Tracking NASCAR Playoffs

This integration scenario explains how to track the NASCAR Playoffs using the Sportradar NASCAR API. It covers how playoff rounds are structured, how playoff races differ from regular-season races, and which feeds to use to follow playoff schedules, race progression, and championship implications.

This scenario is commonly used to:

Display playoff schedules and rounds
Identify which races are part of the playoffs
Track playoff-eligible drivers and points progression
Power playoff-specific race coverage and graphics
Follow the championship race through the final event

Overview

The NASCAR Playoffs are a post-season championship format that begins after the regular season concludes. A fixed number of drivers qualify for the playoffs and compete across multiple rounds, with points resetting at defined stages and the championship ultimately decided in the final race among the Championship 4.

From an integration perspective:

Playoff races are still standard NASCAR races
The playoff context is layered on top of race data
Playoff status is exposed through schedule and race metadata

Applications track playoff races using the same core feeds as the regular season, with additional attention to playoff-specific fields and structure.

🏎️
Which Schedule Feed Do I Use?
During the postseason, applications may continue to rely on the standard Schedule feed for season-wide race timing and status, while the Playoff Schedule feed is used to isolate playoff races and understand round structure.

How the NASCAR Playoffs Work

In the NASCAR Cup Series:

16 drivers qualify for the playoffs
The playoffs are divided into rounds
Each round contains a set number of races
Points are reset at key stages, rather than drivers being eliminated after each round
The final round, the Championship 4, determines the season champion based on finishing position in the final race

Playoff rounds and races are predefined before the postseason begins and are exposed through the Playoff Schedule feed.

Each playoff race still awards points, stage wins, and race wins, but results contribute to playoff points totals and determine which drivers advance to the championship-deciding final round.

Note: Rounds shown represent the structural grouping returned by the Playoff Schedule feed. Advancement to the championship race is determined by points resets and final race results, not head-to-head eliminations.

How Playoff Races Differ From Regular Races

Playoff races are structurally similar to regular-season races, but differ in a few important ways:

The chase_race flag is set to true
Results impact playoff points and championship advancement
Standings updates are more critical after each race
Post-race validation directly affects championship outcomes

From an API standpoint, playoff races:

Use the same race.id
Appear in the standard Schedule feed
Are included in leaderboard and standings feeds
Are grouped under playoff rounds in the Playoff Schedule feed

Your integration does not need separate race logic, but should be playoff-aware.

Relevant Feeds

The following feeds are commonly used when tracking the NASCAR Playoffs:

Feed	Purpose
Playoff Schedule	Retrieve playoff rounds, events, races, and associated timing and structure. For schedule rendering details, see Pulling Schedules.
Race Leaderboard	Track live playoff race data. For race-level workflows, see Tracking a Live Race.
Standings Feeds	Monitor playoff standings. For standings workflows, see Retrieving Standings.
Daily Change Log	Detect playoff schedule, race, or standings updates. For polling strategies, see Monitoring Data Changes.

High-Level Workflow

A typical playoff tracking integration follows this flow:

Playoff Schedule → Build bracket structure → Track races → Refresh standings

Retrieve playoff rounds, events, and races
Build the bracket UI from playoff_rounds[].events[].races[]
Track each playoff race as it runs
Refresh standings after race completion
Monitor points progression and championship advancement

Integration Steps

1. Retrieve the Playoff Schedule

Start by calling the Playoff Schedule feed for the desired series and season. The series list includes:

mc → Cup Series
or → Xfinity Series (formerly O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, series.alias = BSERIES)
cw → Craftsman Truck Series

GET https://api.sportradar.com/nascar-ot3/mc/2025/playoff/schedule.json

<series xmlns="http://feed.elasticstats.com/schema/nascar/schedule-v3.0.xsd" id="3e32047e-4ff3-4e35-a607-1546a2c32214" alias="CUP" name="NASCAR Cup Series">
  <season year="2025" id="7967612b-6ad5-4ac3-8a3d-69dbc63916aa">
    <playoff_round id="15f37f2e-85b3-478d-9da6-748738164029" name="round_of_16" driver_limit="16" status="complete">
      <event id="47d08deb-253d-4bf6-8932-eb6c63fe14ed" name="NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington" start_date="2025-08-31">
        <track name="Darlington Raceway" market="Darlington" completed="1950" distance="1.366" shape="Oval" banking="Turns:23-25;Backstretch:6;Frontstretch:6" frontstretch="1229" backstretch="1229" address="1301 Harry Byrd Hwy" city="Darlington" state="South Carolina" zip="29532" country="USA" surface="Paved" track_type="Intermediate" owner="International Speedway Corp." id="aab526c7-4279-4693-9cb1-90e3c7b974fc" lng="-79.910261" lat="34.2983137"/>
        <race id="a5baadab-5397-42ca-abb0-1bd61a330eb3" name="Cook Out Southern 500" status="closed" number="27" distance="501" laps="367" chase_race="true" heat_race="false" award_pole="true" parent_id="44cb4027-198c-4f23-96bc-6a33e4bcc6ae" scheduled="2025-08-31T22:00:00+00:00" start_time="2025-08-31T22:00:00+00:00" end_time="2025-09-01T02:00:00+00:00">
          <broadcast network="USA" satellite="242" radio="MRN"/>
          <prior_winner first_name="Chase" last_name="Briscoe" full_name="Chase Briscoe" id="25ca1ab3-b013-48cb-b4a4-c10fb45ba397"/>
        </race>
      </event>

{
  "series": {
    "id": "3e32047e-4ff3-4e35-a607-1546a2c32214",
    "alias": "CUP",
    "name": "NASCAR Cup Series"
  },
  "season": {
    "id": "7967612b-6ad5-4ac3-8a3d-69dbc63916aa",
    "year": 2025
  },
  "playoff_rounds": [
    {
      "id": "15f37f2e-85b3-478d-9da6-748738164029",
      "name": "round_of_16",
      "driver_limit": 16,
      "status": "complete",
      "events": [
        {
          "id": "47d08deb-253d-4bf6-8932-eb6c63fe14ed",
          "name": "NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington",
          "start_date": "2025-08-31",
          "track": {
            "name": "Darlington Raceway",
            "market": "Darlington",
            "completed": 1950,
            "distance": 1.366,
            "shape": "Oval",
            "banking": "Turns:23-25;Backstretch:6;Frontstretch:6",
            "frontstretch": 1229,
            "backstretch": 1229,
            "address": "1301 Harry Byrd Hwy",
            "city": "Darlington",
            "state": "South Carolina",
            "zip": "29532",
            "country": "USA",
            "surface": "Paved",
            "track_type": "Intermediate",
            "owner": "International Speedway Corp.",
            "id": "aab526c7-4279-4693-9cb1-90e3c7b974fc",
            "lat": "34.2983137",
            "lng": "-79.910261"
          },
          "races": [
            {
              "id": "a5baadab-5397-42ca-abb0-1bd61a330eb3",
              "name": "Cook Out Southern 500",
              "status": "closed",
              "number": 27,
              "distance": 501,
              "laps": 367,
              "chase_race": true,
              "heat_race": false,
              "award_pole": true,
              "parent_id": "44cb4027-198c-4f23-96bc-6a33e4bcc6ae",
              "scheduled": "2025-08-31T22:00:00+00:00",
              "start_time": "2025-08-31T22:00:00+00:00",
              "end_time": "2025-09-01T02:00:00+00:00",
              "broadcast": {
                "network": "USA",
                "satellite": "242",
                "radio": "MRN"
              },
              "prior_winner": {
                "first_name": "Chase",
                "last_name": "Briscoe",
                "full_name": "Chase Briscoe",
                "id": "25ca1ab3-b013-48cb-b4a4-c10fb45ba397"
              }
            }
          ]
        }

This feed provides:

Playoff rounds
Driver limits per round
Events associated with each round
Races within each event
Race metadata including chase_race

Each race returned includes a standard race.id that can be reused across all other feeds. Playoff races can be identified in two ways:

They appear within playoff rounds in the Playoff Schedule
The race object includes chase_race: true

This allows applications to:

Flag races as playoff events
Apply playoff-specific UI or logic
Separate regular-season and playoff coverage

2. Build the Playoff Bracket Structure

Use the Playoff Schedule feed to build your playoff “bracket” view by iterating through rounds and grouping races underneath each round.

In the response, playoff structure is represented by:

playoff_rounds[]: the ordered list of playoff rounds
- playoff_rounds[].id: round identifier
- playoff_rounds[].name: round name (example: chase)
- playoff_rounds[].driver_limit: number of eligible drivers for the round (example: 16)
- playoff_rounds[].status: round state (example: scheduled)

Each round contains events and races:

playoff_rounds[].events[]: the set of postseason events in that round
- events[].id, events[].name, events[].start_date
- events[].track: venue metadata for display

Within each event:

events[].races[]: the actual competitive race objects to display in the bracket
- races[].id (this is the race.id used across leaderboard and standings feeds)
- races[].name, races[].number
- races[].scheduled and races[].start_time (when available)
- races[].status
- races[].chase_race (should be true for playoff races)
- races[].broadcast (optional display metadata)

Recommended bracket construction logic

Loop through playoff_rounds[] in the order returned.
For each round, create a “round card” using name, driver_limit, and status.
Inside the round card, list each events[] item as a subheading (event name + track).
Under each event, list races[] as the actionable race items, keyed by races[].id.
Use races[].chase_race as your confirmation flag when labeling races as playoff races.

Note: The Playoff Schedule feed already returns only playoff races, so you typically do not need extra filtering. The chase_race flag is still useful for validation and UI labeling.

3. Track Playoff Races

Playoff races are tracked using the same feeds as regular races.

During a playoff race, poll the Race Leaderboard feed using the race.id to retrieve:

Live running order
Laps completed and laps led
Driver and car status
Race condition and flags

From a race-tracking standpoint, there is no difference in how leaderboard data is consumed. For race-level tracking workflows, see Tracking a Live Race.

4. Monitor Statistics, Standings and Advancement

After each playoff race completes:

Call the Driver Statistics feed and relevant standings feeds
Monitor changes in stats, rank, points, and in_chase

Standings updates typically occur after post-race validation and should be treated as authoritative. For standings and polling strategies, see Retrieving Statistics, Retrieving Standings, and Monitoring Data Changes.

5. Track the Championship Race

The final playoff round determines the season champion.

The final race:

Is marked as a playoff race
Uses standard race and leaderboard feeds
Produces final standings once closed

Applications should continue monitoring standings until the race status reaches closed and statistics are finalized. For end-of-race and validation workflows, see Tracking a Live Race and Retrieving Standings.

Common Use Cases

Tracking the NASCAR Playoffs supports many platform features, including:

Playoff brackets and round breakdowns
Championship race coverage
Playoff progression and championship qualification indicators
Playoff-focused dashboards
Broadcast and second-screen experiences

Best Practices

Use the Playoff Schedule as the source of playoff structure
Identify playoff races using chase_race
Track playoff races exactly like regular races
Refresh standings after every playoff race
Expect increased standings updates during playoff rounds
Use the Daily Change Log to detect playoff-related changes efficiently