Friday 5: Would any of these ideas make the NASCAR playoffs better?

Will Joey Logano’s championship this season, just as Matt Kenseth’s one-win championship campaign in 2003 led to the creation of the NASCAR postseason in 2004, lead to playoff changes for next year or beyond?

A hotly debated topic in the build-up to this year’s Championship 4 was whether Phoenix’s cup title contenders were the most deserving. While Tyler Reddick won the regular season championship, William Byron finished the regular season fifth, Ryan Blaney sixth and Logano 15th. Combined, the four title contenders won eight of the 26 regular season races and nine stages.

Those who failed to advance to the title race included Kyle Larson, who finished the regular season second, Chase Elliott, who finished third, and Christopher Bell, who finished fourth. Combined, they won eight of the 26 regular season races and 21 stages.

Two days before Logano won his third Cup championship, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell opened the door for change with the playoffs.

“We will definitely look at the shape of the playoffs in the offseason,” O’Donnell told reporters. “You always learn, as I said before, but playoffs in and of themselves, as (NASCAR president Steve Phelps) said, you can’t argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs produced.

“You can talk about the format when we’re doing some other things, but we’re definitely sticking with (the playoffs).”

O’Donnell’s words set off an outpouring of ideas, proposals and pleas within the sport and among fans.

While many ideas have been proposed, Austin Cindric has one request.

“If changes happen,” he said, “we can’t make it harder to educate people about how the playoffs work.”

With so much talk about changes to the playoffs for next season, here are five to consider:

1. Revised Playoff Points Format

In this one, playoff drivers have their own points system, separate from the rest of the field.

“I think one of the drivers at our meeting (Saturday in Phoenix) made a really good point: When it comes to playoff drivers, playoff drivers play against playoff drivers,” said Kyle Busch . “So points per position are only between them, not between positions. I think this is probably the easiest and fairest way to do it.

Playoff drivers therefore only score a point if they pass another playoff driver. In the current system, a playoff driver scores one point for each position won, whether a playoff driver or non-playoff driver.

Pro: Rewards drivers for a strong regular season, as it can be more difficult for those at the bottom of the playoff standings to beat those ahead of them and advance deep into the playoffs.

downside: Busch admits the potential flaw of this system, saying, “If you’re a guy who has 35 playoff points going into the final elimination round, well, one point per position if you’re only fighting eight guys, then it gets really, really bad . hard for any of them to actually change hands. That could impact the drama of who advances and who is eliminated in a cutoff race that NASCAR is eyeing.

2. Final of three races

The idea here is to have not one race – where something outside the title contender’s control could cost him a championship – but three races to determine who becomes the champion. Maybe in this system it still comes down to a winner-take-all event in the third race.

“Racing has so many variables, you have to create a larger sample size to get the real answer,” said Denny Hamlin. “So I just believe that we don’t live in a one-on-one sport, that we don’t get a seven-match series or anything like that – we live in a world where in our sport, only if our competition makes a good impression, it may cost us.

“Normally in any other sport, the competition makes a mistake and you capitalize on it, and you score, or you take advantage of it. Our sport isn’t like that so you have to create a larger sample size to get the right answer and I think we’ve just narrowed it down now to try to get these exciting moments week in and week out and I I think on that has a negative effect in the long term.”

Pro: If a title contender is involved in an incident caused by a non-playoff driver in a three-race set, the title contender may still have a chance to win a championship. In a one-race title event, as is currently the case, a significant problem will likely cost the driver a shot at the championship. This could also help build up to the final race based on what happened in the two previous events.

downside: Will fans embrace this and watch all three races – which will go against NFL games? Yes, fans have to make that choice now. Or will fans just wait until the final race to watch? And how does NASCAR feel about the idea of ​​moving away from a “Game 7 moment” that a one-race finale offers?

3. Cole Pearn’s Playoffs

The former crew chief who played Martin Truex Jr. to the 2017 Cup title, watched the sport from a distance and came up with an idea on social media this week.

Pearn’s plan is to carry the year-to-date points through the playoffs – rather than increasing each playoff driver’s points to 2,000 points before the round of 16, 3,000 points before the round of 12 , 4,000 points before the round of 8 and 5,000 points before the title race.

Pearn would keep the concept of a play-off driver advancing to the next round with a win. The remaining spots would be based on year-to-date point totals.

Pro: As Pearn noted on social media, with this system there is a “very high chance that the best cars will all make it to the final race, with the winner taking all.”

downside: If this remains the case, there is a chance that the differences between the drivers will be too great to bridge in a round of three races. If so, what does that do to the drama of who will move forward?

4. Kevin Harvick’s idea

To ensure that the best teams have a better chance of racing for the championship, Kevin Harvick’s plan is: detailed on his “Happy Hour” podcast – would advance the regular season champion to the Championship 4 race. So it’s impossible for the regular season champion to be eliminated before the title race.

The regular season runner-up will advance to the round of eight, putting the driver one round away from racing for a championship.

The driver who finishes third in the regular season will advance to the Round of 12, meaning he has a bye in the first round.

Pro: As Harvick said on his podcast, “At least it gives you something in the regular season when you’re not just racing for the first race, but we’re racing for first, second, third place. … It makes winning more important in the playoffs because your Championship 4 only has three (seats left).

downside: Will fans accept that a regular season champion has nothing to race for in nine races – a quarter of a 36-race season – provided the playoff format remains at 10 races and there is only one championship event?

5. My idea

With frustration that the current format may keep some of the top regular season teams out of Championship 4, here’s what we’re going to try:

The top four in points at the end of the regular season (before the reset) automatically advance to the third round, the Round of 8. Essentially, they get a bye through the first two rounds.

Those in positions five through 10 in the points at the end of the regular season (before the reset) will automatically advance to the second round. They get a bye through the first round.

Now for fun.

In a nod to the seasonal tournament starting next year, those in positions 11 through 18 will compete against each other in the first round to advance.

So the driver ranked 11th in points will compete against the driver ranked 18th. The driver ranked 12th in points will compete against the driver ranked 17th. The driver ranked 13th in points will compete against the driver ranked 16th. The driver in 14th place will compete against the driver in 15th.

Yes, this extends the playoffs by two spots, but it makes it difficult for those at the bottom to advance because of the opponents. The driver who scores the most points in each match advances. If one wins a race on the opening lap, he automatically advances and eliminates the other.

Pro: This guarantees that the top four from the regular season will reach the last eight and be just one round away from reaching the title race. This system also ensures some mutual competition in the opening round.

downside: This goes against Cindric’s rule of keeping it simple. But once it’s moving, it can be easier to understand.