How does NASCAR crown a season champion in the playoffs?

If you’re a new fan, NASCAR’s championship format may be overwhelming. Unlike Formula 1, IndyCar and so many other forms of racing, it is not as simple as one driver amassing the most points throughout the year. That sort of traditional season-long format was abandoned by NASCAR ahead of the 2004 season.

Since then, the championship format has changed quite a bit. It went from a ten-driver Chase for Cup to 12 drivers with ‘win and you’re in’ added’ before expanding to 16 drivers and introducing a multi-round, knockout style format with multiple resets. Confused, yet? Don’t worry, we’re going to explain it all for you right now.

How to make the playoffs

There are two ways of making the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. The best way is to win a race. As long as a driver attempts every race (unless granted a waiver), a race win basically guarantees them a spot in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter how many points the driver has or how bad of a season it’s been up until that point. A winning driver will leapfrog every other non-winner in the standings and lock yourself in. The only time this isn’t a guarantee is on the rare occasion when there are over 16 race winners before the 26th race of the year (when the regular season ends). In that scenario, the lowest driver in points with a single win gets the boot.

The other way to make the playoffs is the more traditional avenue. After adding in race winners, drivers relying on points will fill out the remaining spots for the 16-driver field. But you have to be careful as a driver can have a solid regular season, sitting high in points, but miss the playoffs simply because too many drivers behind them won races. It has happened before. A win beats everything.

Note: The regular season consists of the first 26 races of the year while the playoffs are the the final ten races.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Bristol race winner

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

How points are awarded

The NASCAR points system is one of the simplest aspects of its championship. The race winner gets 40 points, but it drops to 35 points for the runner-up. After that, every position is worth a single point, dropping by one as you go down the running order until you reach 36th — worth one point. 37th through 40th also score just one point.

There are stage points, too, with up to 20 additional points available to drivers each weekend (except for the Coke 600, which offers 30 additional points due to running an extra stage). Winning a stage guarantees a driver ten points, second earns nine points, third earns eight points, and so on. Only the top ten finishers in each stage earn stage points.

It’s getting to the playoff points where things are a lot more complicated.

First, NASCAR offers one playoff point for winning a stage and five playoff points for winning a race as bonus points. A driver with say two wins and three stage wins would earn 13 bonus points. There’s also a handful of playoff points awarded to the ten drivers highest in points at the end of the regular season.

Once the playoffs begin, the 16 contenders have their points reset to 2,000. The playoff bonus points are then added with the best drivers usually holding a to 30 to 40-point cushion over those on the bottom.

For each round, the points are reset — increasing to 3,000 for the second round, 4,000 for the third round, and 5,000 for the final Championship 4 round.

Excluding the Championship 4, playoff (bonus) points determined at the start of the playoffs are added to the total after each reset with drivers carrying them through each round. They can also add to that total by collecting more race wins (five points) and stage wins (one point) throughout the playoffs. But once the green flag flies for the finale, points no longer mean anything to the Championship 4 drivers.

Now to explain the actual rounds…

Tyler Reddick wins the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Championship

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

How the playoffs are structured

The playoffs in itself features four distinct rounds: The Round of 16, the Round of 12, the Round of 8, and the Championship 4.

The first three rounds all look the same. Each consists of three races and at the end of each, the bottom four in points are eliminated from championship contention. The points reset at the end of every round (as mentioned above). The Championship 4 works differently. It is a single race, featuring the only four drivers left in the title fight in a winner-take-all finale. However, the rest of the field remains on track for these races, racing for the win, their own points position, and sometimes to assist their title-contending teammates.

How to advance through each round of the playoffs

The way drivers can advance through each round of the playoffs mirrors how they can make the playoffs to begin with. The most direct way is to win one of the three races and automatically advance. The other way is to not be among the four-lowest points scorers (among the playoff drivers) without a win. To avoid this, drivers will desperately try to accumulate stage points as it is frequently single-digits deciding these eliminations.

Ross Chastain performs the wall-ride in order to escape playoff elimination, shocking the racing world as he locks himself into the Championship 4

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

How the champion is crowned in the finale

The championship finale, which currently takes place at Phoenix Raceway, is especially unique. The four drivers who make it through each of the playoff rounds are reset one final time. However, they do not carry playoff bonus points over into this final round. They also aren’t eligible for stage points. They aren’t racing by themselves either (like the Pixar movie ‘Cars’) as the rest of the field is still there, competing to win and to place as high in points as possible.

As for the Championship 4 quartet, their mission is simple: Finish ahead of the other three title contenders. It doesn’t matter where they finish overall and winning the race is not necessary. They just need to be the highest-placing driver among that final four. However, since the current format’s introduction since 2014, the champion has had to win the finale every year but one.