Before the playoff era, NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series was defined by a straightforward points system that emphasized consistency and rewarded drivers for their performance across the entire season. This system was beloved by fans who appreciated the clarity and fairness it brought to the championship race. For instance, the race winner earned 175 points, with each subsequent position receiving progressively fewer points down to 34th place, which earned 34 points. This approach meant that a driver who consistently finished in the top positions had a significant advantage, regardless of whether they won races. But in 2004, everything changed.

NASCAR introduced a playoff-system format, known as the “Chase for the Nextel Cup,” later renamed to “Chase for the Sprint Cup” and finally the “NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.” This system was designed to create a more exciting and marketable conclusion to the season by narrowing the championship contenders to a select few. The current format, being a multi-million dollar effort from NASCAR, was implemented in 2017, featuring a 16-driver field with four elimination rounds leading up to a single-race championship finale. While the intention was to increase fan engagement and viewership, the change is becoming the hottest debate in the sport.

Interestingly, despite the official shift to the playoff system, fan engagement seems to be leaning towards the traditional points format. A fan-created X account, @NWCS-Standings, which tracks the Winston Cup points standings, has garnered significant attention and interaction from the NASCAR community, drawing a whopping 278k views as of 21st September, 2025.

In contrast, NASCAR’s official standings page on their website has seen a decline in engagement, with some fans expressing a preference for the older system’s transparency and consistency. This trend suggests a disconnect between the governing body’s direction and the preferences of the fanbase, highlighting a potential area for reconsideration in future discussions.

As of late September 2025, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings featured Ryan Blaney leading with 3,084 points, closely followed by William Byron and Kyle Larson. However, when applying the Winston Cup points system to the same season, the standings shift notably.

Currently, Christopher Bell leads the Winston Cup standings by 4007 points, a 6-point lead after New Hampshire, over Chase Briscoe with 4001 points. They are followed by Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney in the Top 5 positions. This comparison is what entertains fans, underscoring differences between the two systems and the impact they have on determining the championship contenders.

Fans have taken to forums and social media platforms to voice their opinions, with many advocating for a return to the Winston Cup points system. While NASCAR has acknowledged the need for potential changes, including discussions about the playoff format’s future, the debate only seems to be growing with each passing second.

Fans make their opinions heard

One fan sarcastically commented, “The graphic just looks cooler, what can i say?” The coolness of the graphic isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about the simplicity and transparency that the traditional points system provides. Fans appreciate the straightforwardness of the Winston Cup format, where consistency over the entire season was rewarded, allowing for a clear and understandable championship race. Another fan added to that sentiment, saying, “And that music always takes me back.”

“People love custom or niche content. People don’t care about corporate content as much. I personally heart and reply to nfl memes accounts more then nfl,” echoed another sentiment that resonates deeply in today’s digital landscape. The growing preference for fan-driven, humorous content over official sports communication channels underscores a significant shift in digital sports culture. NFL accounts like nflmemes_ig and NFL_Memes on X have amassed millions of followers by offering witty takes on players, teams, and league events, often surpassing official NFL posts by engagement.

Similarly, in NASCAR, nascarcasm and nascarman-rr on X have attracted the fanbase with their witty but also insightful highlights and nostalgic content, exactly what fans need right now. Another fan suggested, “All that really needs to be done is slight modifications. Stages I could take or leave the points but drop the cautions maybe it’s just me but the whole artificially bunching the field just ain’t that fun and really curbs a lot of records from happening again. More points for winning, get points for leading a lap, most laps etc but still reward consistency maybe a car that’s in the top-15 all year with no DNFs doesn’t need to be in the Top-5 but they should still be hovering between the Top 10 and 20. Mayhaps some mild schedule adjustments although I’d focus on the format before more big events.”

For instance, at the 2023 Circuit of the Americas race, the absence of the stage cautions allowed for more organic strategy and increased lead changes, highlighting the potential benefits of a more traditional racing approach. And of course, the nostalgia still fuels the core fans, something which might be difficult for the newer fans to relate to.

On the other hand, looking at the Winston Cup standings, fans are impressed with the drivers’ performances, as one fan wrote, “A 6 point lead with 6 races remaining? Sign me the f–k up. Thats natural drama you can’t artificially create.”

These scenarios mirror past seasons with legends like Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty, where close point standings led to dramatic finishes, underscoring the unpredictable nature of NASCAR and the genuine excitement it brings fans. As the 2025 season nears its climax, the anticipation builds, proving that a return to the previous system or a hybrid mode of declaring the championship winner would highly benefit NASCAR in the long run.