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NASCAR: One crazy scenario exposes key flaw of playoff system

By Asher Fair

TALLADEGA, AL - OCTOBER 15: Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 Camping World Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 15, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
TALLADEGA, AL - OCTOBER 15: Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 Camping World Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 15, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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One mind-blowing scenario exposes the one key flaw of the playoff system used in NASCAR. It will probably never happen, but it would be crazy if it did.

We are currently in the offseason for NASCAR, Formula One and IndyCar, as those three major racing series are all off for months at a time. There is currently no competition going on, and the only real news to cover is based on offseason transactions and rumors.

But we also have hypothetical scenarios to think about, and for NASCAR, there is an extremely interesting one to consider. It has a lot to do with the playoffs and the one key flaw that the playoff system has.

However, do keep in mind the fact that the chances of this scenario actually happening, or anything close to this scenario actually happening, are extremely small, so this flaw actually being exploited to its fullest extent is extremely unlikely.

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Here is the scenario.

A NASCAR Cup Series driver can finish a season with 10 wins and 26 runner-up finishes and finish 17th place in the championship standings.

Yes, you read that right. But just to make sure, here it is again.

A NASCAR Cup Series driver can finish a season with 10 wins and 26 runner-up finishes and finish 17th place in the championship standings.

How is this so?

This could happen as a result of the fact that each of the race winners in the regular season, which consists of the first 26 races of the season, automatically qualify for the playoffs, assuming no more than 16 different drivers win at least one race. So if 16 or more different drivers win at least one race in the regular season, the playoff field will be filled with all race winners.

So even a driver with 26 runner-up finishes would not get into the playoffs in this case.

But where do the 10 wins come from? Because that driver would not be in the playoffs, he or she could win each of the 10 playoff races but finish no higher than 17th place in the championship standings as the highest non-playoff driver.

Therefore, a driver could finish in 2nd place a total of 26 times throughout the 36-race season and win the other 10 races — and finish in 17th in the championship standings with an average race finish of 1.72 and no finishes lower than 2nd. While not likely, it’s crazy when you think about the fact that it is actually possible.

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Let’s be honest. As stated above, this scenario is certainly possible, but the chance that it actually will happen or will even come close to happening is microscopically small. However, the fact that it is, in fact, somewhat possible, exposes one key flaw in the playoff system that could make things very interesting one day.

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