NASCAR: How have the playoffs changed history?

The 19th edition of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is set to get underway this weekend. How different would history look without the first 18?

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to get underway this Sunday evening with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

This season marks the 19th consecutive season during which a postseason format is set to be utilized to crown a champion, as the playoffs were first introduced in 2004 following Matt Kenseth’s 2003 title.

To this day, the subject of the playoffs remains a controversial one among many NASCAR fans, with some arguing that they never should have been introduced.

The argument is that they are too gimmicky for a racing series and that they don’t work to crown a “real” champion since NASCAR is not a “stick or ball sport”.

There have been various changes made to the playoff format since the postseason was introduced nearly two decades ago.

The most recent significant change came in 2014, when the playoff field was expanded to 16 drivers and the format became a four-round, 10-race format, with three races in each of the first three rounds prior to the winner-take-all Championship 4 finale. Four drivers are eliminated after each of the first three rounds.

Here is a list of the champions in the first 18 seasons of NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

• 2004 – Kurt Busch
• 2005 – Tony Stewart
• 2006 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2007 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2008 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2009 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2010 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2011 – Tony Stewart
• 2012 – Brad Keselowski
• 2013 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2014 – Kevin Harvick
• 2015 – Kyle Busch
• 2016 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2017 – Martin Truex Jr.
• 2018 – Joey Logano
• 2019 – Kyle Busch
• 2020 – Chase Elliott
• 2021 – Kyle Larson

How different would this list look if the playoffs had never been introduced?

Let’s take a look at the “champions” of each season if NASCAR were to include only points from each individual race, factoring in absolutely no playoff resets.

• 2004 – Jeff Gordon
• 2005 – Tony Stewart
• 2006 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2007 – Jeff Gordon
• 2008 – Carl Edwards
• 2009 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2010 – Kevin Harvick
• 2011 – Carl Edwards
• 2012 – Brad Keselowski
• 2013 – Jimmie Johnson
• 2014 – Jeff Gordon
• 2015 – Kevin Harvick
• 2016 – Kevin Harvick
• 2017 – Martin Truex Jr.
• 2018 – Kyle Busch
• 2019 – Kyle Busch
• 2020 – Kevin Harvick
• 2021 – Kyle Larson

Jeff Gordon, not Jimmie Johnson, would be a seven-time champion. Kevin Harvick, like Gordon, would be a four-time champion, despite the fact that he wouldn’t have won his lone title when he actually won it, and Johnson would only have three titles to his name.

But Johnson would still rank ahead of Tony Stewart, who would instead be a two-time champion as opposed to a three-time champion, and Carl Edwards, who never won a title, would also be a two-time champion.

Kyle Busch would still be a two-time champion, but his first championship would have come in a different season. Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, and Chase Elliott would not have any titles, but champions Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Larson would not be affected whatsoever.

All in all, in 18 seasons of playoffs, the champion has been the same as it would have been without playoffs on just eight occasions.

Of course, it goes without saying that this list assumes all other things remain the same, an assumption that can’t truly be made.

There are many other variables to consider here that can’t simply be measured in points, such as a driver’s willingness to take certain risks to go for points or wins in certain scenarios. In a different format, some of these risks are risks they may not take.

Additionally, the introduction of stage racing from 2017 also switched things up in terms of how individual race points are awarded.

Tune in to USA Network at 6:00 p.m. ET this evening for the live broadcast of the playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway. If you have not begun a free trial of FuboTV, now would be a great time to do so!