NASCAR will start an in-season tournament in 2025, building off the backs of what the NBA has instituted with its own in-season competition.
The NBA, in turn, took this model from European and South American soccer leagues, which have been hosting cup competitions in conjunction with its regular season for decades.
NASCAR's event will consist of 32 drivers who face off in a bracket-style, head-to-head competition over the course of five Cup Series races. The overall winner will earn $1 million.
No new races will need to be implemented to make room for the in-season tournament.
The full schedule has not yet been announced, but the tournament's races will likely take place across several tracks, Sportico reported on Monday.
According to the report, the in-season tournament seeds will be determined by three races that stream on Amazon Prime, which is a new NASCAR broadcast partner starting in 2025. The in-season tourney and head-to-head driver matchups will then play out over five races that air on TNT – also a new broadcast partner in 2025.
NASCAR hasn't yet released its full 2025 race schedule.
“We want it to be pretty simple since it is kind of a race within a race,” NASCAR executive Brian Herbst said. “This bracket-style format seemed simple enough, seemed easily explainable. And the other piece that we wanted to do is focus on the drivers in particular to the extent that we can create rivalries or storylines from a head-to-head perspective.”
NASCAR Cup Series veteran Denny Hamlin pushed the concept last year to much delight.
This is such a win for our sport and drivers. Many story lines will made during this 5 week period. I will collect my 1M royalty next season 😉. https://t.co/vD6bTuCddH
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 13, 2024
NASCAR's weekly head-to-head matchups should also provide new opportunities for bettors and fantasy players as operators piggyback off the buzz of the in-season tournament. (Additionally, U.S. sportsbooks may finally have consistent NASCAR matchups for their head-to-head markets.)
The NBA was able to turn regular-season basketball games into seeding, group-stage competition for what is now called the Emirates NBA Cup. Qualifying teams then played in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of that competition.
Meanwhile, in European and South American soccer leagues, cup competitions are entirely separate from regular-season competition and are earmarked as such. For instance, in England, games in the FA Cup have no overall bearing on the Premier League table.
In American sports, in order to institute an in-season tournament without drastically altering routines and schedules, this type of system is untenable.
