NASCAR: What’s wrong with NASCAR? Part 8 – Gimmicks

The playoffs

My last gimmick of the piece is the biggest gimmick of them all: the NASCAR playoffs.

This idea is hard for me to love or hate. On one hand, it makes the championship battle go down to the last lap, literally. On the other, it has the potential to be a complete crap show if the cards fall the wrong way.

To fully explain the playoffs for any first year fans, 16 drivers qualify. The playoffs consist of four separate rounds, and four drivers are eliminated after every third race. Eventually, four drivers are left in the 10th and final playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In that race, the highest finisher of the four remaining drivers wins the championship.

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So what could I possibly dislike about this? This. Let’s go completely to left field. Imagine if Kevin Harvick has won all 35 races leading up to the season finale. Harvick enters the final race as the clear favorite and is running up against Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.

At the end of the race, someone finally beats Harvick. Larson wins the race and Harvick finishes in second place. Guess who wins the title? Larson.

The driver who won 35 of 36 races loses the title because he finishes in second place. Does that sound fair to you? It sure doesn’t to me. Don’t get me wrong; this format creates drama. But at what cost does NASCAR look in the mirror and realize that the integrity of being the champion has taken a hit in this format?

Fortunately, NASCAR has been lucky since enacting this format in 2014. So far, the best driver has won the title each season. The only exception to this could be Jimmie Johnson in 2016, but he truly peaked at the right time and had the championship momentum heading to Homestead.

To finish this off, just know that while this format becomes “must-watch TV” in mid-November, the grind that it took to win a championship in the past has faded. Just run well every third race, show up one night at Homestead and take home the crown.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Let us know your thoughts on some of NASCAR’s outside the box ideas over the last few years. Tune in next week as I discuss out last concrete topic, rules and regulations. See you then!