That committee has met twice this year, around the industry flashpoints of the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven all of that conversation, it felt like the current one-race format was on life support by the end of the May meeting,\u201d wrote Gluck, who is part of the committee, along with Denny Hamlin<\/a> and Hall of Famer Mark Martin<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n On The Teardown podcast after Bubba Wallace<\/a>\u2018s Brickyard 400 win, Gluck said he thought there was an 80 to 90% chance that was the case.<\/p>\n Two months later, however, Gluck feels it\u2019s more like 20%.<\/p>\n 2-Headed Monster: Is Mark Martin Right About NASCAR\u2019s Playoff System?<\/p>\n What changed?<\/p>\n The $1.1 billion<\/a> per year elephant in the room did.<\/p>\n Actually, there are three elephants and one elephant-sized peacock.<\/p>\n That peacock, of course, is NBC Sports, the company that, for transparency, I plied my trade for from 2014 to 2020.<\/p>\n On July 8, according to Gluck\u2019s report, the committee was told \u201cexecutives first wanted to have a private meeting with NBC Sports \u2014 one of four Cup Series television partners, and the one that happens to broadcast the playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd because NASCAR said it could not meet with NBC until August, any changes for 2026 would now be in jeopardy because the Cup Series schedule had to be finalized \u2014 or very close to it \u2014 sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n I have a few questions.<\/p>\n First, does paying a sanctioning body a Scrooge McDuck amount of money for the rights to broadcast its sport suddenly mean you\u2019re in charge of said sport?<\/p>\n Second, why would it take a month for NASCAR and NBC executives to have a private meeting? Zoom calls still exist, right?<\/p>\n And finally, what\u2019s the point of forming a playoff committee if any decision that comes out of it can potentially just be vetoed by a TV network?<\/p>\n That last point seems to be one that got under the skin of Martin, who mentioned <\/a>on this week\u2019s episode of Frontstretch\u2019s Happy Hour podcast that he thought about resigning from the committee over this.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the second meeting, I thought even more about it,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI\u2019m going to resign, because there is no use in me being on this because no one\u2019s interested in what the fans want to do.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 We got a letter from NBC saying they had re-upped for a long time and we can\u2019t have another scheduled meeting about this points deal until they have a say, because they should have a big say in it. And we can\u2019t have a meeting with them for \u2026 a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Happy Hour: Mark Martin Talks Playoffs & What Needs to Change<\/p>\n Who\u2019s actually in charge at NASCAR? The France family or the Peacock?<\/p>\n TV networks throwing their weight around the room is nothing new. It\u2019s well known FOX Sports basically insisted on Speedway Motorsports making the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway a dirt event.<\/p>\n CBS wanting an event to preview its first broadcast of the Daytona 500 in 1979 is how we got the original iteration of the Busch Light Clash. Then years later, TV got bored with the Clash being a simple 20-lap dash with the previous season\u2019s pole winners.<\/p>\n In 1998, a qualifying race for the renamed Budweiser Shootout was added and the lap count of the shootout increased to 25 laps. In 2001, when FOX and NBC took a crack at the NASCAR TV package, the Shootout became a 70-lap event. By 2012 it was 75 laps.<\/p>\n By 2020, the last year the race was held at Daytona International Speedway, half the Cup garage was eligible for what had turned into an annoying crash fest rather than the thrilling shootout the race had begun as.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget the All-Star Race and all the many rules changes that were put in place for it in the 2010s to ensure that the inclusion of drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/a> and Danica Patrick<\/a> would goose the TV ratings.<\/p>\n .@NBCSports<\/a>‘ vice president of NASCAR, Jeff Behnke, on whether @NBC<\/a> has a particular preference on NASCAR’s playoff format and how involved it’s been in the study of it: “We\u2019ll let NASCAR sort out their vision, and we will produce those playoff races to the best of our ability.” pic.twitter.com\/PHXnFIx0un<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Adam Stern (@A_S12) July 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Should NBC have some say in the sport it\u2019s covering? Sure.<\/p>\n But the points format of the sport shouldn\u2019t be held hostage by it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not like a TV network would be crazy enough to actually buy itself an ownership stake in the sanctioning body it covers.<\/p>\n Wait \u2026 FOX did what<\/a>?!<\/p>\n Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast “Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin” presented by Democrat-Gazette.<\/p>\n You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.<\/p>\n \t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MMM-150x102.jpg\")
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