Discussions over a revamped NASCAR playoff format “stalled out” earlier this month, and it is now “far less likely that anything drastic will change in time for 2026,” according to Jeff Gluck of THE ATHLETIC. Following a “controversial 2024 Cup Series playoffs,” the league formed a committee to “assist in coming up with a format that would crown the most ‘deserving’ champion and deliver enough entertainment to increase television ratings” while running head-to-head with the NFL on fall Sundays. It seemed like a “near certainty” the playoff format would be revamped for next season, but the committee did “not reach a consensus solution or opinion on a fix.” Some committee members, including at least one driver, “appear perfectly fine with retaining the current format,” but the majority of drivers “expressed concern over the elimination format’s legitimacy.” If NASCAR “ultimately opts for a three-race or five-race championship round,” it would want to “curate the tracks that decide the champion.” Though it is “unclear” what media partner NBC wants, going away from playoffs and eliminations is “likely not on the list.” The committee now finds itself “playing a game of wait-and-see” to learn what TV execs believe are “realistic changes that can be made, and even then, perhaps not until 2027” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/31). NBC Sports Vice President of NASCAR Jeff Behnke, as to whether NBC has a particular preference on NASCAR’s playoff format and how involved it’s been in the study of it, said “We’ll let NASCAR sort out their vision, and we will produce those playoff races to the best of our ability” (Adam Stern, SBJ).
NEW AGE OF NASCAR: ESPN.com’s Ryan McGee wrote NASCAR is “taking a lot of shots, but unlike their predecessors two decades ago, now there appears to be more thought behind the timing and impact of those shots.” In its search for “younger eyeballs and wallets,” NASCAR became something “older eyes no longer recognized and saw longtime fans put their wallets away.” McGee wrote back then, we “collectively ripped NASCAR leadership for it all, and we should have.” Now ideas include building a temporary MLB stadium “inside of a racetrack to play one game.” The racing company is “adding road and street races,” of which there were six this season versus “so many decades of only two.” NASCAR is “also returning to North Wilkesboro and The Rock, even if it is initially the All-Star Race or a Trucks/Xfinity doubleheader.” It is “rotating Championship Weekend in coming years to different racetracks.” As August arrives and the release of the 2026 Cup Series schedule grows closer, McGee wrote we are “putting into the rearview mirror NASCAR’s summer of experimentation” (ESPN.com, 7/31).
HILL ON WHEELS: In Daytona Beach, Chris Vinel wrote in an effort to promote Season 14 of “King of the Hill”, which releases on Hulu on Aug. 4, the show linked with driver Joey Gase for “a pair of paint schemes.” Gase will “steer two ‘King of the Hill’-themed cars at Iowa Speedway this weekend.” An image of Hank Hill, the show’s protagonist, “adorns the hood, with some of the other characters visible in the reflection of his glasses.” Characters also “appear on the side of the car” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/31).
