Veteran insider lists five reasons why NASCAR could abandon its playoff format

With NASCAR having formed a committee earlier in the year to possibly revise the playoff format, initially, a small camp had spoken about the scrapping of the playoff format altogether. However, the voice of doing away with the playoffs has recently picked up, leading veteran insider Jeff Gluck to list out five reasons that the championship could distance itself from the playoff format altogether.

NASCAR last crowned the champion who scored the most points in a year in 2003. Since then, it has adopted various alterations to increase the entertainment towards the latter end of the year. In 2014, what is now known as the playoff format was introduced, which has largely remained the same.

But, with a large section of the racing sphere wanting to do away with the current format, doubts about why this all was taking place in the first place arose. To share the possible reasons why such a change could be on the cards for the stock car racing championship, Gluck shared five reasons for the same on The Athletic.

Firstly, the focus for the majority of the season remains on the lower half of the field as the question about who will make it into the 16-driver cutoff on the cusp always remains in the background. Then, even after the playoffs start, the discussion revolves around who will be knocked out first, leading to the attention only being shifted to the top guys once the field gets down to the Round of 8.

Then, only four races remain for the fandom to focus on the star drivers for a very small amount of time in comparison to the vast 36-race calendar. So, doing away with the playoffs could make the star drivers stay on top of the day-to-day discussions and increase the viewership figures.

Secondly, the regular season sucks due to the playoffs, as the win-and-in format doesn't give drivers much of an incentive to keep going and bagging race wins. But, in a full-season championship format, drivers will have to maximize each and every race, increasing the stakes even more on a week-to-week basis.

Thirdly, while other sports benefit from a knockout/round-based fixture, the same cannot be said for motorsports. Looking over to IndyCar and F1, NASCAR is the only one holding up with the playoff format.

There, the chances of witnessing a driver take the championship based on their consistency are rewarded, which largely goes unnoticed in the playoffs format, as all that matters is one good race at the end of the season for a driver that is in the final four to take home the championship.

The fourth reason that Gluck shared emphasizes how the playoffs haven't worked so far. All the playoff races that have taken place in the 2025 season have not even managed to cross the 2 million viewership mark, a feat that was easily achieved when the playoff format wasn't there.

But, if the playoff format is reduced, there is a higher probability that fans would turn on their devices to watch the race, as drivers would still have to remain working for the title, as one bad race could derail their championship charge.

And lastly, Gluck revealed how moving away from playoffs would lead to a simpler championship format. Scoring the most points results in the driver winning the championship, done and dusted.

No, complex rules are hurdling anyone, making the season easier to follow all along.

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Brad Keselowski asserts that NASCAR needs to do away with the playoffs to accelerate the growth of the sport

Brad Keselowski after winning the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series championship - Source: Imagn

While Jeff Gluck revealed the reasons why NASCAR could scrap playoffs for a simpler championship format, there is one more driver who has called for the same a few weeks ago. 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski has also been on the against camp for the playoffs.

In an interview with Gluck, Keselowski shared why he believes that NASCAR should abandon the playoff system:

"The whole playoff thing has to go away. The nuance of having 10 races that are more important than 20-some others is very unhealthy for the sport. It’s demeaning to the other tracks and races. And unfortunately, those 10 races that are supposed to mean more are in direct competition with other sports. It muddies the water. It’s not working for the sport."

However, there is still time for NASCAR to decide what changes should be made to the playoffs or whether it should be scrapped altogether.