What Happened in NASCAR’s Latest Playoff Committee Meeting?
What’s Happening? NASCAR Insider Jeff Gluck, a member of NASCAR’s Playoff Committee, revealed some key details from the latest NASCAR Playoff…
Amid an ongoing discussion about NASCAR’s points system and declining ratings, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked on The Dale Jr Download if a return to full-season points is the “Hail Mary” NASCAR needs to get back on track.
What’s Happening? NASCAR Insider Jeff Gluck, a member of NASCAR’s Playoff Committee, revealed some key details from the latest NASCAR Playoff…
Last week, the NASCAR community learned that during the latest meeting of NASCAR’s Playoff Committee, a larger number of members lobbied for their support of a return to a full-season point system than had done so previously.
It seems unlikely that NASCAR will return to such a system. Still, this conversation about a return to full-season points sandwiched the news that NASCAR had seen yet another significant year-over-year drop in viewership for a playoff race.
Following this news of yet another disappointing week of viewership, this discussion quickly evolved into fans and others inquiring whether the disappointing viewership for NASCAR’s playoffs could lead to a return to a full-season point system.
One Playoff Committee member who supports a return to a full-season point system is NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who, during the latest episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, asked a similar question.
What’s Happening? The NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway drew a shocking 1.290 million…
The two-time Daytona 500 champion explained that at the beginning of the playoff committee meetings, he thought that a return to a full-season point system was unlikely.
But, amid growing support for the system and a drop in viewership, Earnhardt’s beginning to ask if such a dramatic shift in the sport’s year-long presentation could be the “Hail Mary” NASCAR is looking for.
“Is it possible that the decline in ratings has been something that’s convinced NASCAR that maybe that Hail Mary is worth it?” — Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt explained that his initial worries were partially due to the “risky” nature of returning to a 36-race points season after 22 seasons utilizing a playoff format, even though he supported a full-season point system.
But now the 49-year-old industry veteran, while comparing the low viewership for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at New Hampshire to “Xfinity numbers,” asks, “What are we risking now?”
“It’s a risky, risky big shift,” Earnhardt said. “But what are we risking now? We have nothing to lose. What are we risking? A couple of weeks ago in New Hampshire, we had nearly Xfinity numbers in terms of viewership.”
What’s Happening? NASCAR is publicly seeking a new Playoff or even Championship Points system for the future. This story will unfold…
It’s common for NASCAR’s viewership to decline this time of year as the MLB Playoffs, College Football, and NFL season are in full swing. However, the low ratings seen this season have sparked concern among the fan base and industry members.
Of course, removing or even slightly tweaking the playoff system, should it work, might only be a small percentage of what is affecting NASCAR viewership. Other factors, such as the addition of more races on cable, the on-track product at specific tracks, and the aforementioned rival programming, are often cited as similar issues.
For example, earlier this week, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin suggested that NASCAR move its standard race day to Fridays to avoid conflicts with football. Once again, this would be met with other issues, such as similar counter programming and yet another shift in time and place for NASCAR viewers.
Nonetheless, when NASCAR introduces a new point system, whether that involves a tweak to the current playoff format or a return to full-season points, this debate will likely continue to rage on.
What’s Happening? During a discussion about NASCAR’s declining TV viewership, NASCAR driver/owner Denny Hamlin pitched that NASCAR should “own Friday night”…
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After two weeks of drafting this week the NASCAR Cup Series goes road course racing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). This will be the second year running this specific layout. Starting in 2025 NASCAR is running on a shorter 18-turn, 2.356-mile circuit rather than the full 3.426-mile 20-turn loop. Goodyear is also bringing back the same tire that debuted here last season.
This week Shane Van Gisbergen has opened as a heavy favorite at all books. Last year he won the last five road/street courses of the season. However, at COTA Van Gisbergen had what was, by his standards, a disappointing weekend. Van Gisbergen qualified and finished sixth.
After COTA however, Van Gisbergen ran off five straight road/street course wins. So respect is certainly deserved, but at least in my simulations, not at the level the books are giving. This does open up theoretical value on outright bets, that said, I’m looking for markets where I don’t have to directly bet against Van Gisbergen.
Chase Briscoe’s first four seasons at the Cup level while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing were not inspiring. Over 21 road/street course races he had only six Top 10 finishes and no Top 5 finishes. However, last season, driving with Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe had three Top 10 finishes and two Top 5 finishes. Briscoe’s success with Joe Gibbs Racing is hardly surprising though. In 11 road course starts in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series while driving top tier equipment Briscoe had eight Top 10 finishes, four Top 5 finishes, and two wins.
In addition to his 50% Top 10 finish rate in 2025, Briscoe’s in race performance was outstanding in 2025. He completed nearly 60% of his laps on road/street courses inside the Top 10. That includes running over 50% of his laps at COTA inside the Top 10.
At Win The Race our 100,000 simulations have Chase Briscoe finishing in the Top 10 this weekend over 54% of the time. That translates to fair odds of -118. At Caesars Briscoe is +110 to finish inside the Top 10 which translates to implied odds of 47.62%. This means that we have quite a lot of room to be over optimistic on Briscoe and still have value on this bet. I would bet this down to even money.
NASCAR is making even more changes to its All-Star race ahead of the event’s inaugural running at Dover Motor Speedway this season, with a new format that includes a full field of cars.
Ahead of the 2026 season, NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports have reshuffled the deck when it came to their All-Star event, again moving the race to a new track, Dover Motor Speedway, while lending Dover’s race weekend to the event’s former host, North Wilkesboro Speedway.
This move was controversial for a number of reasons, as it gave another points-paying race weekend to a North Carolina race track, stripped Dover of its final points race, and essentially confirmed the race would take place during the daytime, as Dover does not have track lights.
The changes haven’t stopped here, with NASCAR announcing a drastically altered and somewhat complex format for the 2026 All-Star Race on Wednesday afternoon.
This year, NASCAR’s All-Star Race features three key events: Qualifying, the Pit Crew Challenge, and the All-Star Race.
Qualifying will take place on Saturday, May 1, concurrent with the Pit Crew Challenge. Drivers will take three laps, a hot lap, a pit stop on the second lap, and then a final lap, with their qualifying time the combined total from start to finish.
The pit Crew Challenge pit stop on lap two will be four tires, no fuel, and will determine Pit stall selection for Sunday’s All-Star Race.
The full field of qualifiers will make the 350-lap main event on Sunday. This means that drivers make the race regardless of their resume; however, after two 75-lap segments, after segment one, the Top 26 drivers are inverted.
After segment two, only former Cup Series Champions, 2025/20226 race winners, All-Star Race winners, the fan vote winner, and any remaining slots in the 26-car final segment will be filled by the lowest combined finishes of segment one and two.
Very little of the event from 2025, and even those races before then, remain, as NASCAR has scrapped things such as the open race and even expanded the field to 26 drivers, and technically beyond that (which we will get to in a moment).
A welcome return from NASCAR fans is the Pit Crew Challenge, which has led to some interesting battles in the years the race occurred at North Wilkesboro, and with the Next Gen car’s issues on short tracks, pit stall selection could be a make-or-break for any driver.
There is a lot of new information about this format, most of which is controversial.
Many fans are already focusing on the removal of the All-Star Open (a last chance qualifier race for non-qualifying cars), the expansion of the race from 125 miles in 2025 to 350 miles in 2026, and, most importantly, the expansion of the field.
While some are calling this the “All-Car Race” and mocking the end of the race’s “elite” nature, others are pointing out that NASCAR has essentially created another full race weekend that is packed with gimmicks and will not award any championship points.
Nonetheless, others are theorizing that NASCAR could have something else in the works, using this exhibition race as a testing ground for new setups or a new package to help its improving yet still ailing short track package.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Eric Estepp is joined by Ryan Stevens from WinTheRace.info as left turns give way to left and right this weekend as the Cup Series heads to Circuit of the Americas. With road course racing back on the schedule, the big question is simple: Can anyone stop Shane van Gisbergen?
There are proven winners here, rising stars with massive upside, and veterans looking to reclaim momentum. Add in extra horsepower this year and meaningful practice and qualifying, and the variables only stack higher. From data-driven projections to bold predictions, this COTA preview covers the favorites, the sneaky contenders, and the drivers who could shake up the early-season narrative.
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