At this point, we all know the modern NASCAR playoff format, put into place back in 2014, is the single most criticized element of the sport.
So we'll save you the standard 500-word monologue about why that is, what fans think is wrong with it, how many listens the latest podcast criticizing it generated, and what fans think needs to be changed.
Because this time, there might actually be change.
Unlike the past 11 years, NASCAR actually appears to be listening.
It has been rumored (so don't take it as gospel quite yet) that NASCAR may revert to the pre-2014 playoff format, with a 26-race regular season and a 10-race postseason, not broken up by rounds and not based on a "win and in" mentality, to crown a champion.
It's what a lot of NASCAR fans want, and even those who would rather have a 36-race championship with no playoffs would have to admit that it's a healthy compromise between that and what NASCAR has now.
The problem is that even if it is put into place, NASCAR fans will find reasons to complain.
Lest we forget that the 36-race "champion" and the actual champion was the same on only five occasions when this 10-race playoff format was used from 2004 to 2013.
And for what it's worth, the points format from back then is not the same as what it is now, so there would certainly still be those who feel the need to question whether there's actually an element of fairness simply because of how points are awarded.
And yes, that's even aside from stage racing, which is actually NASCAR's bigger problem.
Stage racing was put into place in 2017, year four of the modern playoff format, and gives points to the top 10 finishers of each non-race-ending stage. Each race is broken up into three stages (four for the Coca-Cola 600), so 55 points are awarded twice (three times for the Coca-Cola 600) before a race actually ends.
Here's the problem. A NASCAR race winner can technically end up scoring only the 11th highest point total among all drivers in a given race, and the 16th place finisher can technically score the most points among all drivers competing.
I get that NASCAR fans are tired of "win and in", where winning a single regular season race, even paired with 25 other last-place finishes/DNFs, is enough to get a driver into the playoffs.
But it shouldn't really be controversial to suggest that winning should still be the most valuable element of the sport on any given race weekend. Not running in the top 10 on some random predetermined lap, and certainly not merely "hiding out" to stay out of trouble.
The good thing is that, even in the current format, stage points are irrelevant in the Championship 4. You can't win a championship based on where you were running at some random lap in the title decider; the highest finisher, of the four remaining championship contenders, is crowned champion. In and of itself, that's how it should be.
So hopefully, if NASCAR does move back to a 10-race championship format, stage points no longer count for playoff drivers during the postseason. There were no stages from 2004 to 2013.
Actually, hopefully stages are completely eliminated for the regular season and playoffs. But that's probably a pipe dream at this point, unfortunately.
But if stage points do, for some reason, still count during the playoffs, and a driver ends up winning a championship because he was running eighth rather than ninth one-third of the way through some random mid-September playoff race, NASCAR will have introduced an entirely new meaning to the term "undeserving champion".
The criticism would be even louder than it is now, and no, not just because NASCAR fans are known to complain for the sake of complaining.