It is no secret that NASCAR's current playoff system has stirred up a lot of conversations and rubbed many fans the wrong way. While it does offer the potential for a walk-off win to advance to the next round and even win the championship, it all but eliminates the season-long aspect of accumulating points.
As someone with an appreciation for the nostalgia of the sport, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes this element from the old playoff format could still work today.
"I think what's missing, and what has more value than people realize, is how the season used to feel," Earnhardt Jr. said on the Dale Jr. Download podcast.
"We'd be racing along, right? Say it's October, we're at Charlotte, and there's eight or 10 races left in the season. Dad's right in the thick of the battle, maybe 40 points behind Rusty Wallace or Mark Martin. Then 13 laps into the race, we break a cam and finish last. That was a gut punch equal to missing the Final Four."
He used an example of a driver wrecking out in the regular season finale at Daytona and still being in the playoffs the following week, and with no repercussions from the crash under today's format.
Dale Jr. believes it's about weighing these two factors for current playoff format
Although the current format presents Game 7 moments and elimination-style rounds like we would see in stick-and-ball sports, the season-long format of constant point swings should not be left out either.
"I'm not talking about how the drivers, industry, or mechanics feel; I'm talking about the fans tuning in to watch this race," Earnhardt said. "I miss wondering how that race 10 blown motor or moment would twist up the points and create a hill to climb to get back into it. Chase Elliott at race 10, he crashes early and loses his points lead. He's 100 points back. Fans would tune in the next week to see if he could claw any of it back. That kind of stuff there is gone now."
Earnhardt is certainly not alone in his remarks and makes some valid points. With the current 10-race elimination-style format, a team like Hendrick Motorsports, which have a combined six wins this season and entered the postseason with William Byron as the regular season champion, could easily see at least half of their drivers out of title contention after the first round with the way this format is designed.
It also provides the potential for some surprises, such as Austin Cindric, a popular first-round elimination pick for many, advancing out of the first round while defending champion Joey Logano is left out.
Then there's Ryan Blaney, who won two races during the regular season, but was tied for the most DNFs with seven. Despite that, his ability to score points and get hot during the stretch run elevated him to second in points, meaning he got some additional playoff points and a bigger cushion above the cut line.
This playoff format certainly has its perks, but recent titles from Blaney and Logano, who had the worst ever average finishes by a Cup champion in each of those two seasons, have caused an uproar among the fanbase who say they were not the most consistent during the entire season.
While that may have been the case, that was the system they were competing in and still are today unless NASCAR decides to make some changes.
Earnhardt has made his view of the current system very clear. Whether NASCAR will eventually tweak it or revert back to more of an old-school format remains to be seen.