Front Row Motorsports' Chandler Smith didn't just lose his fourth place finish in Friday's Black's Tire 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway when his No. 38 Ford failed post-race technical inspection for failing to meet rear height requirements.
The 32-point deduction that came with the disqualification also cost him his points lead.
Smith is now fourth in the point standings, and the three drivers who are ahead of him are ironically the drivers who finished 1-2-3 ahead of him in Friday's 200-lap race around the four-turn, 0.94-mile (1.315-kilometer) Rockingham, North Carolina oval.
Tricon Garage's Corey Heim beat teammate Kaden Honeycutt for the win ahead of Front Row Motorsports' Layne Riggs in third place, and because Smith scored no stage points, none of those three drivers actually gained any points thanks to the disqualification.
However, NASCAR now has a new points leader who is ineligible to win the championship.
Heim, who won stage one and two and led a total of 178 laps, owns the tiebreaker over Honeycutt for the official points lead; both drivers have scored 190 points, but Heim has won two races at Darlington Raceway and Rockingham, whereas Honeycutt has yet to find victory lane this year.
But Heim, who won 12 races a year ago en route to winning the series championship, is only a part-time driver. He has only run three races, and he is ineligible to win this year's championship, even though he declared for Truck Series points before the year began.
Heim is running partial schedules in both the Truck Series and Cup Series this year, doing so in the latter for 23XI Racing, where he serves as a development driver.
However, doesn't the fact that he's done what he's done in two fewer races, especially after Friday's beatdown, make his position in the standings more impressive?
Under a "win and in" system, keeping part-time drivers ineligible for postseason contention made sense; drivers could show up, win a race, and qualify for the postseason without doing literally anything else all year.
But now points and points alone are what matter when it comes to determining the 10-driver playoff field; there is no more "win and in".
And seeing as how Heim is 77 points ahead of the 10th place driver, Kaulig Racing's Justin Haley, with two fewer starts, good for an average of 40.73 more points per race, he could very well be top 10 in points even if he only runs a handful of races the remainder of the regular season.
All things considered, NASCAR keeping the playoff field to full-time drivers makes sense, for the same reason the NBA has requirements for players to be eligible for postseason awards.
Fans pay for tickets to see the stars, and having a part-time driver absent waters down the product. Not having said driver competing in every race throughout the seven-race postseason would water down the product even further.
But even the NBA's rule is a 65-game (out of 82) rule, and that's more to protect against "load management", the fancy term for the prima donnas making $50 million (or more) who don't want to work an extra 48 minutes on a weeknight.
Worth noting: Michael Jordan, an outspoken critic of "load management", is a 23XI Racing team co-owner.
Newsflash: nobody is willingly missing NASCAR races, and NASCAR's apparent fear of that has always been irrational beyond measure, even in the "win and in" era.
Everybody knows Heim belonged in the Cup Series full-time one, possibly even two, years ago, and it's kind of a shame that a driver of his caliber not only isn't in a full-time ride in any series, but isn't allowed to compete for a championship in a part-time ride with the inherent disadvantage that already comes with a limited schedule, especially since he'd literally be leading the standings even with that limited schedule.
If he were to land a full-time ride tomorrow, he should absolutely be granted a playoff waiver, because keeping him out of the championship mix waters down the product even more so than a part-time driver competing for a title.
Unfortunately, that scenario is unlikely.
Speaking of the limited schedule, Heim is not currently lined up to compete in the series' next race at Bristol Motor Speedway, so his points lead is set to be short-lived. The location of his next Truck Series start has not yet been confirmed, although he is set to run the upcoming Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. He hasn't run a Cup race since the season-opening Daytona 500.
But do expect him to compete in more than enough of the Truck Series regular season's remaining 13 races to stay in the mix for a top 10 position in the point standings.
And if NASCAR were really serious about points mattering above all else, that top 10 finish would actually translate to a playoff spot.
Race number six on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Tennessee Army National Guard 250, and it is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Bristol Motor Speedway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 10. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!