CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR will not change the playoff system for this season but will create a group to examine how the sport’s champions are determined.
John Probst, NASCAR senior executive vice president and chief racing development officer, confirmed Monday in a meeting with reporters and broadcasters that the playoffs will remain the same despite some fan feedback calling for change.
Last year’s Cup championship race did not include the winningest driver of the season and the top three drivers in laps led going into the season finale. That led some to question the worthiness of those in the Cup title race.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps said last November that all four title contenders — Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and William Byron — deserved to be race for a championship at Phoenix.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR chief operating officer, said in the same media session at Phoenix last November that the playoffs were staying but “we’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason.”
Probst cited Reddick going from third to first on the last lap at Homestead to earn a spot in the championship race, and Blaney going from 10th on the final restart to winning at Martinsville to earn a spot in the title race as examples of what the current format creates.
“The playoffs were meant to create kind of those moments, which I feel like they did,” Probst said Monday at the NASCAR R&D Center.
“On the other hand, there’s the fan feedback, which we hear loud and clear on this particular driver should have been here or that particular driver won so many races so he should have been automatically in and all of that.
“You look at the buckets of different opinions, it seemed like everybody fell into one of three categories. You were either ‘I love the playoffs. I love what they’re doing. They’re creating storylines.’
“There was ‘I hate the playoffs. I don’t want them. Make them go away. I want to go back to the way it always was.’
“And then there was like this middle bucket that was like, ‘I like the playoffs. I think they should change, but I don’t really know exactly what I want to change or what I’m trying to fix.”
Probst also cited eliciting opinion from the broadcast partners, which will include Prime Video, TNT and the CW Network, along with Fox and NBC this season.
“Could we have adjusted a little thing here or there (with the playoffs)?” Probst said. “Maybe, but I don’t think we want to get into habit of making small little tweaks every season to the playoffs.
“Where we landed was for 2025 not making any changes to the playoffs. Throughout the course of this year, we will get a working group together with some media folks, (manufacturers), Goodyear and drivers.”
