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It is NASCAR playoff season once again, so obviously the much-maligned current playoff format is being roundly booed yet again by a restless fanbase.

It appears those fans who hate the way the Cup Series season ends may not have to suffer for much longer though – change could be coming very soon with the timeline now revealed on what happens next.

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NASCAR’s Playoff Committee is set to meet in the middle of next week – so just days away – to discuss potential changes to the format moving forward.

Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, provided an illuminating update on where things stand during the latest Hauler Talk podcast.

Playoff change timeline confirmed

“We’re getting very close. So we have a final playoff committee meeting, I’m on that committee, so that is coming next week – midweek next week,” he said.

“I think the plan for that meeting is to discuss the shortlist, potential formats and get the playoff committee’s opinion on that.

“We’ll go through that process and then hopefully make a determination of an even shorter list, really come down, whittle it down to one final format. NASCAR will decide to move forward and we may see something as soon as 2026.

“More to come on that and hopefully we have news that the fans will really like.”

Forde was at pains to stress that decisions will be made with fans in mind – he claims that is the whole reason for the Playoff Committee’s existence.

Fan feedback a major factor

“The whole reason we have this playoff committee is because of fan feedback, and there was a large contingent of fans that gave the feedback that we need a different format.

“So I think where we’re headed here is a format that will be embraced by fans, and hopefully once we have an announcement here, whenever that is, fans will feel good about it. Because that’s the whole reason we spend so much time and the committee puts so much effort into it.”

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