Monster Jam World Finals

Originally, 16 trucks were invited to compete in the event, but 20 trucks were selected in 2005, 24 selected from 2006 to 2012, 28 in 2013, and 32 trucks from 2014–present. For the first 14 years of the Monster Jam World Finals, the Racing Championship and Freestyle Championship were held on the same night. From 2014 to 2017, however, the event expanded to a 3-day format with Double Down on Thursday, the Racing Championship on Friday, and the Freestyle Championship on Saturday. In 2018 the World Finals will move back to a 2-day format with the Double Down festivities and Racing Championship all taking place on Friday, and the Freestyle Championship on Saturday, with qualifying going back to a private event only for drivers and staff on Thursday. Trucks and drivers are selected based on their performances over the winter season on the FS1 Championship Series, Triple Threat Series, and other events from January into early March. When multiple drivers of the same team or truck are selected, they were typically placed in other trucks, e.g. Pablo Huffaker won the 2007 Freestyle Championship driving Captain's Curse and Charlie Pauken won the 2010 Freestyle Championship driving Monster Mutt. Since 2015, however, most drivers have driven their own trucks but with different paint schemes and flags sporting the drivers' names. This approach has allowed there to be multiple trucks of the same team in the main field, which has led to some controversy among fans. While only 32 trucks compete for the World Racing and Freestyle Championships, and only 16 trucks compete for the Double Down Showdown Championship, there are over 100 trucks that are invited to be on display at the Pit Party festivities during the event.

The stature of the event leads to extreme performances in both competitions. The racing track, being about 884 feet in length, starts in the parking lot behind the locker rooms of the stadium and features a long straight-away offering speeds over 70 mph before a hair-pin turn. The freestyle track layout is typically the most extreme all season with several large and unique obstacles often producing spectacular air, saves, crashes and other jaw-dropping tricks. Beginning in 2014 with the new 3-day format, the track has been specifically designed for each individual competition. The track is first built to attribute Racing, but upon its completion on Friday night, the track construction crew completely rebuilds the track overnight for Freestyle on Saturday. The event typically featured 7 judges (6 regulation, who scored from 1–10 for 90 seconds, and 1 bonus judge, who scored from 1–5 for the next 30 seconds) with the lowest and highest scores discarded in regulation for a maximum possible score of 45 (excluding tiebreakers). Beginning in 2014, the judges could give half points as opposed to only giving whole points to further distinguish and separate each freestyle run. The scoring was updated in 2017 where all the fans inside Sam Boyd Stadium got to be the judges. After each driver's run, everyone had 20 seconds to lock in a score from 1–10 using 0.25 increments through Monster Jam's official judging website. The fan scores would then be averaged out to give a final score for the freestyle run; for example: 6.328.

No truck has ever got the maximum score of 45 (40 in regulation and 5 in bonus). The high score is 40 and was set by Dennis Anderson in Grave Digger in 2000. In the history of the Monster Jam World Finals Freestyle Championship, only once has a driver successfully defended his title the following year: Tom Meents driving Goldberg in 2001 and Team Meents in 2002.

In 2004, if a driver flipped over within the first 30 seconds of their run, they would be allowed to roll back over and continue depending on if the truck was still able to go. This rule was only active that year.

Some fans consider the Monster Jam World Finals unfair, because its invitation-only participants are not officially selected based on performance scores earned during the prior season. Another controversy is that the event's parent company, Feld Motorsports, owns a majority of the trucks that are invited to participate. Additionally, most of the participant drivers are based in the United States. However, this selection bias is often countered by the fact that Monster Jam organizes a world tour.

Until 2011, the teams qualified for racing with no body on the chassis so they would not be damaged if an accident was to occur, although some drivers kept the front hood on in order to give them a point of view as if they were racing with the body on. However, from 2012–present, all teams had to qualify with full bodies on. Each driver gets 2 practice runs, one in the left lane and one in the right lane, in order to give them a feel of the track in both lanes. Also starting in 2012, Feld Motorsports added a new competition to the World Finals as part of the Double Down experience called the Young Guns Shootout, where 8 competitors with no prior World Finals experience compete in racing for the title of Young Guns Shootout Champion. The Young Guns Shootout field expanded to 12 trucks in 2013, 14 trucks in 2014, and 16 trucks from 2015–present. Whoever is crowned The Young Guns Shootout Champion receives the final spot in the field of 32 trucks to compete for the World Racing Championship and World Freestyle Championship. In 2017 the Young Guns Shootout was renamed the Double Down Showdown and the winner would be named the Double Down Showdown Champion, still receiving the 32nd and final spot in the World Finals main field. The Double Down Showdown is no longer an event just for rookies, as it now allows indies and other trucks of that matter.