Instead of actually doing what most NASCAR fans wanted and changing the playoff format to something other than the "win and in" concept that's been in place since 2014, NASCAR made a change that absolutely nobody had asked for before the 2023 season started.
It used to be that, in order for a win to lock a driver into the playoffs, the winning driver had to be inside the top 30 in the point standings.
On one hand, the top 30 requirement did kind of remove the complete "win and in" element by adding an additional performance element to the equation, but on another, the odds of someone winning one of the 26 regular season races from outside of the top 30, especially when not all of the 36 chartered cars had ever been driven by full-time drivers (until 2025), were long.
Still if anything, fans had been calling for the opposite. Make it stricter, like top 20 or top 25; don't remove this requirement entirely.
Yet that's what NASCAR did.
Last year, it actually would have mattered, believe it or not, as Harrison Burton won the late regular season race at Daytona International Speedway to lock himself into the playoffs from 34th, last among full-time drivers, in the standings.
This rule change is what got him into the playoffs; prior to the change, his Daytona win wouldn't have been enough, and another spot would have been awarded on points. Specifically, Chris Buescher, who was 11th in points, would have gotten into the 16-driver postseason field instead.
The change was revisited earlier this year when Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen earned his first win of the season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in mid-June, at which point he was not only outside of the top 30 in points, but outside of the top 32.
Van Gisbergen did not even qualify for the 32-driver in-season tournament for that reason, despite the fact that he ended up leading the series with two tournament race wins.
The New Zealander hasn't finished higher than 14th place in an oval race all year, but because he added three more road and street course wins at the Chicago Street Course, Sonoma Raceway, and Watkins Glen International, he was able to end up 25th in regular season points.
He wasn't even the lowest winner, as Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon, who won at Richmond Raceway, was 26th.
Both drivers are facing elimination at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
Regardless, the top 30 rule wouldn't have made a difference this year, even after it initially looked like its removal might very well affect the playoff picture for the second season in a row.
That's not to say, however, that NASCAR still shouldn't consider making some changes. This is year number 12 of the modern playoff format, and the complaints about how things are set up are as loud as they've ever been.
The real debate is how, exactly, to fix what's broken, because that's something nobody can seem to agree on.
The playoffs are set to continue this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway with Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race, which is set to be shown live on USA Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. This race is the final race of this year's round of 16. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!