Christopher Bell may be rivals with Austin Dillon on the racetrack, but Bell agrees with Dillon that there should be a radical change to the current NASCAR Cup playoff system.
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Bell was a guest on this week’s edition of the SpeedFreaks’ Horsepower Hump Day podcast and wants to see changes in how the playoffs are structured. He offered several options, but one is the system he’d like to see implemented.
Bell concurred with Dillon that drivers who do not make the playoffs should not be awarded any points in the 10 playoff races.
“Austin actually talked about that a while ago, and I think that’s a great idea because you eliminate some of the interference that happens in our sport, where non-playoff cars are taking points every time away from the playoff guys,” Bell said. “I think there’s positives and negatives that come out of that. But I think it’s a great idea for sure.”
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was also asked if NASCAR should listen more to fans and their suggestions, or to drivers and team owners, or to no one other than NASCAR’s top officials.
“It’s an impossible question to answer,” Bell said. “What the fans want and what the drivers want are two completely different things. I can sit here and tell you from a driver in the sport that the way they crown a champion now with a one-race winner-take-all event is it’s not a true champion.
“It’s clear that the champions of the old days are not viewed the same as the champions that we have today. I just think that there needs to be a bigger sample size of how you crown that champion. We’ll see what happens.”
Dillon suggested a three-round championship battle for a certain number of drivers who have earned the most points in the first seven playoff races. But the question in Bell’s mind is which three tracks?
Why Does Bell Like the Three-Race Concept to Crown the Cup Champ?
“I think that if it was a three-race round, those three tracks are so important,” Bell said. “And it’s so tough. I mean, the fairest way is to make every race count and have a 36 race points champion. But we know that that’s not going to happen. That’s not the most entertaining way.
“There are a lot of positives that come out of the playoff and having eliminations and stuff like that. So anytime that you narrow down that the number of races—or the sample size that you have—to crown the champion, the more illegitimate it can become. So whether that number is three, five, 10, 36, the bigger the number, the more legitimate of a champion you’re going to have.”
Bell’s choices of tracks in the proposed three-race championship round are quite interesting, as he nixes road courses and short tracks. Instead, he basically goes for the home run aspect.
“My vote would be Atlanta, Daytona, and Talladega,” Bell said. “Whoever scores the most points in those races becomes a champion.” Yep, Bell is serious with those picks.
The fact that those are the three fastest tracks in the sport, along with being the most likely to have numerous crashes that could either help drivers in the running for the championship or ruin their championship hopes, is an interesting thought from Bell.
We thought, given his short track background, that Bell would include Bristol or Richmond, or maybe Martinsville, in the proposed three-race final round. Regardless, only one question remains: Will NASCAR ever listen to what drivers or fans want—or will NASCAR continue doing things the way it wants to?
