When NASCAR goes to the playoffs this season, it will be the format’s 10th anniversary. Not a lot of drivers remain in the Cup Series from that inaugural season. Brad Keselowski is one of the active drivers who saw the change and adjusted to it in real time. Speaking to the media, the RFK Racing driver explained his experience at the time and how everyone was a bit confused in the 2014 season. There was a lot unknown at that point and it took drivers a couple of years to get used to the format.
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Debates about the playoffs have been around ever since its inception but Keselowski isn’t against it. Fellow driver Joey Logano also believes that the format has worked for a long time and there was no need to change it. There are aspects of the playoffs that are favored and criticized by fans. Keselowski has his opinions about the system as well but the veteran admitted that it has changed the sport. No matter the qualms one might have, there is no denying that the NASCAR season always ends with a bang due to the playoffs.
“You read about it and you read the rules and all that, but you didn’t really fully understand how it would change the behaviors until you actually saw it. I think there were definitely some behavioral changes in the garage and in the sport that are due to the playoffs. We all needed a rep through it to see what that would be. It changed our sport,” he explained.
But the playoffs raised a concern at the time – what about the rest of the season? After all, one win gets you into the round of 16. The matter of how points might help a driver progress in the playoffs was new to everyone in 2014. It was difficult for everyone to have a clear understanding of how the regular season was important.
When did drivers understand the importance of the regular season?
Keselowski said that it started happening after the first two or three years with the playoffs. People started understanding the points structure and why multiple race wins in the regular season were important. Drivers who had already made it through to the final 16 then began competing for the regular season championship to gain those valuable playoff points that have taken many a long way into the last 10 races.
“The real effect of the playoffs to me was the next two or three seasons when people started to get comfortable with it. And then you started to see the playoffs actually have an effect on the rest of the season that wasn’t the playoffs, right? Because people had a better understanding for what that meant,” he explained.
The veteran race car driver has already made it through to the 2024 playoffs with a win earlier in the season. He also has been doing his best to accumulate as many points as possible. He might be near the end of his driving career but that hunger to win a championship is still intact in the RFK Racing star.
