All but one race of the 2025 Cup Series season is completed. The 36th race of the year, the season finale at the Phoenix Raceway, will see four drivers — Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, and William Byron — compete in it for the championship.
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For a long while, there has been heavy discontent within the fraternity toward the NASCAR playoff format. Fans and drivers revolted against the promotion, and we are on the cusp of seeing a major change made to it. The main complaint was the notion that the system rewards undeserved drivers to become champions.
With this as the backdrop, former driver Kenny Wallace spoke about this year’s Championship 4 line-up, assessing whether the drivers set to compete for the title are worthy of being there.
One of the main examples cited by the critics of the current playoff system is Joey Logano’s case in 2024. The Team Penske driver performed averagely throughout the season and won some key races in the playoffs. This put him in the Championship 4, and he eventually won the title.
Looking at the 2025 Championship 4 list, Wallace contended that Logano’s case was a rare occurrence.
“All that bitching, all that moaning, all year long about points didn’t even matter. Did not even matter. Joey Logano getting into the championship round a year or two ago was an anomaly. It was just something that rarely happened in life. That means that was weird,” said Wallace on his YouTube channel.
“That was strange. That never happens. It happened one time, and you all lost your ever-loving minds over it, and you bitched for years,” he added.
Wallace then praised the four drivers who will compete for the title this year. “We got four drivers going to Phoenix that are very worthy, and they are the right drivers. They are the winningest drivers. Denny Hamlin with six wins. William Byron with three wins,” he said. “Kyle Larson with three wins. Chase Briscoe with three wins. So, NASCAR did not get this wrong. And whoever wins this championship is well deserved.”
Wallace criticized the fans who pushed NASCAR to the level where it needed to change the format to appease them. Good or bad, it is all but certain that there is a change coming to the format in 2026. NASCAR is expected to announce it once the season finale is done at Phoenix on November 2.
