NASCAR yet to decide on 2026 playoff format changes

During a news conference on Wednesday, NASCAR Executive Vice President Ben Kennedy noted that NASCAR has still not come to a decision regarding changes to the championship format. 

"I know the playoff committee has had a number of meetings over the past several months on different formats that we could look at, and they’ve run a handful of simulations on just various formats, collected some fan feedback," Kennedy said on Wednesday. 

"I know there are conversations as early as a couple days ago on what the future of the playoff format looks like. Nothing to announce today. What I would say, though, is we want to make sure that we take the time to do it right, that we collect as much information as we can, and hopefully whatever this new format is, if there is a new format, it’s something that will last a long time.

We want to be thoughtful and diligent about it, make sure we make the right decisions and moves and give both our fans and our competitors something that they can be really proud of going forward."

Conversations regarding NASCAR's playoff format and its flaws have ramped up over the summer, especially following Mark Martin's vocal criticisms of the format that has been in place since the 2014 season. 

The 2025 Cup Series playoffs will begin with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media unless otherwise noted.