Supercars adopts NASCAR-style championship system

Supercar has announced a revised series format for the 2025 season that will see it adopt a system similar to that seen in NASCAR, with a knock-out style battle across the final events to determine who secures the title.

The season will effectively be split into three distinct sections, with the first eight rounds of the year from Sydney in February through to Ipswich in August being designated as the Sprint Cup.

Those eight championship rounds will include a total of 25 races, with the highest scoring driver after those events being named as the winner of the Sprint Cup.

The following two rounds of the campaign at The Bend and Bathurst will become the Enduro Cup, with the highest scoring driver from the two events being named as the Enduro Cup champion.

Crucially however is what happens after Bathurst – with the introduction of The Finals to run across seven races at the final three rounds.

The top ten in the championship standings will qualify for the Finals, unless the winners of both the Sprint Cup and the Enduro Cup sit outside the top ten.

With those two winners automatically earning a slot in the Finals, the number of qualifiers from the top ten will be adjusted accordingly should the ‘champions’ finish lower down the championship order.

From that point on, only those drivers who have qualified for the Finals will be able to win the title, with the points for those ten being reset to 3,000 ahead of the Gold Coast.

Any driver from the ten who wins at Surfers Paradise will remain in title contention heading to Sandown, with the bottom three in the Finals points after the weekend being knocked out.

Points for the seven drivers to progress will then be reset to 4,000 ahead of the Sandown event where drivers can once again progress with a race win. The bottom three in the standings are then knocked out, to leave four drivers in contention for the title in the season finale in Adelaide.

Three races – one 100km on Friday, one 250km on Saturday and the final 250km race of the year on Sunday afternoon – will then determine which of the four contenders wins the title, with those drivers who aren’t in championship contention continuing to battle for individual race victories throughout the Finals stage of the season.

“Our fans wanted more excitement, more unpredictability, and a true test to find the best champion,” series CEO Shane Howard said. “The Finals series will do just that.

“With points resetting and drivers being eliminated, we’ve created an environment where the pressure will be at its highest, and only the best will prevail.

“This format is set to change how we crown a champion, and we’re confident it will keep fans on the edge of their seats until the very last lap.”

In total, the revised system sees an increase in the number of races from 24 to 34.