If there’s been one issue that has gained as much traction — if not more — than the inability to overtake in Next Gen cars, it’s NASCAR’s playoff format. Fans and drivers alike have vented frustration over how often the champion isn’t the most dominant driver, especially when considering the 26-race regular season. Denny Hamlin recently proposed a few solutions for this.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast with Kyle Busch, this week’s guest. Hamlin was okay with the drivers being eliminated every three races in the playoffs as long as there was more reward for consistent performers in the regular season. He explained how Kyle Larson’s Kansas win only counted for five bonus points.
Hamlin said how doubling every bonus point — two for a stage win and 10 for a race victory — would be enough motivation to perform during the regular season.
Additionally, he said, “It makes it harder for our favorites to get eliminated early, specially with the racetracks that we put in the playoffs.” He pointed how having two playoff races at superspeedways amplifies the luck factor even more.
The No. 11 Toyota racer also wanted to reduce the playoff drivers from 16 to 12. This is crucial as he said, “That will eliminate the guy in 33rd that’s going to win a race and making it into the playoffs.”
Hamlin also wished to see the drivers eliminated in the playoffs going back to standings positions that counted their regular season exploits.
He justified this by saying, “One race shouldn’t just be bigger than the other 35 that you participated in.” Kyle Busch agreed with his assessment, saying that it shouldn’t “save your season.”
Hamlin’s proposed overhaul didn’t stop there. He didn’t want the playoff points to be reset after every three-race round when drivers were eliminated.
He explained, “Just keep chopping off the bottom three to where it is essentially the original Chase format where it’s 10 weeks except for the final round, which I hope would be a championship round of three races.”
All these changes were brainstormed keeping in mind the racing competition as well as the excitement for fans. And finding the balance between the two is particularly difficult.
Hamlin echoed this thought when he said, “It’s tough because you want to create the fairest format but you do need to make it exciting. I know the TV [guys] have said many times that the elimination [system] works for them.”
The gist of the matter is that Denny Hamlin wants regular season wins to be so rewarding that they move the drivers up in the standings while still not guaranteeing them a spot in the playoffs.
