NASCAR has always been an evolving sport, and now the sport relies on the best technology available along with exceptional safety measures. But NASCAR didn't always have the playoffs as part of their rules; things changed after Matt Kenseth's win in the 2003 season. Let's look at what happened that led to such major changes in the sport.
In 2003, Kenseth won the championship with just one win along with 25 top-ten finishes in the season. He even failed to finish several races due to crashes, which reportedly got everyone thinking and led to changes in the points system. For the 2004 Cup Series, the playoff system was announced and called 'Chase for the Championship'.
In the Chase system, after 26 races, only the top 10 drivers or any other with 400 points of the leader earned a ticket to 'chase' in the finals. The points for the list topper started at 5,050, and second place got 5045, and so on. This format lasted till 2006, and in 2007, NASCAR decided to give more drivers a chance and changed the playoffs from the top 10 to the top 12.
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This format offered 10 bonus points for each race win to the drivers. However, this format also dropped the 400-point rule. In 2011, NASCAR changed the rules once again for the last two drivers of the top 12. This format was also referred to as the wildcard format, in which the last two drivers are picked on the most number of wins in the standings from 11th to 20th position.
The rules were once again revised in 2014, putting drivers to a real test. In this format, the points were set to zero after every race and no playoff points existed. The format also introduced the 'win and you're in' rule, in which after winning a race during the regular season, the driver can directly compete in the playoffs. Along with that, it also introduced the top 16 challenger round, continued with the top 12 contender round, and lastly, the eliminator round with only the top 8 drivers.
The shaping of modern-era NASCAR
2017 shaped the new rules that are still followed even in 2024. The splitting stage format introduced three stages of a race. The first two stages are the 1/4th of the race, and stage 3 is the 1/2 part of the race. This format allows drivers to earn extra points for the championship—10 for first place and 1 for 10th place. Along with that, playoff points were introduced in 2017.
In 2018, there were some visual changes done to the cars in a special collaboration with X, formerly known as Twitter and Race Team Alliance. The top 16 drivers had customized hashtags and emojis on the side of their cars. Later in the season, it was changed with customized Snapcodes. 2022 marked the next era of racing with Next Gen Cars, and NASCAR introduced a new rule.
Despite having a secure place in the playoffs, if an L3 violation is found in the driver's car in the post- and pre-race inspection, NASCAR can ban the party. In 2023, NASCAR removed the requirement that the drivers need to be in the top 30 ranking to qualify for playoffs.
