NASCAR President Teases New Playoff System in Lower Series in 2026

What’s Happening?

During a recent interview, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell claimed that NASCAR’s search for a new playoff format is in its “final processes” and teased that officials are considering testing different formats across the three NASCAR National Series.

Among the many storylines of change during the 2025 NASCAR season, perhaps the most prominent is the sport’s open search for potential changes to its playoff format.

As part of this, NASCAR has gathered industry stakeholders, such as network partners, drivers, owners, and even Hall of Famers, for their opinions on the system as part of the NASCAR playoff committee. Though this committee will not make the final decision on the potential changes made to the playoff system, or point system as a whole, NASCAR has used it as a brain trust of ideas and review.

At first, the sport seemed hopeful that it would make any necessary changes by 2026. Recent reports suggest that NASCAR could hold off for another year while it continues conversations with TV partners and doesn’t want to rush such an important decision.

Some fans rejected this idea of holding off another year, while others supported it, saying that it’s better to get the idea right rather than rush to a conclusion that is just as unstable as the current format. But, during a recent interview with Eric Estepp of Out of the Groove, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said that the discussions around changing the system are winding down.

“We are kind of in the final processes,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve tried to talk to as many of the stakeholder groups as possible. We’ve got a couple more of those conversations to have.” O’Donnell then suggested that after the discussions wrap up, the process of implementing a new system might be a question of where rather than when.

“Do You Try Three Different Things?”

In an interesting twist, O’Donnell suggested that the sport could test a different format in one of its two lower national series, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (the new name for the NASCAR Xfinity Series) and the Craftsman Truck Series, or even try three different formats across all three series as early as next year.

”I think for us the decisions are gonna be, ‘Do you put something immediately in the Cup Series? Do you try something around next year’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Trucks? Do you try three different things?’ ” — Steve O’Donnell

In the past, some fans have criticized NASCAR for being quick to implement changes, such as the Playoff elimination system in 2014 or the NASCAR Next Gen in 2022, without testing them in lower series or divisions like other major sports leagues do. O’Donnell even addressed this directly.

“Most sports will look at, ‘Hey, let’s try this in AAA baseball. And if it works, great, if we want to tweak it, okay, let’s make those tweaks and then put it to the next level.’ We’ve historically not done that. So we’re just going to try and beat up a lot of those things.” — Steve O’Donnell

If the sport went this route in 2026, it might be as confusing as it would be exciting. Still, prior to 2016, the Truck and Xfinity Series did not have a playoff or Chase System, meaning there was a 12-year period where the two lower National Series and the top National Series did not share this system.

Ultimately, O’Donnell did not rule out leaving the system as is for the future. He acknowledges that fans may not like this decision, saying, “If we stay the status quo and we don’t do anything in all three series, there’s got to be a pretty good explanation as to why, and to who we spoke to.”

Closing out the playoff topic, O’Donnell reiterated that NASCAR’s goal is to find a format that fans are proud of. “I can assure you what we want is, for the championship and the champion to be somebody that all our fans are proud of in terms of how it was determined.”

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