NASCAR Has Not Made A Decision on 2025 Playoff Format

What’s Happening

NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck revealed on the latest episode of The Teardown that the 2026 NASCAR Playoff format is “not set yet,” despite NASCAR having its first committee meeting in February.

On the latest episode of The Teardown podcast, amid a flurry of conversation amongst fans and industry members about potential changes to NASCAR‘s current playoff format, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic spoke about the current status of these discussions as the summer months come to an end.

During this discussion, it was revealed that NASCAR’s playoff committee has already had two meetings, the first (and previously known) at the Daytona 500 and a second at the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 this past May. Following these meetings, there was almost radio silence about the route NASCAR was looking to take for the future, though discussions continued into the summer.

Gluck, who also confirmed that he is a member of this committee, even went as far as to say that a few weeks ago, he thought that the single-race finale would get the axe by next year. “I would have told you a few weeks ago that there’s probably a 90 to 95% chance that the one-race playoff was dead next year,” Gluck said.

While it has always seemed likely that the playoff system would return, this hinted that the committee and NASCAR itself thought an expanded final round could be the best option. However, as Gluck stated, NASCAR’s TV partners have stepped in and asserted that they prefer the single-race championship/elimination format.

“TV wants a playoff. They want eliminations…  I don’t know exactly what they want, but they want something close to, I think, what is happening now,” Gluck said.

While NASCAR’s media partners have been a strong point of discussion throughout the 2025 playoff debate, this pushback presents an interesting issue. As summer is coming to an end, a time in which NASCAR finalizes plans for 2026, it appears officials do not have an exact plan for changing the format by next season.

The Playoffs and the 2026 Schedule

Last year, NASCAR announced the schedule on Aug. 29, and recently, NASCAR EVP, Chief Venue and Racing Innovation Officer Ben Kennedy claimed the 2026 schedule will be out “in the next few weeks or so.”

The pressure is on to release the new schedule, something Gluck reiterates, “NASCAR’s under pressure to get the schedule out. Bottom line. Period. The playoff format is not set yet. Bottom line. Period.” While this leaves fans with more questions than answers, Gluck sees a scenario in which NASCAR holds off on changing the format for another season.

“Not speaking for NASCAR, but it’s feeling like to me, the direction they’re going is, they may have to postpone whatever changes, maybe for a year.” — Jeff Gluck

A postponed decision could make sense as tracks will need to know if they are hosting a playoff race or what round they are hosting their playoff race during for marketing purposes. For example, NASCAR is already advertising that in 2026, Phoenix Raceway, despite no longer hosting the championship, will host a playoff race, suggesting that the playoffs will be around in 2026.

On NASCAR’s side, they do not want to rush the decision on what format to go with. This is a change they want to make for the long term, as changing the format would mark yet another change to the system since the initial move to a playoff, then ‘Chase’ format in 2004.

In the story linked above, we have covered NASCAR’s Playoff committee and rumors about changes to the championship format throughout the season.

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