Ryan Blaney Brings Back the Legitimacy Question Around Playoff System, Claims ‘Respect Was Lost’ in That Era

NASCAR has finally announced that the Cup Series will once again adopt the Chase format to decide its champion, following more than a year of ugly arguments and infighting. The playoff system is gone for good, and many within the NASCAR community have stepped forward to celebrate its demise. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, for one, now hopes the change brings a greater sense of respect back to the sport.

The 2023 champion spoke to the press after President Steve O’Donnell made the announcement and agreed to the point that respect between drivers was inevitably lost in the playoff format. He explained, “I think this format, for the longest time, had to do that. Guys would have excuses like, ‘Well, I had to do it. I didn’t want to.’ That’s the lamest excuse in the world.”

While Blaney wasn’t a fan of such excuses, he understood why drivers had to make them. Because of the way the format was, they had to do everything in their power to secure a playoff spot and that meant crossing the lines of ethics at times.

.@Blaney says respect was lost under the Playoffs era and hopes The Chase brings legitimacy back to racing. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/PTIjhgm2nN

— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) January 12, 2026

“That takes the purity of racing away, for me,” Blaney continued. “I grew up with ‘Give respect, take respect, and race people how they race you.’ That’s what I got beaten into my mind as a kid. That’s how I grew up, and that’s how I am. So, I hope it gets back to that.” 

Blaney further added that it was a mindset prevalent in the sport until the last 10 years or so.

Blaney’s opinion on the Chase format

Blaney strongly believes that this change is a big win for the sport and that it was long overdue. The elimination-style format was exciting when it was initially introduced, but then it lost its luster with time. He still would have preferred for the sport to go back to the original 36-race championship-format, but is okay with the Chase format.

He said, “This is great because it’s not like you can take off for the 26 races. You have to get in, and you don’t want to be 16th in points. That would be 100 points behind the leader. So, you’re gonna have to show up every week and settle for good days and capitalize on days you can capitalize. So, I think it’s really good that they did this.”

NASCAR and the playoff committee have been working on the format for over a year and a half. He went on to appreciate the fruits that all that brunt bore and underlined that not everybody can be made happy at the end of the day.