In a weird way, the Cup Series champion was the one who was the most consistent all season, not the one who won when it mattered most.
NASCAR’s attempt the last 12 seasons to have a playoff-style format with a simple, easy-to-understand, one-race championship event has not resonated with fans, despite creating an unprecedented intensity and occasional controversy.
As NASCAR explores new championship formats, one thing appears clear: NASCAR will abandon the one-race championship where the four drivers are eligible for the title and whoever finishes the best in the finale is the champion.
Kyle Larson celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix in 2025.
“Something that as you look at the future of the sport, making sure that a driver who has delivered all season long has the ability to be named a champion and not have something maybe come down to one race. That’s really been the focal point,” NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said during the NASCAR state of the sport news conference Friday about the potential changes in the championship format.
“We want to reward winning. We’re going to continue to do that. Whatever model we come up with, winning is very important. The one-race thing has been a factor … there’s a lot of circumstances that can happen.”
To get the one-race championship, drivers have had to survive three-race playoff rounds where a win advances them to the next round; without a win, they can advance on points with bonus playoff points from throughout the year for race wins and stage wins and regular-season points standing being added to their totals.
After a late caution at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin lost the NASCAR title in heartbreaking fashion.
There was a lot of math leading to the championship, but at the championship race, the math was thrown away. And it seems like fans might hate math, but what they hate more is a driver who has had a dominant season not winning the title.
Drivers would rather deal with math, too, even if that means a four-race final round (one of the possible scenarios), a 10-race playoff (like the original Chase from 2004-2013) or a traditional full-season points championship.
“Any track, you can throw any track [in there], no matter it could be — 10, 4, 36, I’d really feel my chances are high higher,” mentioned 2025 Cup champion Kyle Larson.
The day earlier than the Cup championship, Jesse Love gained the Xfinity title with an important race for his second victory of the season. Whereas Love drove the very best race that day, Connor Zilisch, who gained 10 races (or 9, contemplating a type of who relinquished the seat to Parker Kligerman early in a race at Daytona) ended up with out a title.
Then on Sunday, a late warning and a call to take 4 tires thwarted a dominant Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson ended up successful the title.
Larson completed the yr with three wins however none over the ultimate 24 races. He did earn probably the most factors all through the season, so he arguably was probably the most constant, whereas Hamlin gained six occasions.
Hamlin remains to be with out a championship in his twentieth yr within the sport and with a profession 60 Cup wins (tenth on the all-time record). And this example has dropped at the forefront how a late warning or some freak prevalence can change the championship.
It’s nothing new, however in a yr filled with speak about how the format ought to be, it delivered the message that this isn’t it.
“[NASCAR Commissioner] Steve [Phelps] and I’ve actually heard the trade, perceive the challenges which might be on the market,” O’Donnell mentioned. “So the aim is to stability a few of these moments that we have had with the nice racing but additionally ship slightly bit extra of I feel what the followers and the trade is asking for.”
Denny Hamlin exits pit highway in the course of the NASCAR Cup Sequence Championship at Phoenix Raceway
With so many eliminations, there was a sense that the highest drivers weren’t getting sufficient consideration and that the eye fell to these on the bubble in every spherical.
“One of many considerations is future drivers developing by the system, having a number of wins and never essentially successful a championship,” O’Donnell mentioned the day earlier than Zilisch did not win the title. “I feel that is a problem for a sport the place I feel the sunshine actually goes on is having that driver be deemed a possible celebrity.
“We checked out this [system] extra moments, extra drivers, extra drivers being able to go on the market and win. That perhaps takes away from the one-driver story. It is in all probability tougher to jot down simply the one-driver story over and over, but it surely does create an actual star.”
In the end, followers didn’t gravitate to this format as they do in different sports activities tournaments which have a single-event champion, such because the Tremendous Bowl, the World Cup last and the NCAA championships.
“Our followers, proper or unsuitable, are totally different than different stick-and-ball sports activities,” O’Donnell mentioned. “That is OK. When the Giants win the Tremendous Bowl, I am a Giants fan — no person questions it. Everybody says, ‘Giants are Tremendous Bowl champions.’
“Our followers do not try this. That is been a studying course of for us as nicely.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent a long time protecting motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Comply with him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
