NASCAR VP responds to unhappy fans over playoff – Sports News
NASCAR vice president Ben Kennedy believes the latest playoff format change will show to be a welcome one among racing fans come the top of the 2026 season.
Drivers will now qualify for the playoffs based mostly on regular-season factors, with the ‘win-and-you’re in’ rule, which supplied drivers with a postseason berth as an automated qualifier, having been eradicated. The Chase’s reintroduction will not be one-for-one both, with a few alterations having been made to the format which might be used throughout all three NASCAR competitions.
The new playoff format will even stay unfold throughout 10 races, with the driving force with essentially the most factors on the finish of the postseason being topped the respective collection champion.
While some fans are glad to see NASCAR return to the previous playoff format, because it rewards consistency over an complete season, others might take some time to heat up to the reintroduction of The Chase. However, within the eyes of Kennedy, he believes the return to the previous system will show to be a welcome one.
“Those are probably some of our biggest stakeholders as we make a decision… Our fans are incredibly important to us as well, and as Steve said earlier, we’re not gonna make everyone happy.
“If you take a look at the spectrum, there are people on all sides of the spectrum, however should you take what’s most important to everybody, you put them in collectively, and also you finish up with a format like this.”
Kennedy also explained on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this week that the decision to alter the playoff system partly came down to the feedback from stakeholders and fans. “Some people wished a 36-race championship, others wished the Chase, and others did not need to change the playoffs in any respect,” added Kennedy, through Yardbarker.
“If you take a look at all of the suggestions we had from many of our stakeholders and also you soften all of it collectively, you finish up with a format that’s in all probability fairly comparable to what we’re creating as we speak, the place you are rewarding consistency all through all the season, you are still incentivizing wins.
“And undoubtedly, whoever raises the championship trophy above their head at Homestead-Miami Speedway this year, it’ll be a worthy champion.”
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