After 12 years of the controversial four-round, 10-race knockout Championship 4 playoff format, NASCAR made the offseason decision to revert back to an iteration of the Chase format used when NASCAR first instituted a postseason format back in 2004.
Though the new format doesn't look exactly like it looked when it was abandoned initially following the 2013 season, it's about as close as it gets, and the minor differences actually do more to enhance the product than to water it down.
The 2014-2025 playoff format was widely considered one of the most blatantly gimmicky elements of a sport that has embraced one too many gimmicks over the years, slowly alienating the core fanbase and causing more and more fans to head for the exits.
While the elimination of the Championship 4 format is a great start, NASCAR still has another major gimmick to deal with, and that is stage racing.
Stage racing is NASCAR's news biggest gimmick
Stage racing was introduced back in 2017, and it effectively "enhanced" the postseason format. In addition to the top 10 finishers in each stage being awarded regular points, one playoff point was awarded to each stage winner, adding an element of strategy to each individual race and really the entire season, because of the long-term value of playoff points.
With playoff points no longer in existence following the playoff overhaul, we're not exactly sure why stage racing is still a thing.
It used to be that the race winner could finish as low as 11th in points scored (even worse in the four-stage Coca-Cola 600), while the driver in 16th could end up leading all drivers in points, simply because of stage racing.
Because that really made a lot of sense.
With the "win and in" incentive gone from the new Chase format, NASCAR did add more incentive to win by upping the value from 40 points to 55, meaning that there is no way for a race winner to finish any lower than tied for first place in points scored in any given race aside from the Coke 600.
However, NASCAR failed to change any other point values. Second place is still worth 35 points, and each position below it decreases its point value by one.
Likewise, stage points are still awarded to the top 10 drivers, starting with 10 for the stage winner and decreasing by one point per position, down to one point for the stage's 10th place finisher.
In other words, leading at some random lap during a race could be worth as many as 20 total positions in the race results. It's ludicrous, and the 22nd place finisher could end up tying for second in total points scored simply because of it.
The difference between running 10th and 11th on that same random lap is the same difference points-wise between running second and third at the end of the entire race.
This was the single biggest reason why a season-long points format wouldn't work; there is not nearly enough value on the actual race results, compared to where a driver is running one-third and two-thirds (roughly) through each race.
Even in a post-playoff world, that balance is still completely missing.
Even with the Chase format, which is still largely based on points (specifically when it comes to the 10 postseason races), awarding so many stage points dilutes the product. Aside from winning, there is very little added incentive to finish well, provided you allow yourself the ability to overcome a poor finish with good stage results.
That's not to mention the planned caution flag periods that come with stage racing, even when absolutely nothing on the race track is hazardous. While some might argue that these yellows add an element of strategy, they really do the complete opposite.
Split-second decisions based on untimely cautions are what make racing unique. But when everybody knows the exact moment when two of those caution flags are coming, NASCAR loses a significant chunk of that element, the real strategic element that should go into each race weekend.
It almost levels the playing field too much, to a certain degree, especially in a Next Gen era where parity is already more rampant than ever simply due to the design of the race cars themselves.
Pre-planned decisions about stage points vs. track position take away an element of unpredictability that NASCAR had no reason to abandon. Keeping the ability to plan those decisions ahead of time, even in a post-Championship 4 world, only stands to dilute the new Chase format.
The compromise here feels relatively simple, even without getting rid of stage racing altogether: no stage cautions, and more points for race finishes, relative to stage results. Hopefully NASCAR doesn't stop making changes just because they've arrived on a new playoff format, and hopefully if year one of the new playoff format does turn out to prove that there is still work to be done, NASCAR acts.