NASCAR to consider playoff format changes for 2026

As NASCAR teams prepare to kick off the new season, changes to the Cup Series playoff format could be on the horizon.

NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst said Monday that no changes are coming in 2025, but the playoff format will be reconsidered ahead of the 2026 season.

Probst spoke at a competition briefing on Monday with the season set to begin with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.

"I don't think we want to get in the habit of making small little tweaks every season to the playoffs," Probst said. "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, OEMs, Goodyear, drivers. ... We probably talked to most of the folks one-on-one about, ‘where are we at? What are we thinking?'

"Basically, we look at that as a workstream for a group of our stakeholders this year, to look at it holistically."

The current playoff format sees 16 drivers qualify for a 10-race chase broken up over four rounds. The field of playoff drivers is cut between rounds from 16 to 12 to eight to the Championship Four. It's been the structure of the playoffs since 2014 and hasn't seen significant modification since 2017, when stage racing and playoff points were introduced.

Probst said NASCAR has heard from stakeholders who love the playoffs as is, people who hate the current format and people who fell in between.

There's no guarantee anything will be altered at all in the end.

"We just didn't get to a point where we felt like we have to do it," Probst said. "But we hear the fans loud and clear and are looking at it actively."

Joey Logano is the reigning Cup champion.

--Field Level Media