This year, the playoff format sparked widespread controversy, particularly after Joey Logano won his second championship and Team Penske secured its third consecutive title. Within the NASCAR community, there’s a growing clamor for changes to the system to prevent any team from having a consistent upper hand. Former Cup Series driver, Kevin Harvick recently weighed in on this discussion.
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Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin proposed a shake-up, suggesting that the championship decider shouldn’t hinge on a single “race” but rather unfold over a series of three races, much like a playoff round. Meanwhile, Logano, who has thrived under the current setup, believes that rotating the venue for the final race could be a pivotal adjustment.
Adding his voice to the debate, Harvick expressed that the existing championship format fails to live up to the anticipation and drama that begins with the Daytona 500, setting a high bar for excitement that doesn’t always carry through to the season’s finale.
That’s why the 2014 Cup Series champion believes there’s room for flexibility in the current playoff structure. He argues:
“If that really hasn’t changed the mix of of viewership and things I think your book is open to say okay maybe we can mix this up and it’s not really going to change it. I wish we would rotate the last race.”
“I think Homestead! That’d be cool; Phoenix. I wish there was some sort of three-year rotation that you got to mix that up so it wasn’t hey we ran this track last year we’ve got really good notes we’re going to be good.”
Amid concerns that the system devalues the accomplishments of the regular season, Harvick suggested a potential remedy. He proposed that the champion of the regular season should automatically advance to the final eight, although they would still need to collect points throughout the playoffs.
Similarly, he recommended that the runner-up should automatically qualify for the round of 12, and the driver finishing third should start the playoffs in the round of 16, ensuring their early successes are not overlooked.
Harvick contends that the traditional format won’t engage today’s NASCAR fans
While some suggest reintroducing the old championship format to elevate the significance of the regular season, Logano’s view that such a format wouldn’t resonate with the current audience found an echo in Harvick. On his “Happy Hour” podcast, Harvick concurred, stating,
“I agree with Joey, on not going back to Winston Cup points standings. Those days are gone. There’s an entertainment value that has to come with the last 10 weeks and the things that we do…”
While Harvick champions the cause of giving more weight to regular-season performance to sharpen the competitive edge, he also values the current playoff system’s capacity to astonish and entertain.
He notes the thrill inherent in its unpredictability, exemplified by incidents like Kyle Larson, despite clinching six wins, not making the final 4. According to him, this element of surprise is what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
