pitfalls of the system in 2020, when he led the sequence in all classes with 9 wins, 20 top-5s, 27 top-10s and 1531 laps led.
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Nonetheless, Harvick missed out on a closing 4 spot regardless of such a dominant 12 months. Connor Zilisch’s 2025 title bid had an identical ending, as his 10-win season did not fetch him a championship.
That mentioned, the governing physique tried to handle these points with a playoff committee in 2025. The group held a year-long dialogue on potential adjustments to the format, whereas Mark Martin and plenty of others argued for a full-season championship as an alternative.
The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck shared an official timeline for the championship format reveal, writing,
“The second we’ve all been ready for: the brand new NASCAR championship format announcement is Monday afternoon (3:30 pm ET). It is going to be streamed on NASCAR.com, NASCAR’s YouTube and The NASCAR Channel.”
Mark Martin doesn’t count on a return to th full-season format, however is ‘impressed’ that it was thought of nonetheless. Many count on {that a} modified playoff with a 3 or four-round finale.
“That’s so dumb”: Mark Martin blasts NASCAR’s playoff system
Mark Martin lately appeared in an interview with The Racer, the place he fired pictures on the playoff system. The Corridor of Famer has been a vocal critic of the format all through 2025.
“So what they’ve executed is alienated plenty of the core followers not all of them, however lots to attempt to get new followers, as a result of they suppose the older followers are going to die at some point, which is dumb. That’s so dumb, as a result of these are the individuals who watch the pre-race present, the race, and the post-race present,” Martin mentioned.
“The individuals they’re attempting to get to look at these playoffs which,” he added, “there ain’t no person taking part in on the market it’s probably not a playoff. They need to name it a race-off or no matter, however don’t name it a playoff. It’s not a playoff.”
Martin wasn’t the one one sounding off on the format. The veteran discovered a backer in former Cup Collection champion Chase Elliott, who believes that the game should not draw back from rewarding season-long dominance below the traditional factors system.
He’d additionally famous that the present system forces drivers to alter their driving fashion by stacking up stage factors as an alternative. In keeping with the HMS driver, plenty of these stage factors ended up affecting the general standings.
Edited by Vignesh Kanna
