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The NASCAR Cup Series season ends every year with the NASCAR Playoffs and the Championship race. Several seasons back, the NASCAR Cup Series would often end with a driver gaining many points over the competition during the regular season. The result was that the same driver only had to start the last race of the year to win the Championship.
Or worse, that scenario could happen with a few races left on the schedule. That would lead to boring end-of-the-season races with little or no drama and a lack of ticket sales based on excitement. NASCAR officials decided to put into place a format of elimination races based on points that would help define a group of drivers as being eligible for the championship. The original format was introduced during the 2004 season. It has been tweaked since 2004, but this is the basic way the NASCAR Playoffs Work.
Becoming a Championship-Eligible Driver
After the regular season, the top 16 drivers are designated as “Playoff Drivers”, which means they are the only drivers still eligible to win the Cup Series Championship for that season. The sixteen Championship-eligible drivers gain that status by either winning during the regular season or accumulating enough points without a win during the regular season. Those sixteen drivers will still have to race non-championship-eligible drivers every race weekend which is what sets NASCAR Playoffs apart from the NFL, MLB and NHL.
This means that drivers who are eliminated from racing for the Championship still race to win a race and possibly play the role of a spoiler. The 16 drivers have to navigate several rounds of the NASCAR Playoffs to be eligible from round to round. Every round of the playoffs has drivers eliminated from the format. Here’s how that works.
Structure of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are based on having the sixteen eligible drivers compete against each other, along with non-Championship-eligible drivers, during three elimination rounds heading into the Championship race. The post-season NASCAR Cup playoffs consist of a total of ten races with nine being playoff races and the tenth being the final race of the season which determines the Cup Series Championship.
The three elimination rounds each consist of three races with the four lowest drivers being eliminated from Championship consideration. The way to advance to the next round is exactly like the way to become championship-eligible during the regular season. A driver either needs to win or gain enough points to move to the next elimination round. Each driver retains their “playoff points” which carry over to the next round if they are eligible, which helps determine seeding through the playoffs.
In short, the NASCAR Playoffs start with sixteen drives which is aptly called the Round of 16. Then, following the three races in that round, four drivers are eliminated. That brings use to the Round of 12. You can probably see where this is going. Then, for the final race of the season. Only four drivers remain eligible to win the Championship. The driver with the best finish out of the four wins the Cup Series title.
The Twist? Any driver in the field can still win the race meaning a non-championship driver could go to victory lane. That does not change who wins the Championship – it only means that two drivers will get to celebrate after the race. One for winning the event and one for winning a Championship.
NASCAR Playoff and Championship Tracks
NASCAR has tweaked the Playoff format over the years with changes to the schedule coming every few seasons. The season-ending Championship race was held at Miami-Homestead Speedway before moving to Phoenix several years ago. The Championship race is still set for Phoenix in the 2024 season, but some changes were made when the schedule was released for 2024 and going forward.
The Round of 16
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Quaker State 400
Watkins Glen International – Go Bowling at the Glen
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Four Drivers are eliminated after The Round of 16
The Round of 12
Kansas Speedway – Hollywood Casino 400
Talladega Superspeedway – YellaWood 500
Charlotte Motorspeedway Roadcourse – Bank of America Roval 400
Four Drivers are eliminated after The Round of 12
The Round of 8
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – South Point 400
Homestead Miami Speedway – The Cup Race at Homestead Miami
Martinsville Speedway – The NASCAR Playoff Race at Martinsville
Four Drivers are eliminated after the Round of 8 leaving four drivers eligible out of sixteen to move to the Championship race.
The NASCAR Championship Race
Phoenix Raceway – NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix.
The big difference between the final Championship race and the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races is that no Playoff/Championship points move forward to the final race. This means that all four drivers will start as equals with the driver that finishes best winning the title.
The NASCAR Playoff System Works
Hopefully this explanation of how do the NASCAR Playoffs work has been helpful to you. The NASCAR Cup Series Championship and Playoff system works. It has been successful in replacing the old points system, which could allow a driver to wrap up the title with a few races left on the schedule.
It’s been so successful that it has also been implemented, in various forms, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Both of these series have slightly different numbers of races involved, but the elimination format is the same. It has also helped keep fans invested in the final races of the season even if their favorite driver is not eligible to win a Championship. After all, said driver can still win one of the Playoff races and play the role of spoiler.
