As it seems to be every few months or so, the subject of NASCAR's controversial playoff format is once again a hot topic of discussion.
Legends such as Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have chimed in, as have active stars such as Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. Opinions vary. Some claim playoffs in auto racing are unnecessary and unfair, and the driver who scores the most points all season should always win the title. Others cite the need for a more entertainment-based format in which the championship is guaranteed to be determined in the final race of the season.
There is a simple compromise here, and it's one that's been long overdue.
The answer is a full-season points format, but not the one that fans want back.
The argument for the playoffs, beyond creating an artificial "Game 7" moment to conclude every season, is that in theory they place a greater value on winning. Win at any point during the regular season, and you're in the playoff field. Win during any playoff round, and you advance to the next one.
The issue is that in practice, the playoffs haven't rewarded the most frequent winners; only those who do so at the most convenient time. Case in point; Joey Logano has three championships despite never leading the series in victories during any of those seasons.
Many fans argue that consistency should be more important, but there is a problem with that mindset too. "Consistency" in auto racing is less about skill as it is the avoidance of bad luck, and over the course of a full season, any points format built on it (such as the one used prior to 2004) will simply reward the driver with the fewest bad finishes instead of the one who demonstrates the greatest level of excellence on the track.
This is how Jeff Gordon lost the 1996 title to Terry Labonte despite a 10-2 advantage in the win column. It's how Matt Kenseth won in 2003 (with one singular race win, and a whopping 354 laps led) while Ryan Newman found victory lane eight times all just to finish sixth(!) in points. This isn't greatness. It's glorified mediocrity, "racing not to lose".
In a sport where results are so often determined by randomness and chaos, the control needs to be in the hands of the fastest drivers as much as possible. The way to do that is to make the reward of a win significantly greater than the penalty of a poor finish, that way one can compensate appropriately when unavoidable circumstances knock them out of a race. But this also needs to be done in a fashion that's fair and legitimate.
Obviously, the playoffs are not the answer. But an entirely new format, with a curved distribution of points so that margins between positions increase in conjunction with their value, would be. IndyCar has it figured out. Formula 1 has it figured out. Only in NASCAR is the difference between finishing second and third considered the same as the difference between 32nd and 33rd.
The playoffs have run their course, but if they are to go, we cannot return to a world in which the champion can hide out in ninth place every week. An overhauled points format, in the way illustrated above, is the only solution to satisfy this balance.