NASCAR executives Ben Kennedy and Jusan Hamilton met with the media Wednesday afternoon to discuss the 2026 schedule for the Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck Series, why changes were made and what isn’t on the schedule.

Here is what they had to say:

The schedule says Round of 16, Round of 8, etc., kind of the same playoff system that you currently have. Is that a confirmation that the playoff system won’t change for next year?

BEN KENNEDY: “It’s not yet. I know the playoff committee has had a number of meetings over the past several months on different formats that we could look at, and they’ve run a handful of simulations on just various formats, collected some fan feedback.

“I know there are conversations as (recently) as a couple days ago on what the future of the playo

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