The championship is second only to the World Championship in terms of prestige.
From 1971 to 1983 the winner had two silver stripes on his roof to denote that they were the National Points Champion. In 1984, this changed to the whole roof being silver.
The championship has had a few different formats over the years.
From 1956 to 2001, the title was awarded for the most points scored over the whole season.
From 2002 to 2008, the title was renamed the National Series. It was based on the best 30 scores from 35 rounds. The last round was the National Series Finale and scored double points. Each driver had one Joker per surface, which gave them double points at the meetings they used them at, excluding the Finale. In 2005 there were 30 rounds with the two lowest scores on each surface dropped.
In 2009 it became the National Series Shoot Out. The top 10 scorers from 25 National Series rounds qualified for National Series Shoot Out. This was over ten rounds, with each qualifying driver scoring Shoot Out points. The tenth and final round was the Shoot Out Finale, for double points. Each driver in the Shoot Out started with points for attending National Series rounds and for winning finals. The points scored in the National Series rounds counted only for qualifying for the Shoot Out. The winner was the top scorer after the ten Shoot Out rounds. The Jokers were still available, but not many were used.
From 2010 to 2022, the National Series name was dropped and the title was the National Points Shoot Out. The qualifying rounds were removed; all meetings before the cut-off date counted. Other changes were that 12 drivers now qualified for the Shoot Out, and the Jokers were discontinued. In 2012, the bottom six point scorers dropped out of the competition after round 5.
Since the introduction of the Shoot Out, there was confusion over the actual name of the championship. Official media referred to it as the National Series Shoot Out, the National Series Championship, the National Points Shoot Out, the National Series Silver Roof Shoot Out, the National Series Points Championship and the National Points Championship Shoot Out, along with Shootout (one word) in place of Shoot Out (two words). In 2023 the rule book clarified that the points championship will be known as the National Points Championship and this supersedes any other names such as National Series, Shootout etc. Other than the name, the 2023 championship was the same as previous years.
For 2024 the championship was held over three stages. The drivers were split into groups, with the top placed drivers in each group progressing to the next stage.
| Most Wins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 515 Frankie Wainman | 14 | 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2018 |
| 2 | 391 Stu Smith | 13 | 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 |
| 3 | 53 John Lund | 6 | 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 |
| 84 Tom Harris | 6 | 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 | |
| 5 | 38 Fred Mitchell | 3 | 1957, 1959, 1960 |
| 212 Frankie Wainman | 3 | 1984, 1985, 1986 | |
| 391 Andy Smith | 3 | 1995, 2006, 2010 | |
| 8 | 245 Alan Wardropper | 2 | 1962, 1964 |
| 100 Tony Neal | 2 | 1967, 1968 | |
| 390 Stuart Smith | 2 | 2009, 2017 | |
| 318 Rob Speak | 2 | 2014, 2016 |