One of the biggest decisions in recent NASCAR history took place over the offseason, when the sanctioning body agreed to ditch the "win and in", knockout-style playoff format that had been in place since 2014 and instead bring back an iteration of the original "Chase" format that was used from 2004 to 2013.
But before the Chase, there was simply nothing; full-season points crowned a champion, and for as much love as this year's format has gotten (for now...), there are still plenty of fans who would have preferred a return to full-season points.
Granted, the points format itself is far different from what it was in 2003; it's even different from what it was in 2025, since NASCAR boosted the value of wins to make up for the removal of "win and in".
The 16-driver playoff field was officially solidified in Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, with RFK Racing's Ryan Preece, who hadn't finished a race higher than eighth all year, winning to ironically win his way into the No. 16 seed, despite points, not the win itself, being what ultimately carried him to his first playoff berth.
Now the standings look exactly like we were told they'd look back in January, as all 16 playoff drivers were assigned predetermined point values based on their finish in the regular season standings.
Regular season champion Denny Hamlin leads the way with 2,100, followed by Ryan Blaney in second with 2,075 and Tyler Reddick in third with 2,065. Point values then decrease by five per position from third through 16th, with 16th (Preece) getting no bonus points and starting with 2,000.
Despite Hamlin's advantage, you could really argue the playoff format could come back to bite him, because instead of 15 drivers being within 100 points of him, just one would be within 100 points of him if the playoffs were scrapped entirely.
Here's how the playoffs would look after the 26th of 36 races on this year's schedule, if the final 10 races of the year were simply a part of a full-season championship format.
NASCAR standings if playoffs were removed completely
Rank | Name | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1027 | 0 |
2 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 938 | -89 |
3 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 894 | -133 |
4 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 892 | -135 |
5 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 761 | -266 |
6 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 758 | -269 |
7 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 724 | -303 |
8 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 723 | -304 |
9 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 709 | -318 |
10 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 677 | -350 |
11 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 676 | -351 |
12 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 673 | -354 |
13 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 666 | -361 |
14 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 651 | -376 |
15 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 631 | -396 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 622 | -405 |
17 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 605 | -422 |
18 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford | 543 | -484 |
19 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 518 | -509 |
20 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 517 | -510 |
21 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 498 | -529 |
22 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 468 | -559 |
23 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 463 | -564 |
24 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 455 | -572 |
25 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 435 | -592 |
26 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 430 | -597 |
27 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota | 418 | -609 |
28 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford | 414 | -613 |
29 | Harrison Burton, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota | 403 | -624 |
30 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 391 | -636 |
31 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford | 346 | -681 |
32 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet | 329 | -698 |
33 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 310 | -717 |
34 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 271 | -756 |
35 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | 201 | -826 |
Alas, they were not removed completely, and Hamlin's lead over Blaney is 25 to begin the postseason, rather than 89. The first of 10 races on the playoff schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 6.
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