“It’s a really weird feeling,” were the words that Kyle Larson could utter after becoming the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion. The Hendrick Motorsports driver could easily be considered so, ending the year with the most points scored over 36 races. He tied for the most top-five and top-10 finishes in the series. And yet beating the season’s win leader, Denny Hamlin, felt weird. That weird feeling persisted across the garage and beyond it. And now, it has attained a fresh coat.

The debate about the one-race championship format has been raging for what seems like ages. It led even the detractors of Denny Hamlin to be utterly disappointed when the veteran lost to Kyle Larson in Phoenix. Given the swathe of protests against the format, what ensued recently baffled fans.

NASCAR’s surprising revelation

Jeff Gluck recently tweeted about a poll conducted among NASCAR fans. And interestingly, the results divulged splintered opinions about the playoff format. Gluck wrote, “Albeit this is a sample size of people who are hardcore fans enough to follow NASCAR writers on X and who bought tickets to a one-race finale — we did an informal poll on the championship format. It was way more split than on X: 1/3 eliminations, 1/3 Chase, 1/3 Team 36. So I’d say NASCAR just has to do what they think is best for the sport and hope enough people come along for the ride.”

This drastically confounds initial expectations about fans’ opinions. That is especially due to the 1/3rd fanbase who voted for the elimination-style format, which has been the crux of controversy for the past two years. Joey Logano’s 2024 title victory with the worst average finish of 17.1 set off the storm. And by the end of 2025, it extended beyond the Cup Series. Denny Hamlin could not win despite his season-long 6 trophies, and Connor Zilisch missed the Xfinity title despite 10 trophies.

Besides the poll results, here’s another factor that may not delight the fans. NASCAR is still undecided about how to tweak the playoff format – and there is no definitive timeline. “Honestly, I don’t know where it is. It could be in two weeks, it could be in two months,” said Mike Forde, NASCAR’s managing director of racing communications, on the Hauler Talk podcast. “We clearly want to make sure that we have been very thorough on this one. Obviously, it will be before Feb. 5 in The Clash, but it could be sooner than later, it could be in January. I don’t know, I don’t think anyone knows just yet.”

While NASCAR has hinted at chucking the current format, it is unlikely to revert to a season-long championship without playoffs. Yet, along the lines of uncertainty, it isn’t completely off the table either. The chances are leaning more toward a return to the 10-race Chase for the Championship used from 2004 to 2013. Or an elimination format that culminates with an eight-driver four-race points chase is also possible.

Whatever the case may be, the sport is currently not in fans’ good books.

Confusion runs riot among fans

After the multiple heartbreaks of the championship weekend barely two weeks ago, Jeff Gluck’s recent poll stirred confusion. The idea of having equal divisions rooting for the elimination, season-long, and Chase formats confounded a fan. “In other words the fanbase is divided as hell,” they wrote. However, doubts inevitably crept into the comments. Somebody brought up the unfortunate circumstance of the digital age: “People continue to think the real world stops at social media.”

Then the doubts grew stronger as people pointed out the potholes in the poll. Jeff Gluck did drop a disclaimer that it is a ‘sample size’ of fans who just attended the Phoenix finale. So somebody refuted the poll result: “This screams bias, because there’s a group of people that would have attended that race exclusively for that one reason. Do a poll at any other race in the year, and I guarantee the number of people supporting playoffs would be cut in half.” Another fan called out Gluck’s narrow take as well. The sarcastic jibe read, “So you asked the 3 people.” 

Yet the fact of the divided poll remains. And this may end up influencing NASCAR’s move towards tweaking the title format. Hence, an interminably long waiting period may follow. Somebody wrote, “This is going to drag out until mid January ain’t it? Literally kills the hype for next season.” Another fan considered past events like the introduction of the Next-Gen car and that of stage racing, and lost all hope. They wrote, “NASCAR is s—-ed no matter what they do. I honestly feel sorry for them.”

Evidently, Jeff Gluck’s poll is not garnering the best reactions from fans. Let’s wait and see what NASCAR decides to do with the poll results.