November 22, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; The Nascar Cup series driver Joey Logano (22) talks to the audience after being announced as the three early Cup champion during the Nascar Awards banquet at the Charlotte Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn images When the NASCAR team prepares to start the new season, changes to the Cup Series Playoff format can be on the horizon.
NASCAR’s Managing Director and Head of Racing Development John Probst said on Monday that no changes will come in 2025, but the playoffs will be considered before the 2026 season.
Probst spoke at a competition briefing on Monday with the season that would start with Daytona 500 on February 16.
“I don’t think we want to get the habit of making little tweacs every season to the playoffs,” Probst said. “Where we landed was for 2025 to make no changes to the playoffs. Throughout this year, we will have a working group together with some media people, OEMs, Goodyear, Driver. … We probably talked to most people en- against-one about “Where are we at?
“Basically, we look at it as a working current for a group of our stakeholders this year to look at it holistic.”
The current playoffs sees that 16 drivers are qualified for a 10-race-hunting divided over four rounds. The field for the playoffs driver is cut between rounds from 16 to 12 to eight to the championship four. It has been the structure of the playoffs since 2014 and has not seen significant modification since 2017, when stage racing and the playoffs were introduced.
Probst said that Nascar has heard from stakeholders who love the playoffs as it is, people who hate the current format and people who fell in between.
There is no guarantee that something will change at all in the end.
“We just didn’t reach a point where we felt we had to do it,” Probst said. “But we hear the fans loud and clear and actively look at it.”
Joey Logano is the reigning cup champion.
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