The Good and the Bad of the Current Playoff System
The Good and Bad of the Current Playoffs
In 2017, NASCAR announced an entirely new playoff system that built off of the system from 2014 to 2016. The addition came in the form of stage racing with playoff points being rewarded for each stage win, race win, and points position at the end of the regular season. 2025 is the 9th year that this format has been used without any tweaks, the longest that a NASCAR playoff system has gone without changes since the Winston Cup full season points standings which ran from 1975 to 2003. NASCAR then switched to the 10 man chance, eventually extending that to 12 drivers between 2004 and 2013. In 2014, NASCAR switched to the 16 man format that we have today, albeit with a much different format than today's. In this blog today, I want to dive into the good and bad of the current playoff system in my eyes and where I want to see the points system go towards in the future
The Good of the Playoffs
The first thing that I like about the current playoffs is that it does a pretty decent job of rewarding performance during the regular season and the best drivers. Drivers that are the top seeds of the playoffs usually have the most playoff points. Furthermore, these top seeds usually advance to the round of 8 at least. I don't mind rewarding drivers for winning the stages and winning races more, which the current system does. It's far better than whatever the heck the format was between 2014 and 2016, when your regular season performance did not really matter so long as you made the playoffs.
I also do not hate the round by round format as much as some others may. I think having these three mini race rounds is not a bad thing. It's enough of a sample size to weed out the drivers that have not been very good throughout the entire season. We usually don't see a ton of lower seeds pointing their way into the next round, which helps eliminate the weaker drivers. That's about all the positives I have for this current playoff system though, as there isn't much else that I can point that I like.
The Bad of the Playoffs
The playoffs have a lot wrong with it currently. The first of these being the win and you're in system. SVG, for example, is locked into the playoffs despite being 30th in the standings. Harrison Burton, in 2024, was last in points among full time drivers but still qualified for the playoffs with his win at Daytona. An argument could be made that a driver that is 15th in the regular season points wouldn't compete for the title and you would be right, but that doesn't mean that a driver that is 15 spots beneath them in the points should be in. The most NASCAR could do is eliminate the win and you're in all together or implement a restriction of say 25th in points or better. Still though, I don't think NASCAR will get rid of the win and you're in unless this system is completely overhauled.
The next thing that I think is not good with the current playoffs is the one race winner take all finale. I hate that it comes down to this because you could have the best season up until that point, and then just lose it. Since the round by round format was implemented back in 2014, I would argue that there has only been 3 years where the most deserving driver has won the championship. That would be Truex in 2017, Busch in 2019, and Larson in 2021. Aside from that, the champions that have won are not the best during the season. Joey Logano in 2024, as an example, was around 15th in the points for the most of the season, until he got hot in the playoffs and ended up winning the title. Logano was nowhere near the title fight all year, yet went out and won it
I also do not like that there are 16 drivers that get in to the playoffs. I would prefer if it were cut down to say 12 like it was at the end of the Chase. This way, the best drivers that make it can be ensured that they are the ones fighting for the title. We don't need drivers that have floundered for most of the season to be in contention at the very end. I think if there were less drivers, then there would be more prestige to the title.
My last major critique is the win and you advance to the next round part of the system. I get that NASCAR wants to reward winning more, but it just leaves a sour spot in my mouth knowing that the driver that is the 8th seed in the round of eight can just win and advance to the next round, despite not being as good as their competitors all season. It's not as big of a deal compared to the first two, but it's something that just does not sit right with me
So What Can Be Done?
We know that NASCAR is having a panel of people within the industry work together to come up with ideas for a playoffs/points format tweak in the near future. That said, it seems that there is more momentum working towards the playoff system being kept with some smaller changes likely to come earliest 2026, but more likely 2027. Mark Martin is one of the top people pushing for the Winston Cup Format to return. He did a survey of over 20,000 people and a majority wanted the full season points format back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared a similar tune to that of Mark Martin, referencing that other racing series have a full season points format and are doing just well with it.
As for the current playoff system, winning is rewarded far too much. It is true that the drivers that typically rank as the top seeds are the ones that did best during the full season. Yet, we have seen in 3 straight years now, that team Penske has gotten hot at the right time and has won the title 3 straight years as a result. Logano and Blaney were good in 2022 and 2023, but not the best. Logano last season was nowhere near one of the best drivers. As a result, we've seen that a driver can just get hot at the right time and win it all. Furthermore, drivers that are way down in points can win and make the playoffs. It hurts NASCAR's legitimacy and I think that's why a lot of fans care more about the total wins, average finish, and more that would help show who has been the best driver.
My "Proposal"
I would like for the full season points format to return to NASCAR. I've been replaying NASCAR Thunder 2003 a lot as of late and the full season points has been quite intriguing throughout that game. That's not the reason why I want the full season points to return, but I wanted to just mention it. That said, the full season points format needs to reward winning more than the Winston Cup format. I think the current points structure works with the stages and I think you could use that as the template moving forward. I would like to get rid of the stage cautions, but I doubt the networks would want to get rid of that. I think by doing this we can see the best combination of consistency and winning, where you don't get a Matt Kenseth situation where a driver only has one win all season and wins the title. On the other hand, I would especially want to avoid situations like Logano in 2024 or Busch in 2015. I don't mind Kenseth's title much, but I do think winning should be more important than what it was previously.
I doubt NASCAR goes in this route all things considered. I think the networks, especially NBC, want as much drama going into the final races of the season. They want to have these game 7 moments as much as possible. I'll echo what the Iceberg mentioned in his recent video about the playoffs in that championships no longer feel special because NASCAR is manufacturing game 7 moments every year. We no longer get those epic title fights at the end of the year that felt so special in the past like Edwards vs Stewart in 2011, Gordon vs Jarrett in 97, and more. It's okay to have championships where a driver dominates. It's not the worst thing in the world, but NASCAR seems to want to avoid these. All in all, I think we are a long time away from NASCAR ever returning to a full season points format and that sucks.
Thanks for reading the blog! Tomorrow, I'll have my Pocono preview up with some stats to back up my picks for my predicted race winner!
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