The long-awaited NASCAR championship format will soon be known. The sport announced Thursday that it will unveil the new format for 2026 and beyond on Monday.

The reveal will happen on a live stream on the NASCAR website. The press conference will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, according to a report from FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass.

So far, there haven’t been many indications which way things are leaning for the championship format. The current championship format has come under some heavy scrutiny in recent years.

That format features a 10-race, four-round elimination tournament for 16 qualifying drivers. Drivers could qualify by winning a race during the season or finishing in the top 16 in the points standings. In seasons where more than 16 winners existed, a driver with a win could be eliminated based on points.

While that format led to some compelling results at times, it was panned some by critics. Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin has been front and center among them.

Mark Martin advocates for full-season format

As NASCAR prepares to unveil the future of the championship format, one man who will be watching quite closely is Martin. He’s been vocal about what he thinks the driving forces have been behind a 10-race playoff format.

He’s also not a fan of that format. He believes the full length of the season should determine the champion.

In a podcast appearance on Frontstretch over the summer, Martin accused the team owners of being “addicted to the money.” He assailed against the sport’s broadcast partners for not understanding racing and only knowing “stick and ball sports.”

“Now, for the first time, I’ve seen a couple of active drivers hint that they wouldn’t mind seeing that [full-season points format]. You can’t expect them to tell the truth, because that’s how they make their living,” Martin said. “But everyone that you get your information from is beholden to the TV money. A lot of the fans want to fault NASCAR — yeah, maybe, but I fault the owners, too. They’re addicted to the money. They wanna see whatever the broadcast partners want.

“Obviously, I haven’t told a lot of the details I know. But the broadcast network is one of those that wants the playoffs. They don’t understand racing. All they know is stick and ball sports. It makes it easy for a broadcaster, it makes it easy for a journalist or anyone that covers the sport — they have a ready-made talking point every damn race because we have the playoffs, win and you’re in the playoffs — you’ve got something to talk about. Unfortunately, that’s what they talk about and typically, the winner gets lost. They only focus that he goes into the playoffs.”

What will NASCAR’s new championship format be? We won’t have to wait much longer to find out.