NASCAR: 5 significant changes that need to be made
By Randy Smith
Changes NASCAR should make: No. 2 – Revisions to the playoffs
The playoff system in NASCAR was introduced to follow suit of stick and ball sports and create a “game seven” moment for each playoff race, but it has often created confusing and less-than-stellar moments along the way.
Take the 2020 Cup Series season, for example, when Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick led the series with nine wins, but a string of bad races in the round of 8 resulted in an attempt to spin Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch out so he could advance to the Championship 4. Harvick ended up wrecking himself out, and he dropped out of the playoffs.
The biggest selling point of NASCAR’s playoff system is “win and you’re in”. That concept, on paper, is simple. A driver who wins a race during the regular season automatically advances to the playoffs. Said driver serves as one of 16 drivers with a chance to race in multiple rounds until the Championship 4 race. But that idea of “win and you’re in” isn’t completely accurate.
For instance, drivers who have won a single race this year haven’t technically clinched a playoff spot, with Christopher Bell serving as the most recent example.
While drivers such as Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, and William Byron are all locked in with multiple wins, there is a strong possibility that this year may finally be the year with more than 16 different winners and a driver or drivers who initially thought they were heading to the playoffs may just be headed to the battle for 17th place.
2021 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric and 2019 Truck Series champion Matt Crafton did their best to poke holes in the playoff system. Hemric won his first career NASCAR race in the 2021 Xfinity Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway and was suddenly crowned champion of the whole season.
Crafton, however, didn’t even win a single race in 2019 and was still crowned champion, as he finished ahead of the other three Championship 4 drivers in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The old format, or the Winston Cup format, could help bring familiarity to the casual viewer. This could also eliminate non-playoff contenders who somehow found their way in, such as Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell in 2021. To keep the fans engaged and obtain new ones over the course of a full season, the playoffs should be revamped or scrapped entirely.