Big changes are coming to NASCAR’s championship showdown. Starting in 2026, the season finale won’t be anchored to just one track. Instead, NASCAR is shaking things up by rotating the championship race to different venues each year. On paper, it’s a move meant to keep things fresh and exciting for fans across the country. But while NASCAR’s leadership is all-in on this new approach, not everyone is sold.
Drivers and fans alike are raising eyebrows, with some questioning whether the changes will address deeper issues with the playoff format and the championship race itself. As the sport gears up for this new era, a growing chorus, led by outspoken drivers like Denny Hamlin, is calling for a closer look at the system that decides who gets crowned champion.
Denny Hamlin says the Playoff format isn’t fair
Denny Hamlin isn’t one to mince words, especially when it comes to NASCAR’s playoff system. On his latest “Actions Detrimental” podcast episode with Kyle Busch, Hamlin got straight to the point. “One race shouldn’t be bigger than the other 35 races.” For Hamlin and a growing number of drivers, the current “winner-take-all” championship format feels more like a game of chance than a true test of season-long excellence.
Hamlin’s gripe is simple but powerful. Over the 36-race season, drivers battle through superspeedways, short tracks, road courses, and everything in between. Consistency, strategy, and resilience are supposed to matter. But under the current system, a year’s worth of hard work can be erased by one bad pit stop, a fluke caution, or getting caught up in someone else’s wreck during the finale.
A prime example came in 2024, when Joey Logano clinched the championship despite winning only 4 races that season, three of them in the playoffs with an average finish of 17.1! This was the worst ever average for a Cup Champion, but the other side of this coin is even more brutal. Consider Kevin Harvick’s 2020 season. Harvick dominated with nine wins and led the points for much of the year, but a late-race incident at Martinsville in the playoffs kept him out of the Championship 4. Despite his season-long excellence, he never even got a shot at the title in the finale.
Sep 6, 2020; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) and Martin Truex Jr. (19) lead the field to restart the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports | Credit: Reuters
Kyle Busch, who’s won both his championships (2015 and 2019) under the playoff format, is not a huge fan of it. The veteran feels NASCAR needs to revert to its original points format. “Have a bad race or two in that 10 race format and you’re fifth in points… It coming down to a one race take-all moment… I don’t mind it, I don’t know how to make it better. I do still sort of enjoy the… points go all the way throughout.” His perspective highlights the growing sentiment that NASCAR’s “Game 7 moment” may deliver drama that NASCAR and fans want. But it doesn’t always reward the season’s most deserving driver.
Even as NASCAR prepares to bring excitement to the playoffs and championship races, Denny Hamlin’s concerns are resonating louder than ever. Fans are chiming in across social media, echoing his frustrations and calling for a system that rewards the best driver over the whole season-not just the luckiest on one Sunday. In fact, it seems like the fanbase is more united than ever in wanting change, and that’s where we turn next.
Fans are in unison with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch
Fans aren’t holding back when it comes to NASCAR’s playoff format. Scroll through social media or comment sections, and you’ll see a wave of agreement with Denny Hamlin’s take. One fan summed it up perfectly: “He’s right. In the current system, a driver could win the first 35 races, finish second in the final race, and lose the championship.” That’s not just a hypothetical. It’s a real flaw in the system, as seen with the 2020 and 2024 seasons.
Some fans point out the irony in the backlash. “In this comment section, we can see people getting mad at someone saying the same thing they have been saying because he’s Denny Hamlin,” one wrote. It’s true! Hamlin’s reputation as a polarizing figure sometimes overshadows the valid points he makes. People agree to disagree with him on the outside, even though they might agree with him on the inside. But on this issue, many are rallying behind him.
There’s also a strong call for a return to the old ways, echoing Kyle Busch’s sentiment. “100% bring back Chase for the Cup or Winston championship format,” a fan commented. Many long-time followers miss the consistency-based points system. Back then, every race mattered, and the champion was usually the season’s best performer. Statistics and data showed that under the old Winston Cup format, the driver with the most points over the season almost always won the title. In the playoff era, that’s happened far less often.
Some fans even blame TV deals. “20 years ago, NASCAR had to come up with something to convince TV Networks to pay for last race and the sport has been suffering for it since.” In the late 1990s, NASCAR was booming in popularity, but TV rights were handled on a race-by-race basis. Moreover, individual tracks negotiated their own deals. This approach took a huge hit in 2003, when Matt Kenseth dominated the sport to win the championship with a race to go! In turn, it birthed the ‘ Chase’ format in 2004, the first step towards NASCAR’s current playoff format that involved a point reset with 10 races to go and a chase to the championship.
Finally, one fan summed up the issue perfectly. “All the attention on the points champ already reduces the importance of every race.” This comment touched on the sentiment that once a driver wins a regular-season race, it locks them into the playoffs, reducing the importance of each race for that driver drastically, as the pressure is completely off them. The debate is loud! And it’s not going away anytime soon.
What do you think should be done with the playoff format? Let us know in the comments!
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