What’s Happening To The NASCAR Playoffs?

The recently settled NASCAR antitrust trial reshaped the future of the sport’s business, but it may have also distracted fans from another pressing issue: the playoffs.

The 2026 postseason format was the hot topic before the trial began, but there’s been no official news about it since.

NASCAR met with an advisory panel of drivers, owners and journalists several times in 2025 to discuss possible changes to how champions are crowned, but a final decision hadn’t been made before the end of the season, when Kyle Larson won the championship in an overtime finish that came after race leader Denny Hamlin’s dominant performance was thwarted by a flat tire suffered by William Byron with just three laps to go.

All indications have been that NASCAR will do away with the single-race championship decider, but whether it goes to a four-race final round or back to a 10-race Chase for the Championship format remains unclear.

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There’s also the slim possibility that it returns to a full season points championship, which has many vocal supporters among drivers and fans, but NASCAR said the postseason has helped ticket sales, if not necessarily TV ratings and broader fan engagement.

Nevertheless, the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Models has announced it is ending its three-year experiment with a playoffs and going back to a season points championship next year, so there i some momentum in the sport for this sort of thing.

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As for when we’ll know for sure, NASCAR hasn’t officially announced a date, but Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass reports that he “wouldn’t expect anything new on the points format for next year until January.” Given that the aftermath of the trial is still being sorted out, this doesn’t seem surprising.

The 2026 NASCAR season is set in stone, however, and the final race is moving back to Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8. Whether the champion will be decided there or just celebrated is yet to be seen.

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