An Open Letter To NASCAR: It's Time To End The Playoff Format

The Playoffs in NASCAR proved once again, that motor racing cannot be like a stick and ball sport. Here is an open letter to NASCAR to say it's time to end this playoff format once and for all.

Martin Truex Jr. during the 2024 Pocono 400

Dear NASCAR Executives,

For the past 100 years, auto racing in America was known for many things. One of those things was being able to reward excellence with an overall season's points champion. It did not matter whether the season came down to the final corner, or it was decided 3 weeks in advance. Whomever scored the most points, took the trophy home. If you look at racing disciplines across the globe, you will find those that have natural point paying championships come down to the last race are most memorable. That is because that does not and should not happen every year.

There is a reason why everyone talks about the 2021 Formula 1 season, the 1992 NASCAR season finale, and why every IndyCar season until 2023 came down to a last race showdown. This stuff happened naturally over driver's scoring wins, podiums, and top 10's. And when it comes down to the wire, people glue to their TVs. That all changed in 2004 under the leadership of Brian France. As a new partner emerged, they also announced a 10 race chase format. And 10 year old me thought it was the dumbest idea at that time. That was the least of our worries.

In 2007, they expanded the field to 12 entries. In 2011(?), they made the final 2 spots wild card positions. In 2013, spin-gate happened. And the end product that came after that was a direct result, and its a tougher pill to swallow every year. One of my all time favorite things as a guy who grew up in a New York City household is to give tough love. And NASCAR is going to get a lot of tough love in this segment.

Now, before I dive into this rabbit hole, the people of IMSA (A NASCAR owned company) have been nothing but nice to me these past few years, so I hope this doesn't impact my ability to cover races in the future. We all love the sport and we just want change. Now let's get down to business.

Brent Crews at Lime Rock Park

In 2014, the rules were cut and dry. You had to win a race and be in the top 30 in points. You also had to race every weekend. Strike one was the waiver. If the rules say you have to be at every race, then you better be at every race. The rule is black and white so it should be enforced as black and white. Picture the sanctioning body as a balloon. The raw balloon is the playoff format. What do you fill a balloon? Air (or Helium). The Air you fill that balloon with is all the politics that go into this playoff format. Bottom line is if someone missed the race, the rulebook says they're out! End of story!

Strike Two comes back to strike one for a bit. Kyle Busch was injured in a viscous crash at Daytona. He sat out for a third of the season, around 11 races. He should have never been qualified for the chase. NASCAR gave him the waiver and someone who was at home for 11 races won the title. Now, let's not discourage Kyle's amazing comeback. He is such a great talent! And he did a phenomenal job in his return to racing, but that should have been the end of the playoff era then.

Can we talk about 2015 without the controversy of Talladega? Race weekend they announced the Green-White-Checkered rule would be reduced to one attempt. That one attempt happened, and it was waived off. They called to the radio less than 20 seconds later, that it was not an attempt. That "second attempt" was marred by a wounded car of Kevin Harvick wiping out a chunk of the field before they even got to the start finish line. And that would not be the only time Kevin Harvick was caught up in controversy.

2016 was another one. This one involved a massive accident on a restart that led to Carl Edwards' retirement from racing. 2018, yeah about that one. Joey Logano, who needed to win the race, plows through Martin Truex Jr. to get into the Championship 4. Let's stress, hate the game, not the player. And to cap off our misery, in 2024, Joey Logano, with an average finish of around 17th, won the overall points championship. Absolutely nobody who averages 17th should qualify for a playoff, let alone, win it all!

To put the final nail on the coffin, let's recap the total disaster that was this weekend. 2025 was a season of excellence in all 3 series. Corey Heim and Connor Zillisch won over 10 races each, and were top 5 to top 10 in most if not almost all races. Corey Heim would have clinched weeks ago under a normal season long points format. Corey Heim had to make it 7 wide on an overtime restart to prove he deserved that championship. Nobody who wins 10 races and endless consistency should have to do no more than start their own engine at the final race to clinch the championship. If you have to make it 7 -wide, something is majorly wrong here!

And what can I say about Connor. He would have clinched that title weeks back under the old format. 10+ wins, a streak of 20 top-5 finishes in a row. 2 injuries and he still raced those races! This man is the dictionary definition of a champion. He finished 3rd to a guy who only won a race at Daytona, and was absent all year (compared to Connor and JR Motorsports). And by finishing 3rd, he had all guts, but no glory. No disrespect to Jesse Love by the way, he is a great talent and we will see plenty of him in the future, and it was not his fault, it's the format!

And to cap off this letter...today was a nightmare for Denny Hamlin. A man who should have won it all in 2010, he went into today's race feeling very confident. The race was overcome with adversity for Denny. He proved, even with this format, he was the right guy. Denny won 6 races this year (according to the broadcast) and every time I watched on TV, he was consistently near the front at all times. As predicted, the teams ran air pressure below Goodyear recommended levels and all Championship 4 teams had massive tire failures. As predicted, to the shock of nobody, the race went into overtime, and Denny Hamlin came short...again! The look of dejection on his face made me say "I won't blame him one bit if he doesn't come back". I wouldn't either to tell you the truth.

Update: Granted...Kyle Larson would have won it all under the old format, but my point is...this would have been such a great story line if this were a natural played season-long points championship.

I really hope someone from NASCAR reads this list of grievances I have with the format and has that desire for change. It is time for NASCAR to divorce this marriage with the playoffs. The sex just isn't good anymore. It's time for this to end. It has over-stayed it's welcome. It punishes excellence and it rewards mediocre performances. Do the right thing and make the season-long championship format come back!