The Controversy of the Playoff Format
There’s only two more races in the regular season before the NASCAR Cup Series kicks off their annual playoffs to determine their champion. But there’s a lot more factors that go into this format and why or why not some fans like it.
The controversy of the playoff format really started when NASCAR changed the way the point system worked in its top most professional series back in 2014 (the second year with the gen 6 car). From a twelve driver field to 16 the next year with more added rules, a simplified way to divide points among drivers and most importantly, a statement on why winning is so important.
The “Win and Your In” phrase was introduced in 2014. Behind the meaning, well, it’s obvious. You win a race, you are now in the playoffs (Then ‘The Chase’). A pretty cool bonus for winners. This meant drivers that had a specialty in some type of track (ex. AJ Allmendinger/Marcos Ambrose at Road Courses or Aric Almirola/David Ragan at restrictor plate tracks) could maybe win their way into a chance at winning the championship. This might have been good for drivers like David Ragan in 2013 or Marcos Ambrose in 2012. It did help Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger grab one of the 16 slots in 2014 though.
Some fans argue though that this system may not be the best. They argue that those kinds of drivers just take a slot for a more deserving driver. Examples they may use are the two above, also Chris Buescher in 2016, Ricky Stenhouse in 2017, Cole Custer and Austin Dillon in 2020, Michael McDowell in 2021, and maybe this year (Depending on result of appeal) Austin Dillon again as well as Austin Cindric.
Though other fans argue, this creates the ideal of opportunity for smaller teams to have a chance to show themselves off. Grab a little extra cash to go race. I mean, that is what the next gen car is supposed to do, right? You might also find the argument that 16 drivers is too many anyway, so what does it matter that a driver that never had a shot at winning got in? I would like to take this point and shoot it down with the example of Ryan Newman in 2014, Aric Almirola in 2018, Alex Bowman in 2020 and Chase Briscoe in 2022. A driver that may not have been the best during the regular season can turn it on once they get into the playoffs.
However, in 2017 NASCAR introduced “Stages.” Featuring two (Once a year three) predetermined cautions throughout the race, that deliver points to drivers inside the top 10 at the time of caution. Also, the winner of the stage will get an extra point called a “Playoff Point” and during the playoffs, after drivers have been reset to a new maximum in points (After each round), the total number of playoff points is then added to that maximum giving the driver a slight edge over those who didn’t collect those playoff points.
More drama of course, NASCAR fans thought of this as ‘rigged’ or another ‘gimmick’ to grab the attention of a younger audience, which in ways, yes, they are correct. But this allows the ability of drivers who did well during the regular season to have stability in the playoffs, without too much worry of those who have won their way in.
Also, each winner gets 5 playoff points after their win to add to their total, thus putting an even bigger emphasis on winning races. Thus, the problem.
Is it the format that causes drivers to become desperate to win and make dangerous moves like Austin Dillon at Richmond or Ross Chastain at Circuit of the America’s? Or is it the driver and/or team, just not being good enough to get their driver a good points finish throughout the season so that they may have a chance to point their way into the playoffs. I think it’s the first. For drivers that get in situations like Austin Dillon, it’s reasonable to go after a “Championship ending race” 14 races before the end of the season. For someone like Kyle Busch who with the win and your in system is 93 points behind making the playoffs, you might be a little upset to find out that if Austin Cindric didn’t win in New Hampshire, and Austin Dillon (Depending on appeal result) didn’t win in Richmond, you’d only be 13 points behind making the playoffs, behind Daniel Suarez who won Atlanta earlier this year.
So we beg the question, should the playoff format change? No, not the format, not the playoff points, not the way drivers race during the races. But change the win and your win phrase to win and you might be in, if you're top 16 in points. It’ll make for cleaner finishes, greater playoff points battles, and less weird talks in the news about how NASCAR is just a bunch of rednecks driving in circles.
1. Restrictor Plate Tracks - Tracks including Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and as of 2022 Atlanta Superspeedway where drafting plays a key role in how cars perform, interact, and race against each other. These types of tracks usually lead to large ‘packs’ of cars (10+ car within >1 second of each other) racing lap after lap, creating a dramatic race and sometimes a very, very large wreck.
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