“He Wouldn’t Have Made It”: NASCAR Insiders Disregard Martin Truex Jr. Conversation, Hail Controversial Format

In light of Martin Truex Jr. struggling after the first two playoff races, there was some chatter around the NASCAR community regarding providing an advantage to the regular season champion during the postseason. However, that would mean to alter the current system in place.

Although some people believe that it would be a good thing for the overall competition, NASCAR spotters Brett Griffin and Freddie Kraft at the Door Bumper Clear Podcast don’t think that would do any good.

Recently, while debating this matter, they provided their insights and how the current regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. has already been given an ample advantage for the playoff rounds.

Kraft and Griffin Debate Rule Change for Martin Truex Jr. Advantage

While discussing the subject on the latest episode of the DBC Podcast, Brett Griffin mentioned, “Martin Truex with a huge point cushion going into round one barely gets out of round one is now he’s the biggest winner… from last week.”

Subsequently, Bubba Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, commented that the criticism they received last week about the regular season champion having a bigger advantage was proven true.

Kraft added, “He should have got a buy through the first round yada, yada, yada. Like he did. If he didn’t have that point cushion, he wouldn’t have made it and now look at him. He’s the damn point leader again.”

NASCAR Journalist agrees with DBC spotters for the current playoff format

Later on, journalist Matt Weaver argued, “The biggest complaint that fans give me all the time is, ‘Oh, the only races that matter are the final 10.’ And that’s not true. Every single stage, the stage points that you get, the stage playoff points.”

Weaver stated that he was not surprised that the #4 and #22 were eliminated from the playoffs, mainly because they did not have the regular season to provide them with a buffer as the #19 of Truex Jr. did.

He then explained that Truex’s success during the regular season gave him the cushion he needed to advance, which was evident in his last race at Bristol. Lastly, he concluded that this format is the best of both worlds between a season-long format and a playoff, and it did reward the JGR driver for his successful season.