The playoffs system was announced on January 21, 2004, as the "Chase for the Championship,” and first used during the
2004 Nextel Cup season. The format used from 2004 to 2006 was modified slightly starting with the 2007 season. A major change to the qualifying criteria was instituted in 2011, along with a major change to the points system. Even more radical changes to the qualifying criteria, and to the format of the playoffs itself, were announced for the
2014 Sprint Cup Series. As of 2014, the 10-race playoff format involved 16 drivers chosen primarily on wins during the "regular season,” if fewer than 16 drivers won races during the regular season, the remaining field was filled on the basis of regular season points. These drivers competed against each other while racing in the standard field of 40 cars. The driver with the most points after the final 10 races was declared the champion. Beginning with the
2008 Sprint Cup Series, the playoffs became known by its new name as a result
of the merger of
Nextel Communications with
Sprint Corporation. From 2004 to 2006 some races aired on TNT, with the rest airing on NBC. From 2007 to 2009 all 10 races aired on ABC, but in 2010 NASCAR and ESPN quietly moved 9 of the 10 races to ESPN. In 2015 coverage returned to NBC with some races airing on NBCSN.
Seeding and scoring history The current version of the playoff system was announced by NASCAR chairman and CEO
Brian France on January 23, 2017. The current format is the fifth since it was introduced for the 2004 season, with significant changes made in both 2007 and 2011. The 2017 change is the 15th time since 1949 that the point system had been changed, As in all previous chases, the driver with the highest point total at the conclusion of the 10-race chase was the NASCAR Cup Series champion. The chase field consisted of 12 drivers from 2007 through 2012. An exception to this rule was in 2013, where the chase field was expanded to 13 drivers for that season only as the result of a
match fixing scandal. With seven laps remaining in the
Federated Auto Parts 400 at
Richmond International Raceway,
Clint Bowyer went into a spin, forcing a caution. After the race, rumors abounded that Bowyer had deliberately forced a caution in an attempt to manipulate the finish of the race so as to help his
Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) teammate
Martin Truex Jr. clinch the second of the two wild card spots (
Kasey Kahne had already clinched the first spot) over
Ryan Newman, who had been leading at the moment of caution. That Bowyer's spin had been deliberate had been further suggested by several things: the first was radio communications on
Brian Vickers' team with his spotter, MWR general manager
Ty Norris, telling him to pit under green on the restart, and that the audio on Bowyer's radio showed crew chief Brian Pattie pointing out Newman taking the lead and then asking a suspicious string of questions mere seconds before Bowyer spun. Furthermore, when interviewed by Dr.
Jerry Punch post-race,
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was directly behind Bowyer, said that Bowyer "just spun out. It was the craziest thing I saw," and that the behavior of Bowyer's car was inconsistent with Bowyer's claim that a right front tire blew out (the popping noise associated with a flat tire was not heard until after the spin). Vickers' pitting on the restart forced Newman to the back of the pitting cycle, costing him several positions. He ended up finishing third to
Carl Edwards and
Kurt Busch. By finishing third, Newman was tied with Truex in both wins (one) and final points for the second Wildcard spot. Truex won the tiebreaker on top-five finishes. The following Monday, September 9, NASCAR issued some of the most severe penalties imposed on a team in NASCAR Cup Series history. MWR was placed on probation for the rest of the season, and Norris was suspended indefinitely. All three MWR teams were docked 50 owner/driver points for "actions detrimental to stock car racing." As this penalty was applied to pre-chase point totals, it knocked Truex out of the Wildcard spot and put Newman in his place. NASCAR was unable to find solid evidence that Bowyer's spin was deliberate, but did determine that Norris's order to have Vickers pit was a deliberate attempt to manipulate the chase standings in Truex's favor. Had the ruse not happened, Newman was on point to win the race, automatically becoming the second wild card and bumping Truex. The ruse also resulted in a second controversy when radio transmissions were discovered suggesting that
Front Row Motorsports and
Penske Racing had struck a deal for
David Gilliland to give up a spot on the track for
Joey Logano, allowing Logano to race his way into the final lock-in position by one point over
Jeff Gordon. A second NASCAR inquiry resulted in both teams being placed on probation for the remainder of the year. This ruse was found to have been directly caused by the pace car. Had the pace car situation for Bowyer's intentional spin not occurred, Gordon would have finished ahead of Logano by one point and Logano would have been bumped by Newman winning the race since Newman would have taken the first Wild Card. Although Logano was allowed to keep his chase berth, the field was expanded to 13 with the addition of Gordon on September 13. NASCAR chairman
Brian France has always had the power to expand the chase field in exceptional circumstances, and decided to invoke it in this case. In France's view, Gordon had been put at an "unfair disadvantage" due to Penske and Front Row's collusion, as well as MWR's improper instructions to have Vickers pit. Had this not happened, France said, Gordon would have been in the chase by taking the last lock-in position, while Logano would have received one Wild Card position due to him being ahead of Truex and Newman in points, and
Kasey Kahne would have taken the other Wild Card regardless of the race outcome as he had two wins entering Richmond.
2014–2016 On January 30, 2014, a new chase system resembling the playoff systems used in other major league sports was announced at Media Day. Under the new system, the chase field was expanded to 16 drivers for the 10-race chase. The 16 drivers were chosen primarily on wins during the "regular season,” if fewer than 16 drivers won races, the remaining field was filled on the basis of regular season points. These drivers competed against each other while racing in the standard field (then 43 cars). The driver with the most points after the final 10 races was declared the champion. This new playoff system instituted three "cuts" where drivers are eliminated from title contention as the chase progresses. In each cut the bottom four drivers are eliminated from title contention after the third race after a cut. After the first cut (Dover) in what was called the "Challenger Round,” the field was reduced to 12. The bottom four winless drivers kept their points after the first cut, while the remaining 12 chase drivers' points are reset to 3,000 points. After three more races, the cut line eliminated the bottom four winless drivers after the sixth chase race (Talladega) in the "Contender Round,” reducing the size of the field another 33%. Drivers who missed the second cut had their points reset to their score at the end of the first cut, plus the combined points accumulated in the three races in the "Contender Round." Those who continued have their points all reset to 4,000. Then the "Eliminator Round" involved axing 50% of the chase grid with the final cut, cutting the new bottom four drivers after the penultimate race at Phoenix, leaving the top four drivers to have their point totals reset to 5,000 so that they are tied for the final race at Homestead-Miami for the title run. The drivers who missed the cut after this round have their score reset to the score at the end of the first cut, plus total points accumulated in the six previous races. Of these four drivers who made this cut, the driver with the best absolute finish (no bonus points are involved) at Homestead was then crowned the season champion. Under this system, any chase driver who won a race during a playoff round is automatically guaranteed a spot in the next round. Up to three drivers thus could advance to the next round of the chase through race wins, regardless of their actual points position after the final (third) race in that round. The remaining drivers to advance was determined by points. The round names were removed starting in 2016, being changed to "Round of 16,” "Round of 12,” "Round of 8,” and "Championship 4." To identify the drivers within the 43-car field that were still involved in each round of the chase, NASCAR designated various cosmetic changes in 2014: for these drivers, their cars' roof numbers, windshield header, front
splitters, and
fascia are colored yellow, and the chase logo appears on the front quarter panel.
2017 The previous championship format, renamed
NASCAR Playoffs, This means a driver can have less regular season points than another driver, but be seeded higher due to more wins.
Kevin Harvick rule – fifth place Adopted from 2014 onwards, on the suggestion of driver
Kevin Harvick, fifth place in the season-ending standings will be determined amongst the chase drivers eliminated in each of the chase rounds during the final races.
First round elimination Drivers eliminated in the first round will retain their chase score (for example, a driver with one win during the season eliminated after scoring 75 points during the first round will score 2,080 points) and start the fourth race the same score after the first three races, and will accumulate points for the remainder of the season.
Missed the second or third cut Drivers eliminated in the second or third round will have their score reverted to the score at the end of the first round, then their individual race scores for the three (eliminated in the second round) or six races (eliminated in the third round), respectively, before their elimination from the championship contention will be combined with the score after the third race of the first round for the driver's total score.
For the final race After ten races, the drivers positions 5–16 will be determined by the total number of points accumulated in the ten races (bonus points will apply), without the points resets of the second or third rounds, added to the driver's base Chase score with bonuses added. In the final race, unlike the four championship contenders who cannot score bonus points (the winner is determined by the driver who finished the best of those four), both non-playoff and playoff drivers eliminated from the championship are eligible to score all bonus points, so drivers who are contending for positions 5-16 will compete solely against each other.
2018–2025 The previous championship format is maintained, but a few changes were added to the design touches on the cars involved in the playoffs. For the
2018 season, NASCAR collaborated with the
Race Team Alliance and
Twitter to unveil customized
hashtags and
emojis for the top 16 drivers entering the playoffs. Each driver will have their hashtag and emoji displayed on the sides of their cars until they are eliminated from contention. Non-playoff drivers can have their hashtags and the Twitter logo displayed on their cars. This was in effect until the
fall Kansas race. From the
fall Martinsville race to the
fall Phoenix race, all hashtag and emoji labels were replaced with the
NBC logo. At the season-ending
Homestead race, all cars featured Snapcodes as part of a partnership with
Snapchat. The visual, social-media oriented gimmicks above were discontinued for 2019. For 2020, the banners of drivers in the playoffs read "Playoffs" instead of "Cup Series,” while in 2021 playoff drivers have yellow windshield banners and rear spoilers. In 2022, with the introduction of the
Next Gen car, NASCAR added a clause that reserved their right to ban drivers/teams from competing in the playoffs if NASCAR found an L3 violation on their car during any pre-race or post-race inspection. For 2023, NASCAR removed the requirement that drivers had to be at least 30th (20th for Xfinity and Truck) in the standings to be eligible for the playoffs by the way of a race victory, thus all full-time drivers and all drivers who receive a playoff wavier are eligible to qualify for the playoffs with a win. In 2025, after
Kyle Larson was granted a playoff waiver for missing the
2024 Coca-Cola 600 due to weather, another rule change was made where drivers that were granted a playoff waiver for reasons other than medical or family-related (or in the Truck Series, age-related) reasons would lose all their playoff points, thus beginning the playoffs with 2,000 points.
2026 The championship format was reformatted and went back to being called
The Chase. In the Cup Series, 16 drivers still qualify for the Chase, but no cutoffs are applied and a race win does not qualify a driver for the Chase. All drivers have their points reset to a minimum of 2,000 points, with the regular season champion given an additional 100 points; 2nd to 15th also get additional points depending on their position.
Cup series tracks The following are the ten race tracks at which the final ten NASCAR Cup Series races for the Championship.
Texas Motor Speedway (
Fort Worth, Texas) was added in 2005 as a result of the outcome of the
Ferko lawsuit which eliminated
Darlington Raceway (
Darlington, South Carolina) by NASCAR. Also, by way of a 3-way track change,
Talladega Superspeedway moved to a later date,
Atlanta Motor Speedway moved to the Labor Day weekend date, and
Auto Club Speedway moved to a later date inside the chase (starting 2009). In 2011, as part of a substantial
schedule realignment, a number of further changes occurred in the chase: • Auto Club Speedway lost its playoff date. •
Chicagoland Speedway became host of the playoff opener. To accommodate this move, the races at
Loudon,
Dover, and
Kansas all moved forward one week. • Talladega and
Martinsville swapped dates. In 2012: • Talladega and
Kansas swapped dates. In 2013: • Talladega and Kansas swapped the dates back. In 2015: •
Charlotte and Kansas swapped dates. In 2017: • Talladega and Kansas swapped dates again. In 2018, as part of a substantial
schedule realignment, a number of further changes occurred in the playoffs: • New Hampshire lost its playoff date.
Las Vegas replaces New Hampshire as the playoff opener. • Chicagoland race removed from the playoffs; moved back to July. •
Richmond was the second race in the playoffs. • Charlotte race moved one week earlier and held for the first time in the infield road-course (the first playoff race on a road course). • Dover race moved one week later, replacing the Charlotte race and becoming the first race in the second round. In 2020, as part of a substantial schedule realignment: • Homestead-Miami no longer hosts the final race of the season as the race date was moved to late March, ending a tradition dating back to 2002; the final race of the season is now held in Phoenix. • Dover race removed from the playoffs; moved to late August. • Darlington became the host of the playoff opener, the Las Vegas race became the first race of the second round. •
Bristol Motor Speedway hosted a race in the playoffs for the first time, as the
Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (which serves as the last race of the first round) moved from late August to mid-September. • Charlotte race was moved two weeks back, becoming the last race of the second round. • Martinsville race was moved two weeks back, becoming the last race of the third round. In 2021: • Kansas and Texas swapped dates. In 2022: • Richmond race removed from the playoffs; moved to mid-August. • Kansas race moved up to the second week, replacing Richmond as the second race of the first round. • Las Vegas and Texas swapped dates. • Homestead-Miami returns to the playoffs for the first time since 2019, becoming the second race of the third round. In 2024, as part of a substantial schedule realignment: • Texas loses a race date; moved to April. • Atlanta's second race moved from early July to early September; opening the playoffs. • Watkins Glen moved from late August to early September, becoming the second race in the first round. • Darlington moved one week earlier to regular-season finale. • Kansas moved two weeks later, becoming the first race in the second round. In 2025: • Atlanta race removed from the playoffs; moved to late June as the opening race in the new
NASCAR In-Season Challenge. • Watkins Glen race removed from the playoffs, moved to mid-August. • Homestead–Miami race removed from the playoffs, moved back to mid-March. • Gateway and Loudon join the playoffs • Talladega is moved to the second date of the Round of 8. • Darlington returned host of the playoff opener. In 2026: • Homestead-Miami Speedway will return as the season finale in a new rotational system implemented by NASCAR that will see different tracks host the championship race each season. • Kansas becomes the fourth. • New Hampshire race removed from the playoffs; moves to mid-August. • Las Vegas becomes the fifth race. ;Notes • The North Carolina track was known as
Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009. After the 2009 season, Lowe's chose not to renew its sponsorship contract, causing the track to revert to its original name of Charlotte Motor Speedway. • The Kevin Harvick rule applies in both eliminations. Eliminated drivers' scores in the first round will continue to accumulate, while drivers eliminated in the second round will have their scores reverted to the end of the first round, in addition to all accumulated points from races in the second round, and drivers race for fifth. ==O'Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck Series==